Perfect timing, ESPN

It's turning into another sports-heavy day here, but so be it. Just after I hit "publish" on the Cam Newton story, I happened to flip my TV over to ESPN, serendipitously just as The Worldwide Leader was running a promotional ad pimping its "College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon", which will take place tomorrow. Perfect. If there's a centerpiece for the utter whoring of our student-athletes for corporate/institutional benefit, it's the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon.

The madness that is the Tip-Off Marathon began in earnest last year, with St. Peter's and Monmouth (titans of collegiate athletics that they are) tipping off at 6:00am in what was billed as the first-ever "breakfast basketball" game. Apparently Monmouth couldn't get enough of the whoring (excuse me, "national attention"), since they're back at it again this year in the same 6:00am time slot. This time it's Stony Brook, rather than St. Peter's, who has volunteered to be Monmouth's opponent (and to completely drop any pretense that their athletes are, in fact, actually getting an education in return for their athletic services rendered).

Notice how many of these games have corporate sponsors, then ask yourself again who really benefits from this marathon:

Of the 21 games on the primary schedule, at least 7 of them fall within what would normally be considered "classroom hours" (why couldn't this joke of a "marathon" take place on a weekend... oh right, football). Of course, if Stony Brook-Monmouth (or Robert Morris-Kent State, or Northeastern-Southern Illinois) doesn't quite suit your breakfast fancy, you can always tune in today to ESPN Classic, which is warming up for tomorrow's festivities by showing a marathon of re-aired games from the past 5 years. And it's a good thing, lest the shameless whoring of our student-athletes end at graduation (anyone want to watch that Gerard Phelan catch again?).

Whatever. Good work, ESPN (and every school who's involved in this sham). You've clearly displayed here that the best interests of the athlete run a distant fourth in the decision-making process behind money, money, and money. And with an event like this making it clear that the schools have little regard for the academic well-being of the athletes, arguing that a "free education" makes this all okay is completely fraudulent. These kids aren't learning a thing by playing a basketball game in the pre-dawn hours on a Tuesday. Unless, of course, they didn't already know that money rules all.

Pathetic.

(P.S.-- "Get Up, Get Loud, Get to Class"?? What the hell? That doesn't even make sense! What kind of trained monkeys do they have working in the Kent State marketing department? Nobody's going to class if they're going to a basketball g--you know what, never mind. Just never mind.)