“Shut up and stick to
what you do best.” “I hate when athletes try to do more than just play sports.”
“These guys need to just forget about everything else and play ball.” These
quotes are just a small portion of the backlash of what has taken place since the
Missouri Tigers football team chose to peacefully protest former University
President, Tim Wolfe. Originally led by the black members of the team, majority
of the team, including Coach Gary Pinkel, eventually stood in solidarity and
vowed not to partake in ANY football related activities until Wolfe resigned or
was removed from his position. As expected, this has created quite a stir on
the campus, but the controversy has much deeper roots.
For those who say, “stick
to what you do best” or think these guys need to forget about everything else
and play ball, I pose this question. Why? Why do they need to ignore social
issues that in the grand scheme of things are actually larger than the game
they are playing? Unless you know them personally, how do you even know that
athletics is their biggest talent? I’ll propose this answer. Because in the
minds of so many Americans, an athlete, especially a black one, exists only for
the purpose of entertainment and financial profit. The second these athletes
use their platform to promote other agendas, it becomes a problem because those
in power know how far reaching those platforms truly are. Therefore, “placism”
more than racism is the battle cry for control.
When Missouri graduate
student Jonathan Butler first informed the university he would be going on a
hunger strike, it didn’t get much attention. In fact, it got such little
attention that Wolfe was filmed saying some rather disparaging remarks to
students of color in a smug tone as if to say, “I’m not going anywhere. Get
used to it.” In essence, Wolfe didn’t give a damn nor did any other university
official that Butler was willing to starve himself to death until a change in
leadership was made. Insert the football team, a significant cash cow for the
black and gold. Upon taking notice of Butler’s seriousness of having Wolfe
removed, they gave their support, and the university had no choice but to take
notice.
They had no choice but to
take notice of the several million dollars they stood to lose if the football
team didn’t play that weekend against BYU. They had no choice but to take
notice of the bad publicity this was already giving them, the SEC conference,
and recruiting ability. They had no choice but to acknowledge how many academic
programs are funded by athletics. Within days, Wolfe voluntarily resigned, and
the Chancellor followed shortly after. What does all of this mean? P-O-W-E-R!
Wolfe’s resignation served as proof that NO university president is above the
institution’s bottom line-$$$. Anyone who is bad for or hurting business won’t
have a place on the campus. In the minds of some people, use of this P-O-W-E-R
was “stepping out of place” for athletes, hence the backlash.
But the reaction is way
more out of fear than anger. It’s fear that recognition of this P-O-W-E-R could
signal the beginning of the end of a corrupt system. An end to a system that
pimps out college athletes for a high price. An end to a system where college
athletes are no longer brainwashed to believe they are powerless and must merely
accept the current situation. No more counting millions in a room while dressed
in $3,000 Armani suits and Rolex watches while the “Amateur Athletes” who made
you a good portion of that money struggle to eat or pay for decent clothes. But
the beginning of a time where you must now share the profits. Consider two
scenarios. The NCAA’s two biggest money makers are basketball and football.
Imagine if all college
basketball players decided right before the start of March Madness, they would
not be playing a single game until something was done about the unacceptable
lack of proper compensation. Imagine if NO college football was played on
Saturdays along with NO playoffs or bowl games until profit was evenly
distributed. I can see it now. University presidents and NCAA officials would
probably have piss running down their legs at the mere thought of all that
money being lost. And they should. They should be terrified because this is not
an unrealistic scenario. People thought it was unfathomable for an entire
football team to decide they would not play, but then we saw Grambling St. and
Mizzou. The example and proof are now there.
Television deals, ticket
sales, jersey sales, and a plethora of other college athletic aspects. NONE of
it happens if these guys decide not to play. And now, they know it. So, I hope
the NCAA enjoyed the roughly one billion dollars of revenue they generated in
2014 and many other previous years because I’ve got a very strong feeling they
will be splitting a significant portion of those proceeds way sooner rather
than later.
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