*I receive a phone call from a friend of mine who teaches elementary school. She told me that she’d spent the week excited about the fact that some college basketball players were coming to her school to eat lunch with the kids. She thought that her inner city students would gain from the chance to be mentored by the men they saw on TV.
Was she ever wrong. The men who came to her school left a less-than-favorable impression: Their chopped up speaking skills made her wonder if they’d gotten past a fifth grade reading level, some of them didn’t even know if they were Juniors or Seniors in college, and most of them barely knew their major (which was usually General Studies or one of those other “interesting” majors that happen to be chosen by half the basketball team).
As my friend described her situation, I thought about how far too often, collegiate athletics becomes nothing more than a virtual wasteland for African American men. Stuck on hoop dreams that will never materialize, many of these men throw away any chance or desire to obtain a meaningful education, and simultaneously buy into a culture of self-indulgent, counter-productive behavior that ends up making some of them almost worthless to our community.
You know the behavior I’m talking about, which is driven by commercialized hip-hop (that’s why rappers and athletes love to roll together): “I got many hoes,” “pass the weed n*gga,” “Shawty, I ain’t been to class in like two weeks”… that type of stuff. Rather than the strong black man who leads his family and community, these men are encouraged to become the weed-smoking, pistol-poppin, club-strollin, woman-gettin playa who grows old sittin’ in his girlfriend’s living room in his drawz playing Xbox all day… how deep they fall into the stereotype just depends on how much of the cultural kool-aid they choose to drink.
What’s so interesting about this behavior is that it is in stark contrast to the way these men line up like soldiers on their chosen academic plantations, running offensive schemes to precision, practicing their hearts out and displaying Einstein-like brilliance as they master complicated playbooks that are 200 pages thick. They are managed like well-trained circus animals, working to the bone to fill the coffers of an athletic overseer who stands to earn millions from the team’s next bowl-game or Final Four appearance.
Of course I’m not talking about every college athlete. Some athletes understand the game of life, and are protected from the desire to sell their soul for someone else’s economic dream. They understand the value in being both athletic and intelligent, and look forward to their futures as strong husbands and fathers.
But most of us know the brothers who “just don’t get it.” These are the men who, like pigs being led to slaughter, have bought into a lifestyle that is going to lead to their demise and the destruction of everything they love. Some of them end up in prison, some end up getting shot at a club during a “fight wit dat n*gga who was talking sh*t,” and even more end up as unemployed, uneducated, washed-up ex-NBA wannabes seeking out dead fantasies in the bottom of a bottle.
Is the NCAA partially to blame for this? Absolutely. They seem a lot more concerned when a player affects their revenue stream than they are about that player being educated or fairly compensated. But are our men to blame as well? Most definitely – in life, some of us are victims and some of us are volunteers. The players are just as happy as their coaches to sign the lopsided contracts that give away nearly all of their labor and educational rights in exchange for a little “shine,” “swag,” and “ballerability.”
Even in prostitution, there are some situations where both the pimp and the hoe are happy with the arrangement. Collegiate athletics is the perfect pimp-hoe prototype and it makes me incredibly sad. Perhaps one day we will wake up and smell the exploitation.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and the founder of ALARM, the Athlete Liberation Academic Reform Movement. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
I just read your bio on Wikipedia. Inspirational. Your bio underscores the mighty importance of LOVE
in learning. Once you knew you were loved, you began to take-off educationally. I am a firm believer
in love and learning. Kids learn, we all do, when we feel loved. That is why I believe the education of our kids would improve If THEIR SCHOOLS WERE STAFFED BY TEACHERS WHO REPRESENT THE DIVERSITY OF THEIR COMMUNITIES. I don’t think I need elaborate. Continued success.
It isn’t just those in sports. Black Americans can’t speak their native language. Parents bare the major blame. They enter school unable to talk proper English. The teachers don’t or are afraid to correct students and allow them to murder the English language. Most Black American athletes talk as though they are in Special Needs Programs. It’s time we call them out on this. The only way to get them to do better is to teach them the correct way and to shame the older ones to do better.
Last of the Frozen Chosin
Dr. Boyce you’re dealing with a touchy topic! I KNOW where you’re coming from!! Four decades ago, I was a got an athletic scholarship to play basketball at Colorado State University. When I arrived, I was immediately whisked to the athletic department for a ‘briefing’ about the rules and regulations at the university. Interestingly, all of the ‘briefees’ were African-American. We were instructed to major in Physical Education because we would assuredly maintain our eligibility because our instructors, fellow atheltic coaches “would take care of us.” I was an honor student from Oscar Robertson’s High School in Indianapolis who was one of the top scholars in the state. I came to study and get a great education FIRST and play basketball SECOND. I refused and majored in biological science and Spanish and that angered the athletic department. How dare this Negro from Naptown defy us!! Anyway, a fellow student who was much older than us and recently discharged from the U S Army angered the athletic department because he dated white women. Since he was a P E major, he was systematically flunked out. A few of my fellow basketball players could barely read nor write but we practiced daily while white students studied. I kept my GPA up and graduated. Others didn’t. I soon realized that we Black Athletes were nothing more than “weekend entertainers or bufoons” for bored white Coloradoan students. Many of us had four years of ‘college’ and had freshmen credits!!!! This stuff is still going on. PS, my flunked out fellow athlete became a famous hollywood movie star. Thanks for letting me vent Doc. Fanteeking/Cape Coast
OPPPSS! “Four decades ago, I got an athletic scholarship…”
WTF’ever Boyce. Did you take pride in referring to a newborn infant as a “nygga bytch?”
Fk outta here dude!
BTW, I blame your dumb teacher friend for bringing dumb bball players to her school. This has little to nothing to do w/black “athletes” than it does just dumb men.
If you are in college and don’t know if you’re a senior or junior..then you are an idiot and should drop out ASAP. She was excited to see dumb ass men coming to her school? I’ve seen and heard a lot but a grown man not knowing his standing in college? That’s new…very..very new and I’m inclined to that either you or your teacher friend are engaging in a bit of hyperbole.