A PIVOTAL MOMENT FOR AMERICA
The NCAA holds its annual convention in January.
Good luck! No one has a clue.
My hope is that the powers that be use this opportunity wisely. One possibility I hope will be considered.
And I have gathered support that is collected and compiled within the link below.
There is no simple answer. But big changes are a surety. Hopefully wise pivotal moment legislation.
First—the Short Version—
2024 will be a watershed moment for sports in America. Ideally the NCAA will set in motion changes that enhance the traditional joys and benefits of sports, but also a vocational pathway to reward talent and effort.
THE SECOND MOUNTAIN
The data below is a pot-pour-ri of related thoughts”
* “ Well, he hands you a nickel, and he hands you a dime
And he asks you with a grin, if you’re havin’ a good time”
(MAGGIE’S FARM—Bob Dylan )
I grew up in small towns in North Carolina, Yet in a state with a large black population I never had a close black friend. Even through college. In eastern NC. Eastern NC had a lot of crops ( mostly tobacco, cotton. ) While those jobs are greatly diminished the workers are largely still there. And their children. In no small part these were the first black students, most were athletes, that I knew, (* see appendix.)
So many are great people. Adversity made strong people and tough athletes. Still I wonder how many were missed.
My reason for this article stems from my hope that the new NCAA rules will help even more have opportunities. How ? Now is crucial window of opportunity for higher education through athletics to broaden current avenues and new ones. How? This is what makes the January 2024 NCAA convention crucial for these youngsters.
HOW? Not many of these kids are passionate about classical Greek literature. But they know sports. Is that wrong ?
There are tons of vocations in sports already in place. If we elevate the status of sports done right, can we grow a job market that many sports minded can pursue with logical success in the future.
What’s wrong with a SPORTS major in Higher Education, Many exist already and just need some publicity and dignity attached.
Next month I hope a lot of thought goes into helping this large and worthy population. Find them, make rules to help them. Make sports a vocation of real worth.
* TIME FOR A RAISE
- Even after slavery was abolished the roadblocks were manifold. Granted all poor people were limited but African-Americans were singled out. —-(From a George Will book) — At one time education was literally and legally impossible. THERE IS NO TELLING HOW MANY INDIVIDUALS married into wealth. Illegal for Black men or women.
BRAINSTORMING
One issue is student debt. Administrators, Athletics Directors, all coaches, should clarify whether the athlete’s “package “ of money is defined (grant or loan ?). A lot of deception occurs here. And a lot of crippling, unpayable lifetime debt. A clear, stout rule in 2024 —-NCAA!
* Reading to education to scholarships, to degrees to jobs to family wealth ?
How then. to professional sports salaries?
** Or when does childhood play evolve, or morph , into work, to a profession. Even a dangerous one?
*When does supply and demand enter?
- Is it worth less if it is fun ? Or that so many aspire?
- Can you limit market value?
- Is higher education wise to entertain the public ?
- Insurance for the gifted ?
- “…elite institutions have entered into an athletic arms race that has pulled them from their core educational missions.”
- As Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, once famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
- Education and the Market mix ?
- We are weeks away from TV college basketball. Last year ( 2023) none of the players were supposedly paid; The schools, the networks, coaches, trainers, vendors, refs all were paid. What if Cinema didn’t pay the actors. Or Broadway? Mr. Eastwood, “…all employees are paid minimum wage on this film.”
- No one has all the answers. The country is mulling the sports world over. Most think their opinion should rule, But it is time to change some major rules,
*SQUARE PEG INTO A ROUND HOLE?
- Look at the stands during Michigan football games, or Kentucky men’s basketball crowd. Then the field or court.
- WHO IS IN THE SKYBOX VS WHO IS ON THE FIELD ?
SUPPLY AND DEMAND ?
When a former Duke basketball player ( Dick Divcenzo ) suggested college players should be paid, he was deemed a radical.
The old guard concluded “.. .Hell, he gets a scholarship”, while administrators quietly deemed it unaffordable.
2023-24. THINGS HAVE CHANGED
LIKENESS, PORTALS, NCAA PROBLEMS
Pay or Punt ? PAY WHO? PAY HOW? WHO PAYS? SEZ WHO?
*SQUARE PEG INTO A ROUND HOLE?
