Just watched "Schooled: The Price of College Sports" on Netflix

[strummingram]

Anyone else seen this? It's about 90 minutes of pretty amazing insight.

I'm sure many Tar Heel fans will see it and be disgusted by the extended features of the alleged implications of UNC Athletics from Devon Ramsey, Mary Willingham, Af-Am, Dan Kane, etc. That's a small part of the overall film, but it is prominently featured. I feel I saw beyond the UNC aspect and realized that it's not about disgracing UNC at all. It's about exposing the NCAA and getting the general population to realize the NCAA's unchecked rules and their stranglehold on this system is a crime. They answer to no one and ruin anyone they want.

Personally, I came away from it with a very intense feeling, and conclusion: The NCAA is evil. It's just a flat-out abomination. Now, I know that UNC folks will be angry at the Willingham parts. But, I saw her not so much as trying to bring UNC down at all. In fact, I took absolutely nothing personal from UNC being a focus in the film at all. As a former student and life-long fan, I felt no disgrace or shame about my school or athletics at all... except for their being forced to comply with this total farce of a system of "amateurism." I felt sort of honored, in a way. Willingham seems to be an educator that is upset at this corrupt system that has been maintained and built by the NCAA, not against UNC. I'm sure others will feel differently. And, I'm open to clarification on her role. I haven't really followed her role or these scandals like many here have. Like most of us, and most fans nationwide, I just want to see the kids play and win.

Jay Bilas was one of many featured people speaking to interviewers. Sonny Vacarro, Michael Rosenberg, and many other famous figures in modern day American sports. They all seemed pretty appalled at the extreme state of the hypocrisy, and denial, and corruption, that has taken place in this industry. It gave a very extended history of the process of how it has evolved, too.

There was obviously some bias because the film makers are trying to make a case for how the players are being exploited, and how the NCAA & Big Conferences are like pseudo-modern day plantation owners. Walter Byers, the man who devised most of the NCAA powers, even said as much in his final public address! The film makers made a pretty good case and achieved that goal in the film. I have always despised the NCAA and now the contempt is even deeper and stronger.

It's on Amazon Prime as well.

 

[Raising Heel]

Willingham seems to be an educator that is upset at this corrupt system that has been maintained and built by the NCAA, not against UNC. I'm sure others will feel differently. And, I'm open to clarification on her role.

I have no problem with the general tone of what Mary had to say. The system is broken, at best, and in desperate need of repair.

However, in her zeal to make her point, Mary crossed so far beyond the line that she is no better than the institutions she's criticizing. She knowingly violated student privacy by accessing students' records without authorization (a federal offense). She painted student-athletes as illiterate buffoons who couldn't read anything beyond Mother Goose stories, all based on an unsound methodology she invented that has been roundly debunked by actual literacy experts. She has perpetuated a very prolonged and public war against her (former) employer, the University of North Carolina, based on hyperbole and deceit.

And lest we forget, as a learning specialist for student-athletes Mary was a decade-long participant in the system she's railing against. She is also close personal friends with Jan Boxill, who ran a shadow independent study curriculum in the philosophy department much like what was going on in AFAM. Mary undoubtedly knew how often Boxill was coloring outside the lines but apparently didn't grow a conscience until years later.

In short, she has done far more harm than good but is too damned stupid and arrogant to ever recognize it. I hope she gets what's coming to her.

 

[strummingram]

I have no problem with the general tone of what Mary had to say. The system is broken, at best, and in desperate need of repair.

However, in her zeal to make her point, Mary crossed so far beyond the line that she is no better than the institutions she's criticizing. She knowingly violated student privacy by accessing students' records without authorization (a federal offense). She painted student-athletes as illiterate buffoons who couldn't read anything beyond Mother Goose stories, all based on an unsound methodology she invented that has been roundly debunked by actual literacy experts. She has perpetuated a very prolonged and public war against her (former) employer, the University of North Carolina, based on hyperbole and deceit.

And lest we forget, as a learning specialist for student-athletes Mary was a decade-long participant in the system she's railing against. She is also close personal friends with Jan Boxill, who ran a shadow independent study curriculum in the philosophy department much like what was going on in AFAM. Mary undoubtedly knew how often Boxill was coloring outside the lines but apparently didn't grow a conscience until years later.

In short, she has done far more harm than good but is too damned stupid and arrogant to ever recognize it. I hope she gets what's coming to her.

Ahhh, well, thanks for sharing that. I wasn't trying to defend Willingham entirely. Just, from what I saw in the film, it seemed more like she had more contempt for the corrupted system the NCAA had basically created and the schools had to comply with and that had become commonplace as well.

It was a good film, regardless.

 

[Raising Heel]

Sorry for the rant. I'll put it on my watch list, because I am interested in the case they make despite my disdain for some of the characters involved.

 

[strummingram]

Sorry for the rant. I'll put it on my watch list, because I am interested in the case they make despite my disdain for some of the characters involved.

One of the worst stories revealed was a running back from about 1972, at Texas Christian University. He was paralyzed in a game and TCU just said "see ya!" No scholarship, no help with medical bills, no nothing.