As has become custom, President Obama kicked off the World Series of Brackets from inside the White House, filling out his NCAA tournament gambling sheet on national television.
This reads like a Mad Lib. The World Series belongs to baseball. World Series of Brackets = nonsense. The correct term is 'NCAA tournament,' which Whitlock obviously knows because...it appears in the second half of this sentence. And 'NCAA tournament gambling sheet' is also nonsense. Just say 'bracket.' Is this meant to be funny or quirky? I have a headache and we're only one sentence in.
The Big Dance,
Finally, some correct terminology.
amateurism’s greatest scam,
[double-take]
remains relevant primarily because of America’s addiction to wagering.
That's reasonable. The NCAA tournament is popular only because Americans like gambling. This explains why the World Series of Poker is one of television's most-watched* sports events in the country.
*claim may be counter-factual.
The play on the court is sloppy and uneven.
Anecdotal. Subjective. Irrelevant. Gaaahhh.
Most Americans can’t identify the players.
Other things most Americans can't identify:
1. Iraq on a map.
2. The Electoral College.
3. How long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
4. The Bill of Rights.
5. And so on.
So this isn't really saying much.
We’re light years removed from when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon and the Fab Five and North Carolina staged unforgettable postseason basketball clashes.
I cannot believe that Whitlock is trashing the NCAA tournament in the middle of March. This is blasphemy. This is the modern-day equivalent of practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1692.
The Bracket — i.e. gambling — is college basketball’s biggest star. Joe Lunardi, ESPN’s year-round “bracketologist,” is more well-known nationally than any player.
There are hundreds of relevant college basketball players in the country. How many other bracketologists do you think there are? No, seriously, Jason Whitlock. Ask yourself that question. You'll realize why this statement is complete garbage.
The context is provided to illustrate the absurdity of the NCAA rule that cost Kansas State fifth-year senior Jamar Samuels his final collegiate game.
This is the simple point you were trying to get to all along. So why did you have to call the NCAA tournament a sham motivated by gamblers? The rule can be absurd on its own. Your article can start right here, and your audience wouldn't already be totally disgusted with you.
Twenty-four hours before the Wildcats departed on their NCAA tournament road trip, Samuels accepted $200 in potentially impermissible benefits from the founder of the AAU program that supported him as a child...Samuels, the emotional leader of the Wildcats, their best rebounder and second-best scorer, watched in street clothes as the Fab Melo-less and vulnerable Orange eliminated K-State from the tournament.
Now, you can argue Samuels and the Wildcats got what they deserved, as Digger Phelps sanctimoniously did on ESPN over the weekend.
You can argue that, because you'd actually be right, considering Samuels broke a rule. If you'd like to question the rule's existence in the first place, then that's your right. Just know that I'd be more willing to listen to your reasoning if you weren't the same guy who called March Madness a scam.
Referencing his by-the-letter-of-the-law days as the head coach at Notre Dame 20 years ago, years spent primarily recruiting kids from nuclear families, Phelps pointed out he told ND recruits not to accept any benefits from outside their families.
As per, you know, NCAA rules.
Not to steal from political commentator Bill Maher, but Phelps lives in the “privileged bubble,” an area removed from reality that is off limits to kids like Jamar Samuels.
Mostly irrelevant. Digger Phelps was essentially saying "you should follow the rule!" and not "the rule is 100% correct and I'm glad it exists!" Big difference. You can make this into a socioeconomic issue if you please, and question whether the rule is fair and just. But calling Phelps privileged and out of touch when he was arguing for enforcement of an existing rule isn't really fair.
In 2012, what is family? And who is in yours?
Nothing like some existential questions in the middle of an article about college basketball.
...If his biological family didn’t have the cash, where should have Samuels turned for spending money? K-State coach Frank Martin? Martin is the man who promised to be Samuels’ collegiate father figure. Martin is the leader of K-State’s basketball family. Martin is paid more than a million dollars a year. He can afford it.
Dangerous territory, man. Once you open the door to 'coaches giving players money,' there's no coming back.
But the NCAA rule book prohibits Martin from doing what is right. And the NCAA media slave catchers live for the day — even years later — they learn of a head coach sharing his wealth with his players.
Okay. Whoa there. Listen. The NCAA makes billions from these athletes playing basketball. So yeah, there's an expectation that the NCAA will look out for Jamar Samuels, not suspend him from his final game. Any rational person would agree with this. But hey, when you say things like, "NCAA media slave catchers," I don't feel like immediately jumping into your bandwagon, okay?
And now, going Big Picture, you're also conveniently breezing past the fact that Jamar Samuels and lots of guys like him are being handed a scholarship and a degree to play a game. Okay? To play a game with a ball and a hoop. All things considered, that's a decent deal. Sure, there are some major kinks in the system. There's some injustice. But, BIG PICTURE, that's a pretty awesome set-up.
...Samuels came to Kansas State dreaming of being an NBA player. He’ll leave Manhattan, Kan., with a degree and as the winningest player in the history of the school.
So like I said, big picture, that's not too bad, eh?
It’s a great legacy that was tarnished by the NCAA’s fraudulent, president-celebrated, media-enforced “amateur” bracket pool.
To recap: Jamar Samuels was punished for breaking a rule. Jason Whitlock blames the following people/things:
1. The NCAA.
2. Digger Phelps.
3. President Obama.
4. "The bubble of privilege."
5. The media.
6. Slave catchers.
7. Gambling.
8. The rules.
9. The World Series of Brackets.
College basketball and its NCAA tournament are a government-approved, nationally televised, multibillion-dollar scam and we’re supposed to care that Malone gave Samuels $200 to spend while K-State was visiting Pittsburgh? Really?
I wish I lived in the “bubble of privilege” Digger Phelps inhabits. The real world is embarrassingly unfair.
True that. And it's sad that Samuels missed his final game because of something silly. But the real world could've been far, far crueller to Jamar Samuels, who after all, only missed 40 minutes of a basketball game and now walks away from Kansas State University with an all-expenses-paid degree and a brighter future. All of which prompted Jason Whitlock to call the entire system a disgraceful sham. Maybe he's just upset because his bracket had K-State going all the way.
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