tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post8729560635734789999..comments2024-03-01T10:16:11.283-08:00Comments on AmericanStudies: November 12-13, 2011: There Are No WordsAmericanStudierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-16260930647002773592011-11-12T12:26:58.056-08:002011-11-12T12:26:58.056-08:00Ben,
As I've indicated elsewhere, I think thi...Ben,<br /><br />As I've indicated elsewhere, I think this is a story largely about the effects of money -- really big money -- in university athletics. Taylor Branch's recent article in the Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/?single_page=true) reveals the depths of the problem. As he explains it, the vast sums of money have perverted the mission of higher education, and the Penn State case demonstrates this most clearly: an institution dedicated to the education of young men and women became a for-profit business (even a corporate brand) that incidentally did some teaching on the side. Students came to this school for football. They lived for football, and they even rioted when their Patron Saint (JoePa, the paterfamilias) was implicated in the scandal. The program was so revered that a graduate assistant allegedly *walked away* from a crime in progress, failed to report it to the authorities, and then managed to keep his job, but only because those higher up the chain of command allegedly conspired to conceal the crime. Now why would an otherwise seemingly decent man (McQueary) fail to stop and/or report a crime? My answer: Because there was just too much at stake. Namely, his future in the business of university athletics, and as we know head coaches have made this all-but-pro-ball a lucrative enterprise. Their salaries far surpass those of university presidents and in many instances rival corporate CEOs. In short, these events are not inexplicable (as one Atlantic editor stupidly put it: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/11/the-inexplicable-events-at-penn-state/248287/). They were all but inevitable in an environment so perverted by the almighty dollar. <br /><br /><br />SeanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-41242300620030649132011-11-12T06:57:38.721-08:002011-11-12T06:57:38.721-08:00From Terry Eagleton,
"In our own time, one o...From Terry Eagleton,<br /><br />"In our own time, one of the most popular, influential branches of the culture industry is unquestionably sport. If you were to ask what provides some meaning in life nowadays for a great many people, especially men, you could do worse than reply 'Football'. Not many of them, perhaps, would be willing to admit as much; but sport...stands in for all those noble causes - religious faith, national sovereignty, personal honour, ethnic identity - for which, over the centuries, people have been prepared to go to their deaths. Sport involves tribal loyalties, iconic heroes, epic battles, aesthetic beauty, physical fulfilment, intellectual satisfaction, sublime spectaculars, and a profound sense of belonging. It also provides the human solidarity and physical immediacy which television does not. Without these values, a good many lives would no doubt be pretty empty. It is sport, not religion, which is now the opium of the people."wrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06671717576671190989noreply@blogger.com