"The NCAA is a zombie system, feeding on the flesh of the people they are supposed to be educating."

A book worth reading, but you won't, will you?

It's another of my periodic reminders that Dave Zirin is among the select few sports writers worth reading, for the simple reason that he refuses to view sports outside a broader societal context: Our games, and the games we play.

Your March Madness Bracket Is Exploiting Student-Athletes, by Dave Zirin (Edge of Sports)

The quote of this year’s NCAA tournament was spoken before a minute of action took place on the court. Lavar Ball, the garrulous hype-man/father of UCLA star freshman Lonzo Ball as well as upcoming prepsters LaMelo Ball and Liangelo Ball, was asked if he believed that he was “exploiting” his sons. His response: “What do you think UCLA is doing?” Half the sports commentariat reached for their fainting couches and the other half said, “Damn right” ...

... If the economic structure of this thing we call amateur college basketball has altered so dramatically, the situation of the players is painfully similar to the days when Kareem patrolled the paint at Pauley Pavilion. In fact, the most tangible differences for players, compared to Kareem’s days, are that they travel greater distances, play more games, risk more injury, and have less flexibility in terms of the classes that they can take. In other words, as the money has become greater, the level of exploitation has increased.

Enjoy the tournament, suckers. The robber barons appreciate it.

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Previously:

"A rank hypocrite and a user of teenagers. In other words, a typical, big-time, top-tier NCAA football coach."

The corrupt NCAA monopoly: "American society is lying to itself about the virtues of its favorite form of entertainment."

"A billion dollar sports enterprise where the athletes aren't paid a penny."

Zirin on "Louisville Basketball and the NCAA’s Political Economy of Misogyny."

R.I.P. Malone and Dawkins, the "two original prophets of justice about the sham amateurism of NCAA basketball."

Zirin nails it: NCAA as "Poster Boy for Corruption and Exploitation."

Couldn't have said it better myself, although heaven knows, I've tried. Call me a Marxist if you wish, but when players generate billions in revenue for others while receiving farthings in return value, it's simply a farce.

Go get 'em, Dave.

The NCAA: Poster Boy for Corruption and Exploitation, by Dave Zirin (The Nation)

It’s time for that period of breathless college-hoops hysteria known as March Madness. It’s time for bracketology, Final Four predictions, office pools and the gambling of billions of dollars, legal and illegal. What will go largely unnoted is the fact that kids, ranging in age from 18 to 22 and branded with corporate logos, are producing this tidal wave of revenue—and they’re not receiving a dime of it.

Welcome to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the twenty-first century, about as corrupt and mangled an institution as exists in the United States.