Sanctioned scrutiny
No, the soap opera duels between Shaq and Kobe will not surpass the countless great Rocky films, but the happy ending did result in an underplayed story.
All the cameras and the notepads, as they should have, shot and scribbled away the two men’s every move in the recent Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat NBA special.
What was almost missed were the forearm shivers exchanged between the Diesel and Andrew Bynum, the Lakers controversial draft pick straight from high school.
Shaq, in essence, told Bynum after the game to “back down little boy and don’t mess with me until you get a college degree.”
Officer O’Neil — he is a sworn-in U.S. deputy marshal — is apparently trying to police the academic choices of America’s youth.
Either he is infuriated with incoming-intelligence standards of his limited fraternity — which I stylishly call, Tubby Gonna Dunka — or he’s worried his rap career is going down the tubes with the NBA’s youth movement.
With rhymes like “all you jealous punks can’t stop my dunks,” Shaq has nothing to worry about on the hip-hop side of town, but it does raise an interesting point on the flip side.
In a backwards sort of way, he flip-flopped a hip-hop and slam-dunked home a point many around the nation are toying with.
That would be: collegiate athletics and the integrity of a degree.
The NCAA seems to think the topic merits concern seeing it was part of the discussion in a recent NCAA convention.
“ There seems to be no significant problems in women’s sports and non-revenue sports,” Walter Harrison, chairman of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance, said at the conference. “Football, men’s basketball and baseball seem to have the most penalties, but that should be no surprise.”
The penalty mentioned is to revoke scholarships for one year. The NCAA approved it two years ago.
Sanctions won’t be decided until April, but some rates and figures have already been released and show areas of concern.
According to the Post-Gazette out of Pittsburgh, the University of Pittsburgh only graduated 29 percent of its men’s basketball players that entered the university from 1995 to ‘98. That percent was even raised when the Graduation Success Rate which factors in well-standing transfers.
Pitt may be an example, but they are far from the exception. There are reasons why the issue is a concern and watching interviews during March Madness and bowl games only cement that notion.
Locally, NDSU has nothing to worry about. Gene Taylor, NDSU’s athletic director, went one-by-one and revealed the Academic Progress Rate for each sport boasting high marks for most sports.
APRs and GSRs aside, the point of participating in college athletics is to receive a higher education.
When Shaq references for a younger counterpart to go back to college, it had better be to get in and get out.
There is nothing wrong with the fact that Bynum bypassed college because what he didn’t abuse the system to warm up for the NBA.
Kids that do are a joke and the coaches that let them are an even bigger joke.
Good news is the numbers appear to be pointing toward a raise in graduation rates.
At the least, it is a step toward another happy ending