Dr. Watkins, I failed to see, from your article, how the NCAA is racist (of course excluding the very sad, but true statistic concerning black coaches). I know that space limited you from providing exhaustive examples, but perhaps you can provide sources for further study.

This article is pure lunacy!!! These schools may make millions off of thee thletes and the acts they perform in their respective sports, however they are afforded the opportunity to get an education in exchange for their performences. MOST of these athletes will not make it to the pro ranks. However all of them will go back into the world. Going back into the world with a college education that affords them the opportunity to make a living and a difference in their respective communities is more valuable than a check or two. I’ve always been told that a college education is invaluable…if this be the case, then who’s getting the great deal here? stop whining Dr Watkins, it’s unbecoming.

I REMEMBER GETTING INTO A HEATED ARGUMENT WITH ONE OF MY TEACHERS OVER THIS VERY TOPIC BECAUSE I WROTE A PAPER SAYING THAT ATHLETES SHOULD BE PAID. SOME PEOPLE ARE THAT BLINDED BY THE MEDIA AND WHATEVER ELSE THEY HAVE GOING ON TO SEE THE REAL TRUTH. THE NCAA HAS BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS, AND IT JUST GETS SMALL MENTION. AND WHEN SOMEONE SUGGESTS PAYING THE ATHLETES THAT MAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR THESE SCHOOLS THEY LAUGH AT IT. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY TAKE MONEY FROM THESE AGENTS AND OTHERS, THEY KNOW THEY ARE BEING ROBBED. I HATE IT WHEN SOMEONE SAY’S “THEY ARE RECEIVING A FREE EDUCATION”. LET ME TELL YOU A LITTLE SECRET. ANYTHING “FREE” HAS NO VALUE, NONE. SO WHAT IS FREE? A SCHOOL PAYS FOR FOUR YEARS, WHEN THE BEST DEGREES TAKE 7 OR MORE YEARS TO GET. SO WHAT’S FREE? OH YEAH. PLUS EVERYONE YOU SEE DOESN’T ALWAYS HAVE THEIR SCHOOL PAID FOR. AND EVERYONE KNOWS THE STUDENT LOAN GAME. FREE EDUCATION, HUH? WHAT F**KING CROCK OF S**T. DOES ANYONE EVER THINK ABOUT WHAT THE SCHOOL IS GETTING? THE REAL REASON THAT SCHOOLS DON’T WANT TO PAY THEIR ATHLETES IS BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY WOULD HAVE TO SHARE WITH THE SPORTS THAT DON’T HAVE AS MUCH REVENUE AS THEY DO. FREE EDUCATION? THIS S**T IS PISSING ME OFF. I HATE YOU CYNICAL MUTHAF**KAS THAT ACT LIKE SOME OF US DON’T KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS.

Did anyone read up on the FSU cheating scandal involving NCAA “student” athletes. With the exception of a few schools like Duke and Notre Dame, the education and graduation rates are dismal to say the least. So that free education is a joke and it’s certainly not free. Congress just addressed the NFL about head injuries and how that’s affecting the lives of its aging alums. That didn’t start with the NFL, it starts when kids are told to walk it off when they had injuries and that happens a lot in the NCAA when you need as much exposure in the cotton field… I mean the football field as possible.

The NFL and NBA need effective minor leagues and stop treating the NCAA as its minor league system. MLB and NHL have minor leagues that work. But notice the higher numbers of blacks in the NFL and NBA. Slavery part II.

[...] the example post: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Negroid Families and Negroid People … Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: article, black-coaches, but-perhaps, but-true, from-your, [...]

I think the NAACP is a joke…they have constructively found methods to “appear” as improving life issues and corporate racism towards nubian people, which is a reality even with a black president in our mists. The “Black Boule” is running the United States of America now and they are strategically promoting capitalism…this “ideal” was the only solution for Euro-Americans/Descendents of the British Colonists to control the laws of their “American Made Money”: in order to monitor the way their money flows…which type or breed of citizens gets it or can get it…as well as hu governs and controls it.
Give me a break…this organization is made of college fraternities, sororities, masons, eastern stars and old nubian opportunity seekers who played a part in killing the nubian strong heads of the 50s’…60s’…70s’…

EAT A DICK!!!

The Hoop Dream seed is planted in the heads of your people, long before the NCAA is involved. There are flaws in the NCAA regarding student athletes, but creating the “Hoop Dream” is not one of them!

