Culture

career that ended in 1932, he racked up 2,763 victories (still 2nd all time behind only the unassailable Connie Mack), a .586 winning percentage (7th all time), and three World Series rings.  His 10 pennants and overall record 815 games above .500 are both still unmatched. Beyond the numbers, McGraw was an incredible innovator whose imprint is still all over the game.  He was the first manager to call pitches from the dugout, and he more or less invented relief pitching as we know it.  He was also instrumental in developing the hit-and-run, the squeeze play, and the now defunct Baltimore chop.

Such a sight is shocking when one considers how much money is floating around major college sports, which is a multi-billion dollar industry.  For example, the NCAA vacuumed up nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars for television rights to the recent men’s basketball tournament.  Men’s football programs also rake tremendous fortunes.  Yet the workers most integral to generating these ungodly sums of money, the players, are paid no money for their labors. How is this justified?  Some note that the money from big time college sports subsidizes all the other college sports, which operate at a “net loss.” But that kind of logic only betrays the hypocrisy of the situation.  After all, a school is a not-for-profit educational institution, not a business.  You know what else operates at a “net loss?”  Classes.  But of course it’s very tempting to use business terminology when talking about big time college sports, because they are a de facto business.

team of the early 1990s.  During the film, Rose said that back then as a poor, black kid growing up in Detroit, he felt that the blacks who played for Duke, most of whom were middle class, private school graduates, were Uncle Toms. I understand “Coach K” not wanting to distract his team during the tournament, but the story’s cold at this point.  So why is he flogging a dead horse?  Other than the pettiness of not actually being above it, Krzyzewski was providing cover to former Duke player and current ESPN talking-head Jay Williams, who was also part of the interview.  For Williams, now a professional analyst, waiting this long is inexcusable; having his former coach there to hold his hand through it is just embarrassing.  What a loser.  But since neither of them can let a sleeping dog lie, let me update my own take in light of their recent comments. The “best” part of Krzyzewski’s rant to ESPN is on the unspoken, larger level.  Essentially, what we have here is a very rich, older, white guy lecturing a 38 year old black man (Rose) about race, and not even doing it to his face.  Classic.  While he’s at it, why don’t we just give Krzyzewksi a tall, cool glass of

off camera, up and to the left* Hey, what can you say about our webmaster?  He really picked us up yesterday when we needed it, setting the table for me today.  He’s been huge for us all year, you can’t say enough about him. No, I’m not thinking about the post-season yet.  We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.  I’m just focusing on the next column.  We can’t afford to look past anybody. 

that, as human beings, they’re probably flaming pieces of shit.  They come across as angry little bullies, full of hate and rage, the kinds of guys who are angling to become fascist leaders but don’t have the requisite charisma. Now, is that reality?  Are they really that awful? Who cares?  We’re not judging them on what kind of person they are.  They’re entertainers.  We’re judging them on how their public persona plays in the media.  And based on that, most of America wants Krzyzewski and Belichick (Knight’s no longer in the spotlight) to die miserable deaths.