The Entire UConn Basketball Team Better Make It To Class On Time This Morning
Jamie Schwaberow. Getty Images.Congratulations to the University of Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team on winning the 2023 NCAA National Championship. It is quite the accomplishment and should be celebrated as much. A fantastic game to cap off a fantastic season. Hats off to them.
HOWEVA…
The NCAA is currently in a spot where they're fighting their dicks off to keep the "student" portion of student-athletes intact. With the NIL and other legislative acts pushing NCAA athletes towards being "employees" of the universities instead of students, these institutions are trying their damndest to make sure that shit doesn't happen. Heck, you've got the commissioner of the Patriot League, Jennifer Heppel, essentially out here saying that the Patriot League will just drop sports all together if the athletes are considered employees.
In other words, either these schools get to keep total control over the athletes or else they'll just simply stop sponsoring intercollegiate athletic programs. Got it. Very mature and rational response by PL commissioner Jennifer Heppel here. And if that's how they really feel, then fine.
But….but you're kind of a massive piece of shit if you force these kids to play a national championship game at 9:20pm on a Monday night. How are they supposed to make it back to school in time to get to class on Tuesday? How are we expect these kids to be able to uphold the importance of balancing the athletic and academic experience? I'm sure the NCAA might see how it's a little difficult to see how they could possibly give a shit about the actual academic portion of that balancing act. At least when there are millions and millions of dollars on the line from broadcasting rights deals and advertisers. That would make them almost look like a bunch of greedy assholes who want to get rich off of free labor. Pretty sure there's another word for that but it's slipping my mind at the moment.
Long story short, these kids better have their asses planted in their seats a with a notebook out and all their assignments completed this morning. 9:20pm EST tip off time is no excused absence, mister. These are student athletes, and let's never forget that the student comes first.