A few items. First Dr. Boykin, the NCAA has never been and never will be responsible for the “inferior” education these athletes receive. That responsibility lies with the individual first, then I would say the institution. These athletes are not forced into a particular degree program, they have that choice. In fact, shame on them for not taking full advantage of the full ride they are receiving from these schools and taking more useful educational paths. Emeka Okafor’s major at UConn was finance, and he graduated with honors after three years in May 2004 with a 3.8 GPA while playing on one of the most elite teams in the country! One of his last courses at UConn was an honors-level finance course and this man was a lock for NBA millions. Myron Rolle is another example, and there are probably thousands of other examples of people taking full advantage of this opportunity. Now on the flip side, I do agree with you that the NCAA is set up like a slave plantation, reaping many benefits and those most instrumental in that, aren’t being compensated. I’m not defending the NCAA when I say this, but I look at it as self promotion/marketing. You’re on a grand stage more or less auditioning for a future job with a professional while getting an opportunity to prepare yourself if you’re not hired at the next level for your sport of choice!

To whom this may concern! When you want to open your fat mouth,think about how foolish and contradictory you will sound!No one would want to work for a company truly making them filthy rich living under strict demands as well as your family,just to learn something other than the company which might by a chance give you a life after making the master life easier! “A”,think about that fat cat!

I wouldn’t call the education “inferior”. These colleges put you in a very good position to get a good job. It cost a lot to go to these schools and I wish my education was paid for this way. These guys get to go to school for free, get exposure, and then maybe play pro sports. If they don’t make it, they should lean on that quality education that helped non-sports people to land good jobs. These athletes don’t care who their coaches are, they won’t a person who can help them make it to the next level. The problem is that our black kids seem to only focus on playings sports and not achieving in class. This author failed to mention that these athlete receive tutors and have access to there own labs that are set up in the sports complex. These athletes has tutors that travel with them on away games. Do you know how a tutor cost? These athletes got made and it’s the responsibility of the families to teach their kids to take advantage of the education they receive.

In response to the NCAA and Hoop-dreams, I think that if an athlete receives a degree and can secure a future is it a good thing. However, if that athlete is so ignorant not to utilize the educational opportunity given then they have to pay for their wasted dream.
We should have to get to the root of the issue and assist our communities, empower, and enrich all by character development coupled with education and giving back. Furthermore we should look at the countless parents that push young children to excel in the area of athletics instead of academics. There are parents that will purchase items for athletics, allow their child to spend countless hours playing and practicing for a sport, but do not push them to hit-the-books. We cannot continue to blame society, institutions, or any one for lack of achievement-we have to take responsibility for our future.
Finally, our communities continue to look to man and his method-of-thinking, doing, and having instead of the Spirit of God to direct, lead and guide us. There are those that get in to college and fewer that play professional sports-the end results is the same, in that what was done with their time, talent, and treasure. Whether high school, college or professional athlete many are quick to say, “Thank God…,” but their life styles are totally opposite. Our God given abilities and talents should not be limited or say that the NCAA is or has destroyed Black families or people. It is about the greatness within us. Life is choice-driven.

NCAA iz not destroying black ppl or da black community. If u wan ta get ta da NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and any otha professinal organization, u hav a betta chance goin through dem den goin around dem. Plus, u get a gud education while ur playn a sport in college. If anythyng, NCAA iz motivating all of da athletic-students, not only black students, to not only u wrk hard on the field, the court or the ics, u need ta wrk that much hard in your school wrk.

I never thought the NCAA was good for our youth. Don’t they flash money and this great life in front of you, without referring to your ability to do well in school also? Sure you can go to college cuz you play ball good, but can you pass your damn class? Or are you stimulated by the “life” that comes with making it to the team? Someone explain to me. I rather school grades and game skills excel equally…

What percentage of kids who play college sports go on to the pro? WHere does the money go that they make? Do they give any to the high schools? What percentage of kids who play collegs sports go on to graduate? You be the judge.

who cares how much the college makes. the kids are giving the chance to go to a top school, paid tuition with tutors and ample help, and the school wants a good player to help their team win games, its always been like that , no one is forcing the kids to go. to use the blame the college or institution rather than the parent or kids is once again a familiar reason to subtract the parents and kids from their responsibility.
when is it time for black people to be responsible? will all our problems be someone elses fault? are we so ignorant and retarded that we cannot control our own lives so that anyone can control it? please give it up dr, you are not pro black you are a pro idiot.