SCENE: A COURTROOM. JUDGE : You get the legal maximum—twenty years.
CONVICTED : But Judge, if you give me 20 years I’ll die
in jail !
JUDGE: Well—-do the best you can.
***** A random library choice led me to THE SECOND MOUNTAIN by David Brooks. The two main ideas seemed first, a “mountain” of self interest. . The second mountain’s orientation—selflessly help others ! Hmmm!
Published in 2019, the book hit an incidentally current chord with me.
Many have said if you love your job you never have to work. And I did love coaching. Retirement and physical limitations led to “hobby writing”,
Surprisingly blogs and books flowed. I knew tennis—help the high school coaches and teams! Save some college tennis scholarships for Americans ? I’m all in. Serious ideas? Hell yes!
Save the Middle East? World peace is above my pay grade,
But the same old problem nagged at me.
Most adults wonder what if they had chosen another profession. I think at 8 or 9 I was coaching (sort of) and always enjoyed the choice of this high calling.
And what a time period to be in the athletic world, even at the small college level. Title IX, steroids, weight training, academic standards, TV, alignment. By far the most volatile—Integration. Early 60’s teaching in eastern North Carolina——lots of worry about drugs and Vietnam. While worthy opponents, I advised to watch drinking and driving as of major concern. And Racism.
*Reality 1965 : Jackie Robinson, et. al. vs sports history is now. What kind of kids are these ? Hey— these are good people. They need help. I voted for altruism. Mostly simple advice and experience rendering of a new world ( the talk on the radiator, finding a dentist, your kids and reading). “Your job is to advance your family one generation. Your children should EXPECT to go to college!”
******** Allow me one last personal experience. I was given an award at athletic banquet at Barton College. While I certainly appreciated this recognition, the moment that touched me was at the end. After the banquet several people came by our tablet to speak. I try to always be courteous to everyone. After a few minutes I noticed a Black woman waiting patiently to the side. I did not recognize her immediately. After the others went their way we addressed each other. I listened to her opening comment : “ Coach Parham , you probably don’t remember me.”
I quickly headed her off. “ I can’t call your name but I can tell you that you made an “A” in the tennis class you took from me.”
She looked puzzled—then spoke. “Well yes you did and I didn’t deserve it. But I am glad I can thank you and tell you about that time.” Other than athletes there were few “average” Black women attending the college. She was struggling with being in this strange environment, which became more difficult in a class of white kids, many of whom had some tennis background. “My feelings of isolation had increased and I truly had about decided to quit college. The same day you called me aside after class. You gave me some extra minutes of personal instruction on my tennis serve—about which I hadn’t a clue. You told me to practice some at the lesser used and more private courts near the gym. And you gave a bucket of tennis balls and a racket. You also seemed to sense my unhappiness and gave me some encouragement as well as some kind words. I came here tonite to tell you that I went back from that class and decided no to quit.”
She went on to tell me she had graduated and gone on to a full career and although tears were in our eyes , what was going through my head was how grateful I was that i’d had enough sense, early in career to be kind to this young woman.
Momentarily I told her not to feel she didn’t deserve an “A”in this strange class. “Do you know why you deserved that grade?
My syllabus stated the high priority I placed on attendance and effort I arrived at work at 8am each morning. After our conversation I watched you at the courts near the gym, early in the morning, practicing your serve .
Your serve got pretty good.” ( From A LEVEL OF THINKING by Tom Parham ).
*********WHY TEACH AND/OR COACH ( An earlier Blog )
You never know who you’re influencing when you coach. The same was true for teaching in college. Formal classroom or just talking to kids.
A basketball player named Damian Carter appeared in my doorway one day at Elon. He said he rode up and down I-85 often and had planned to stop by many times.
He was in his forties, had been a pretty solid player at Atlantic Christian, having transferred from UNC-Wilmington. At Wilmington he hadn’t played as much as he wanted. The same was true at ACC later on, and he found his chances of pro ball weren’t going to materialize. He was about to quit college though his grades were good.
I don’t remember the specific conversation with Damien, but it was one of fifty I’d had with basketball players.
It went like this:
- Are you the first from your family to go to college? Often the answer was yes.
- You’re not going to make $100,000 playing pro ball, you understand?
- You can get your degree and get a very good job. People are looking for athletic people with degrees.
