Jay Bilas takes NCAA to woodshed

Unless you were part of a systematic effort to make them household names, put them on national television, constantly discuss/dissect/analyze them on national television and use their images/likeness to advertise upcoming games, I think you largely duck the "promoting" label. Bilas is part of an effort to make them stars in order to make money for his employer, who is the TV rights holder.

You were a journalist, covering players who the fans were interested in. Bilas is a key cog in a system designed to make fans interested in certain players. One role is reactive, the other is proactive.

 

Yes.

Honestly, Yes.


The piano player in the whorehouse analogy.

 

So he sees that he and others are profiting because of college basketball and be advocates for the players getting a cut too and that makes him a hypocrite? Should he refuse to cash his checks or chain himself to the Gameday studio desk until ESPN gives all the money back?

And, yeah, he got a Duke education and made the most of it, but does that mean he has to think the system is perfect. Could he have not gotten the education if he was getting a stipend or allowed to sell his autograph? Would he not still be able to work as an analyst of television if Andrew Wiggins sold his T-shirts with his name on them?

I used to live down the street from Allen Fieldhouse and sold parking spots in the yard for as much as $30 a car. Did I forfeit my right to criticize the current system the moment I made money thanks to it?

 

Don't recall anyone coming anywhere close to saying Bilas - or anybody else - forfeits his or her right to criticize.

But here's also nothing wrong with pointing out that Bilas wouldn't be where he is today without the very system he's criticizing. For some reason certain people seem to have a problem with seeing that fact pointed out.

There's also nothing wrong with pointing out that ESPN's on-line store is still selling No. 2 A&M jerseys, No. 7 South Carolina jerseys and No. 15 UCLA basketball jerseys.

 

Well, people are calling him a hypocrite.

So?

Also: Is that really true? He's a smart guy who was good at basketball. He needed this system to thrive?

 

They have the right to call him that. I don't see a problem with it.

Bilas doesn't get a free Duke education without a basketball scholarship.

 

Has Bilas come out against basketball scholarships?

 

He went through the system and got where he is, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have wound up in the same place if the changes he suggests were instituted.

There's also nothing wrong with pointing out that ESPN sells jerseys, but it's an apples and oranges comparison to the NCAA. There's plenty to knock ESPN for, but it isn't trying to convince anybody it is not a sports business. It isn't going for tax exempt status or running ads proclaiming what a great support system support system it is for student athletes.

 

No, just against the system that paid for his education. Which is his right. But it's also my right - or anyone else's - to point that out.

 

Well, the NCAA is a great support-system for student-athletes. That is inarguable among the sane.

That doesn't mean that its rules are all well-thought-out however.

 

So Bilas is restricted from criticizing the precise details of the system in place when he earned a scholarship?

What about things that have changed since then? They amend the by-laws every year, in drips and drabs. Can he criticize the new rules? Is he untethered from them?

 

You fucking idiot. I just said he has the right to criticize it. I also said I have the right to criticize him.

Please leave this discussion to those of us who are smart enough to understand that. You clearly are not.