Not trying to bash anyone but I think there are some serious misconceptions among our people about how athletic scholarships work! First of as someone who played college football but thankfully was also a good enough student that I also received academic scholarship offers, the athletic scholarship isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. First off, unless you are the exception to the rule, a student will get from most major universities an inferior education. To understand why you need to know how college majors work. Just because you get accepted to a school on an athletic scholarship, it doesn’t mean you can just go and major in any program at that school that you would like. You would have to be accepted to each individual schools discipline program. So say you get into a Big Ten school on a football scholarship that doesn’t mean that you just get to go and major in whatever you want. If you want to major in Engineering you have to be accepted into your university’s engineering school and guess what, most athletes won’t get accepted no matter how much they would like to be. So instead they get one of the more generic and useless majors pushed on them like physical education or communications. So the thought of an automatic quality education is a fallacy. The only athletes who get this great quality education are the ones who would have been able to get into school even without the athletic scholarship because they were great students from the get go. Second the education isn’t anywhere comparable to what star athletes contribute to the schools. The argument that “the athletes shouldn’t complain because they get a free education” is bull. That would be like me telling a McDonald’s worker that they shouldn’t complain if they don’t get paid money because they are compensated with free food! Just like someone doing $20,000 a year worth of work for a fast food restaurant doesn’t make receiving $5,000 a year in free food equal and fair compensation neither is receiving a free $60,000 education fair compensation when you provide the school with a couple of million dollars worth of service, which many star athletes do! Third point people only seem to fixate on all the benefits that they perceive athletes as receiving and don’t seem to understand the restrictions that come with these benefits. An example is that most people don’t realize that most D-1 athletes on scholarship are barred from working more than 6 months a year. No student on any other scholarship has this type of restriction. This isn’t related to the school or the coach but is a NCAA rule. Another is the amount of pay that an athlete can receive for work. An athlete cannot receive pay that is more than the median income for any type of employment. Meaning that if they get a part time job that would normally pay $6.50 per hour then that is all they can make. This may seem like a small thing but it is very big. The reason being is, lots of companies pay interns, co-op workers and research assistants far more than normal as an enticement to get them to come work for their company after graduation. So say a really talented engineering student wants and receives a paid internship at 3M. Then 3M likes this kid on an academic scholarship to the University of Minnesota they will pay him anywhere from $15-$20 per hour as a research assistant to make him want to work their full time once he graduates, even though the normal pay for this position is only about $12 per hour. All other students are able to accept this but not scholarship athletes!
I understand the desire of some to want our people to stand up and take responsibility for themselves but to me it is a sad tale of where we are as a society that we think the responsibility to make right decisions on these types of situations should fall on the shoulders of teenagers who most of them legally can’t even make the decisions to go on a field trip alone let alone to make the correct call on what is right for the rest of their future. However we look to absolve very well educated adults who represent an entity that can make millions off of the decisions of these kids. Make no mistake I’m not someone who thinks the NCAA is racist. Matter of fact I think it is far from it. The problem is that it is all about its own self interest and bottom line, money! There is a reason why only two NCAA sports make money on par with their professional counterpart, football and basketball. Its football and basketball and the reason is because unlike sports such as hockey, baseball, tennis and golf there isn’t a comparable minor league or amateur alternative that kids can turn to in order to be properly compensated. The NBA and NFL are ok with this because it means they don’t have to dish out the money for a good minor league system and the NCAA is good with it because they are able to keep making money hand over fist off of the best athletes in these sports without having to pay them comparable to what they are worth and not have to compete with, and usually lose to the minor league systems for the best athletes.

[...] The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People | News One By Dr. Boyce Watkins I am not a fan of the NCAA, a sports league that earns money on the par of [...]

[...] The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People | News One By Dr. Boyce Watkins I am not a fan of the NCAA, a sports league that earns money on the par of [...]

allreal138fun

any degree is better than none. ofcourse if you are not qualified to be in a engineering program or science program you are not getting in,but a business program is assessable for any one , and you have a better chance of getting a job than with out a degree so thats no excuse of not having a good enough degree, also you can always keep going to school for a higher degree also.
you say a teenager shouldnt be responsible for those decisions but you would allow a teenager to have a million dollars in college and expect him to still want to go to school and still have that drive to be a better athlete? hell he wouldnt make it to practice because he would be drunk, he would spend all the money of his family forget to pay taxes and end up broke and without a degree .