- Your job is to elevate your family and its expectations one generation. Put your money in compound interest, and expect your children to go to college.
I agreed with Damian that that was the gist of what I advised the “first kids.” Damian smiled and added, “Coach, my two daughters have college degrees, and I’ve got a million bucks in the bank!” Compound interest.
*Much has been written about the “Black athlete.” There is no question in my mind about the talent level of these athletes.
Coming from the South and being a minister’s son there was little question, early on about God. Certainly, in my mind, he was male, white, and looked a whole lot like Santa Claus. Surely too, he was lovable, kind, and simply good “supreme being.”
After watching sports in America the last forty years my guess about God’s nature is more Machiavelian. After watching America make a religion out of sports, while at the same time mistreating the black population so badly, I picture God’s role differently. My guess iswe’ve put so much emphasis on sport he’s peeved. Think not? Watch where parents are at 11:00 am on Sunday’s if their child is in a soccer match. Hmm? Did God say “I’ll give these fanatics a dilemma!” He then put this glorious athletic talent in many of the Black population, and now he’s “up there” giggling at what America is doing with sports.
Please don’t get me wrong. The Black athletes have paid their dues in practice, injury, and sweat just like anyone. Probably more so.
Still -” “…they got the “A” bands .”
Integration caused a lot of headaches in the alignment of conferences, etc. Who plays and who you play, is important, and alignment turned things upside down.
I do believe Proposition 48 (the academic guidelines for collegiate eligibility) yielded a lot of good. I wonder about the S.A.T. and fairness, but it is a “hard” number. Read DAYS OF GRACE by Arthur Ashe.
My guess is the best barometer for academic success is the athlete’s class rank. With exceptions, most of those who could achieve class rank had enough ability to succeed.
******Malcom Gladwell says reading lovingly to every child is indispensable. Without this parental effort failure is imminent.
********Pat Conroy from MY READING LIFE: “…if anyone knows a more important profession than teaching i wish they would let me know what it is before I die.”
**********A fellow coach once suggested, “…the NCAA should be limited to 10 rules, and if they add one they have to eliminate one.
************PORTALS AND POTHOLES (2022 )
*******Even the pros have a salary cap.
Was it Southern California that recruited twenty plus PORTAL footballers? Does that equate to that many legit freshmen who didn’t get that scholarship/ opportunity? How many times did this happen in all football programs combined? All sports? How many closed doors to the high school class of 2024?
For years football coaches have often recruited unhappy players from other teams. Or those who can legally transfer and play at a different school. The new NCAA “Portals Rule ” has jet streamed this strategy. One of the sad side effects of “Portals ” is that high school seniors are overlooked for older and seasoned upperclass college kids.
My guess is that this avenue will be adopted by American college tennis. And it will undoubtedly involve international players who can now easily move to “greener pastures.” American high school aspirants will be moved down the prospects list, or be dismissed even quicker.
******** “…it’s time for cool. cool change.”
********** MAYBE NOT!
Money will dictate a ”Power 5” style membership. Division III may still play without athletic grants. Will the groupings in the middle be determined by the level of financial limits each school chooses?
HAZARDOUS DUTY PAY?
PRESCIENT ?
1976 James Michener wrote SPORTS IN AMERICA. He made the statement then “…I might allow my child to play football, but I wouldn’t encourage him to play.”********
How many over matched youngsters get hurt in these games? One player said “…our coach would give OUR lives for the school!”**************
The consolidation of schools eliminated many of the smaller players. African American footballers were added to the talent pool, along with weight programs, better diets, and better coaching, and in many instances steroids. Tremendous contact ensued.
And while college and professional football are in the crosshairs of violence, perhaps high school footballers are even more vulnerable. And here is why: the weak and small and slow are eliminated at the college level. But in many high schools small youngsters, who are very limited players, may face tremendous opponents that wouldn’t be admitted to college. These guys hitting the “canon fodder” can create catastrophe.
JR HIGH FOOTBALL DISPARITY— 125 lbs pre-puberty vs 250 pounder.
********** NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL 2023 ( 26 )
ON MARCH 23, 2023 BY ETHOMASPARHAMIN E. SPORTS COMMENTARYLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT
“Senor, Senor–can you tell me where we’re heading, Lincoln County or Armaggdeon ?” B. Dylan
—- “People get all caught up in the coaching and all that stuff. It’s Dudes ! You’ve got to have players, and these Dudes put in the work !” Kansas State Coach, Jerome Tang.
