Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review March 19, 2001 / 24 Adar, 5761

Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


'March madness' is aptly named


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- MY freshman year at college I lived in a dorm, next to a guy on the basketball team. His last name was Carrington. He was funny. He kept bragging to everyone about how good he was, how the Celtics were going to give him a tryout, but when we went to the games, he didn't even start. He came off the bench.

That was OK. We cheered for him anyhow. Mine was a small college, and our gym was tiny enough that Carrington could hear us yelling if we waited for the right moment. During the game one of our gang would get hot dogs or Milk Duds from the concession table, where the money was still collected in cigar boxes.

And after the game, we'd clomp down through the bleachers, holding our coats, and go stand by the locker-room door until Carrington came out and we could tease him about his playing time.

I had a great sense of school pride during those games, a real feeling of my team and my gym and my guys and my place. The squad wasn't great, but most years we won more than we lost. Besides, it was our gym. When we went to the games, we saw familiar student faces, we said hi, waved. We made note of the pretty girls, whom we knew by name, even if we were too shy to talk to them.

Back then, the basketball games were part of college life, not something that dwarfed it. You asked your friends that afternoon, "Hey, you wanna go to the game tonight?" and a few hours later you showed your student pass at the door, and you went in.

Yesterday, I watched another college basketball game. It was of the NCAA tournament, March Madness, 65 teams in a multibillion-dollar annual industry.

The game was not played on the home team's campus, but in an arena more than 1,000 miles away. It was beamed across the world via TV signal. The players were inaccessible to the public from the moment they wake up in their security-guarded hotel rooms to the moment the private bus whisks them to airport for a flight home.

I recorded the game, dutifully, because that is my job. But forgive me if I don't share the same wild excitement that some screaming TV broadcaster tries to inject.

When I look at college basketball, I see what it's become. But more and more, I see what it's lost.

I don't see small gyms where you can yell and be heard by a friend on the team; I see sold-out football stadiums, where blue-suited security men guard the court with walkie-talkies, chasing away anyone who isn't from CBS.

I don't see mostly students, hanging out and enjoying a college experience; I see people who have spent thousands of dollars in transportation, scalped tickets and "officially sanctioned" NCAA merchandise.

I don't see players stepping out of the locker room into the friendly circle of a few close friends. I see future millionaires being whisked via golf cart to a news conference, where they lean into microphones and recite dull, glassy-eyed sentences.

I don't see fun. I see pressure.

I see coaches with slick hair and designer suits, bucking for endorsement deals. I see men like Bobby Knight and Rick Pitino peddling themselves, coaxing millions out of universities that refuse to pay the players a dime, proving that the game is, indeed, more enriching for coaches than for kids.

I see Nike and Reebok setting up camp in every tournament location, selling millions of shoes, warmups and hats, acting as if they're somehow "helping" the game, when in fact they have manipulated it.

I see freshmen with tattoos banging their chests, pointing fingers at themselves for glory, talking about "what's best for me and my family," which translates into "don't expect to see me next year, because I'm going pro."

I see betting pools, Internet sites, statistical services, "insider" talk shows. I see Dick Vitale sound-alike contests.

I see big, bigger, biggest.

I miss Carrington. I miss the Milk Duds. I miss knowing that all the freshmen, sophomores and juniors on my team actually will be back next year.

It's March. And yes, it's madness.

Are we so sure that's a good thing?



Comment on JWR contributor Mitch Albom's column by clicking here. You may purchase his runaway bestseller, Tuesdays with Morrie, by clicking here.

Up

03/07/01: I'm sorry, I apologize, I beg your forgiveness
03/05/01: Young fans' web sites become a Big Harry deal

© 2001 DFP