I agree with deshawn121. the athletes should be using the opportunity to better there lives with the free education. there are plenty of families who cant afford to send there child to school. even when the other poster uses mcdonalds as an example…you already know mcdonalds doesnt pay well but you can still use it as a stepping stone to help you advance to another job or at least pay your rent, you have to take your opportunities and make your life better. its your decision

[...] OPINION: NCAA Destroys Black Families & Black People [...]

yep the ncaa is horrible for black people. they produced myron rolle jesse jackson suge knight bill cosby the president of black enterprise. how could they?

That’s the American way, isn’t it. I mean if the many that follow the pattern and it just keep recurring, so what. You can lead a horse to water…… We can not blame it on the young athletes. It is the families, communities, and the even the educators that should be held responsible. You are awarded a full ride to a top notch university but fail to reap the benefits of learning. Come on, who’s actually the blame hear.

AllReal, you hit it dead on.

[...] RELATED: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

[...] OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

[...] OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

[...] OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

[...] RELATED: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People It’s time for black men to stand up and be better than this.  That is why I founded ALARM – The Athlete Liberation and Academic Reform Movement:  It’s a movement for athletes to become intellectually enlightened and to claim their rightful voice in American society.   I hope you will consider joining us. [...]

[...] RELATED: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

[...] the wealth extraction together, and you can’t exploit another group this much by accident. RELATED: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People It’s time for black men to stand up and be better than this.  That is why I founded ALARM – [...]

Listen I’m not surprised about the exploitation of Black athletes used by the NCAA.Of course the college players should be paid.I live in NYC and always wanted to see the Big East Tournament.Man when Patrick Ewing,Allen Iverson,Alonzo Mourning played for Georgetown University those stars made that school a household name so at that time they should be paid as marquee stars.St Johns university with Chris Mullen,Walter Berry you dig so I couls see those star plarers getting a check.Hell most of sports are corrupt anyway so I’m not surprised what the NCAA does to exploit the Black athlete.it’s all about money trust me.

[...] RELATED: OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]

As Dick Gregory says, College Sports today is nothing more than Modern Day Slavery…Thank you allreal for giving us a deeper insight into this problem.
I have often spoken on this issue, and am a FIRM BELIEVER in the need for all of us to re-direct our Black children to Historically Black Colleges. I say this for several reasons. If we are ever going to improve our community from the bottom up, it’s going to start with the proper education of our young people. Initially, Black colleges will not have the millions to support their athletes, but it will come to them. At Black schools, the athletes will have teachers, professors, administrators, and coaches who have their best interest at heart. The coaches will bring out the best of their talents, while the teachers, professors, and others will work to help them to succeed academically, as well as help them to develop life skills. Meanwhile, the athletes will be bringing money to the Black schools because the networks will want to show these marvelous athletes. Predominantly white schools may not want to play them, but eventually they will have to. Just imagine what I’m saying….Grambling, Jackson State, Howard, Prairie View, and all the other Black colleges having football teams loaded with All-American Talent; talent good enough to beat the Notre Dames, USC’s, Alabama’s, Texas’, Nebraska’s, and others….and then having Basketball teams loaded with talent. It’s not hard to imagine; just look at the Best Black players in the March Madness tournament, and imagine them playing form Historically Black Colleges….the money that these schools would make would allow them to improve, not only their athletic facilities, but their academic facilities as well…in addition to being able to offer more Black inner city kids scholarships to come to college and become the doctors, lawyers, and business people that our communities so desperately need.

You know, this article doesn’t help at all. As many of the posters here have pointed out, these young STUDENT athletes have an opportunity to make something of themselves and earn a college degree, something that many in their families did not have an opportunity to do. Yes, the NCAA system is flawed, in a million ways, but it is up to each student to take advantage of their opportunity and work hard for it. If you want to be in the Engineering program, then you have to make the grades to get into the program. No one is going to hold your hand and tell you what to do.

We need to stop perpetuating this system of blaming the man for holding us down and own up to our own actions. No one is holding you down but you.

[...] OPINION: The NCAA Destroys Both Black Families and Black People [...]