—Soon ? Concealed carry in the game?
—Coach Boeheim–on St. John’s hiring of Rick Pitino : “He has coached forty years. That is not a lot of trouble for that long.”
* I took my wife , a Canadien, to her first college basketball game. After the game she asked “ …is there a gym somewhere full of Black people watching white kids play.
***************
********CAN IT WORK ? (1960’S POSITION— ( ‘…you can’t legislate morality “” )
********* Oh yeah——-Ask these Women about
TITLE IX
2019 on Athletics in the USA
World Cup soccer competition began in 1930. The United States men have never won it. Soccer is more widely played world-wide than any sport.
Title IX was implemented in 1970. The World Cup for women began in 1991. Our women have won twice. No other country has a “Title IX”. Sports and sociology go hand in hand.
************ON PROXIMITY
Vans, buses, and planes with loads of college kids are dangerous enough. Add severe weather often experienced due north, to inexperienced, or young, or ambitious coaches and players, and a recipe for tragedy looms.
***********Ask Campbell University’s coaches, who just “came in from the cold!” They were in a league with teams in 11 different states! How is that a reasonable conference? Maybe it’s just me, but I loved the “southerness” of the Southern Conference. No need to fly anywhere. Believe me, with no TV revenue, and travel out the wazoo, these programs and people take big blows.
***********Radical idea?–Carolina, State, Duke, Wake Forest, Appalachian, and East Carolina all play each other? ps-UNC Charlotte will be ready soon. Western Carolina Univ. No flying required, football or women’s volleyball. Anybody.
******* Football has got to change the frequency of concussions. Or lawyers will break anyone who charges to see the game.
******** Women’s and girl’s soccer must create rules and training that drastically reduce anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries.
*********When annual college/university costs exceed $70,000 per year, what sense does a “liberal arts” degree make?
******** Every time an Incorrigible is recruited, selected, hired, etc., a good kid will be eliminated, or cut, or not given a chance. Same for coaches, administrators, owners, all the way up and down
********** ON DRUGS : If the top (pro sports) demands usage, the news will flow to the bottom (even children’s sports). Hopefully parents will guard their kids, but some have turned a blind eye or even encouraged the madness. Sanity is the only hope…
*********** “The mystery masked man was smart
He got himself a Tonto
‘Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free
But Tonto he was smarter
And one day said kemo sabe
Well, kiss my ass, I bought a boat
I’m going out to sea”
( IF I HAD A BOAT ) by Lyle Lovett )
ACKNOWLEDGING ( Some new friends, students , players, coaches, that taught me. Thanks.
I don’t remember any real relationship with Black persons until I began teaching and coaching in the fall of 1964. That year Henry Logan became the first Black basketball player in our North State Conference. As an assistant varsity basketball coach I helped recruit Clifton Earl Black and James Jones from nearby Pinetops, N.C. the next year. Below I have listed some who followed. Mostly students , I thought I was teaching THEM. First athletes were all American males. Then- young women, internationals of both genders, coaches and colleagues.
Atlantic Christian College changed the school name to Barton College (1959-63 as a student, 1964-1985 as faculty ).
NEW BULLDOGS AND FRIENDS: Cliff Black, James Jones, Richard Battle, George Bell, Rafael and Tyra Boyd, Kathy Wall, Shelia Keel, Annie Mae Wooten, Damien Carter, Sarah Leonard , Lorraine Riley, Speedy Ganor, Tony Barriteau, Elfateh Eltom, Sharhabil Humeida. Lorenzo Jones, Stan Lewter, William Bogues, Bobbie Edwards, James Leggett.
Elon ( !985-2004 ) John Bradsher, Tony Settles, Gino Mc Rea, Frank and Mae Haith, Richard Evans , Dwayne Clark, Derrick Moore, Chris Smith, Harry Burroughs, William Massenburg, Ann Lashley, Leo Barker, Grady Williams, Mike Howell, Larry McClain, Steve Ferguson, Arketa Banks. And my assistant coach Bryce Holmes. Helping administer Football was new to me, The football players at Elon really helped me.
The Little Green Book of Tennis 