The Pros and Cons of March Madness

1248 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Different kinds of sports

Each March, there arises some kind of brouhaha across the country or at least within the four walls of colleges across the United States. The cause is the highly regarded single-elimination tournament officially known as the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Championship, and colloquially as the March Madness. As described by Chris Suellentrop on the 6th Floor Blogs of the “New York Times” magazine, this “is the greatest sporting event of the year, and in particular, the tournament’s first weekend serves up the most entertaining four days in sports.” (Suellentrop 2011)

This tournament, apart from entertaining students and other fans, highlights what stuff different colleges are made of. This comes at a critical time when high school seniors are considering what colleges to attend once they graduate. Thus, it is not surprising that this package of sporting events brings glad tidings to the people as it helps usher-in the beautiful spring season. However, a critical evaluation of the different teams and schools reveal the series of events -both good and not so good- that occur as they prepare for this all-important tournament.

Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.

In College, they are introduced into another type of ...

... middle of paper ...

...nd treated as who they are and not what they are or what school they play(ed) for.

Works Cited

Cobb, Garry. “Big Time College Football & Basketball Are Corrupt To The Core.” GCOBB.COM: Breaking News, College, NCAAB, NCAAF, News. 30 Mar., 2011. Web. 04 April, 2011.

Leitch, Will. “AAU Coaches No Longer Pretending College Hoops Isn’t Corrupt.” New York Sports. 22 Mar., 2010. Web. 04 April, 2011.

Smith, Philip, ed. 100 Best-Loved Poems. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print.

Suellentrop, Chris. “March Madness, in Like a Lamb.” The New York Times. 14 March, 2011. Web. 04 April, 2011.

Show More
Related

  • 'Survive And Advance' By Johnathan Hock: Film Analysis

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    In basketball, the National Championship game is the dream of every kid that plays basketball in college. NC State’s basketball team wasn’t well known in 1983. Jim Valvano was the coach and he knew he had a great group of kids. When they won the ACC tournament against the great Ralph Sampson and Virginia, people thought that the win was just luck and they probably wouldn’t make last when they got into the tournament. Throughout the tournament, NC State kept surviving and advancing. In Johnathan Hock’s documentary “Survive and Advance”, Hock uses stock footage of the games that were played during the tournament, different points of view from the players, and the sequence of the documentary to prove that NC State’s basketball team were the underdogs during the whole tournament; however they were able to win despite their adversity

    Read More

  • Multiple Perspectives In College Sports

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples. Every time the month of March rolls around, there is always some sense of hype in the air. That’s when the nation’s best college basketball teams compete against each other. It is as celebrated with each college being its own celebrity.

    Read More

  • NCAA March Madness Tournament

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Web. The Web. 8 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/special_feature_250/270_5-things-you-didnt-know-march-madness.html>. NBC News.

    Read More

  • The Southern Methodist University Football Program

    2046 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Southern Methodist University football scandal, also known as Ponygate, was one of the most severe consequences that the NCAA has ever given out to a college or university. In this instance, the Southern Methodist University football program was found to be illegally paying their players after already being in trouble with the NCAA several times. The first time this football program had been caught by the NCAA for not following its rules was in 1985. This was when an incident regarding offensive lineman Sean Stopperich came up. Prior to transferring schools after going through an injury which made him unable to play, he was paid $5,000 by one of the Southern Methodist Universities booster programs to attend the school and play football there. This caused “the NCAA to place SMU on three years of probation in 1985, limit its postseason appearances, ban the boosters involved and strip the football program of 45 scholarships.” This did not show the program or the school a lesson though. Again in 1986 the Southern Methodist University football program was found breaking NCAA rules. This was their seventh time they had broken and been caught breaking NCAA rules. This time it was found that, “an unnamed booster had been found to have paid 13 Mustang players $61,000 from a slush fund with the approval of key members of the SMU athletic staff.” The result of this complication with NCAA rules is what became known as the, “death penalty”. This death penalty declared that there were to be, “no football in '87. only seven games in '88. no television or bowl appearances until 1989 and restrictions on off-campus recruiting and the number of assistant coaches until 1989 SMU which signed no high school players to letters of intent this winter...

    Read More

  • College Athletes: Should They Receive Additional Pay?

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pappano, Laura. “How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life” Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. Pages 591-600. 2013.

    Read More

  • The NCAA and College Athlete

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    The athletes at these institutions bring in tons of money into their school every year and deserve compensation. These Universities are exploiting these athletes by not giving them back what they make for their school. The numbers say it all when it comes to the scamming of the athletes by their own schools. In 2004, over 40 schools brought in more than $10 million, with 10 of them bringing in over $30 million. Several athletes around the nation are worth more than $1 million to their school(Brown). Both of these statistics are proof that while these athletes are essential to their schools, they are still kept out of the revenue. Even though these Universities won’t pay their players, the schools still have no problem giving their coaches some money. In 40 U.S. states the head coach of the basketball or football program is the highest paid public official(Edelman). Over the past 20 years, there has been a major increase in the popularity of college athletes. From 1989 to 2004 there was a 27% increase in ticket revenue(Brown)...

    Read More

  • Murray Sperber Beer And Circus Summary

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sperber, Murray A. Beer and Circus: How Big-time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education. New York: H. Holt, 2000. Print.

    Read More

  • Athetic Scandals: NCAA Scandal

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New York Times. (28th August 2003). College Basketball; Death and Deception. [Retrieved 22/01/2014]. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/28/sports/college-basketball-death-and-deception.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

    Read More

  • college athletes

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.

    Read More

  • 3 Reasons Why The Ncaa Is Corrupts

    318 Words  | 1 Pages

    Have you ever thought the NCAA is corrupt? Well here are 3 reasons why the NCAA is corrupt.They banned a UCF kicker from football because of Youtube.Some college athletes are getting paid to go to Universities.The NCAA’s amateurism are all things that make the NCAA corrupt.

    Read More

  • The Argument for Paying NCAA Football Players

    2003 Words  | 5 Pages

    Luzer, Daniel. "College Guide: The Profit in College Sports." The Washington Monthly. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • NCAA Recruiting Ethics

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    Spillane, Matt. "COLLEGE RECRUITING MAKES HEADLINES FOR CHEATING AND DISHONESTY." Www.academic.marist.edu/mwwatch/spring08/articles/sports/sports12.html. 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

    Read More

  • Student-Athletes and the NCAA Rules

    1939 Words  | 4 Pages

    The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. (2013, March 20).

    Read More

  • High School Friday Night Lights

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life.

    Read More

  • Being A College Athlete Essay

    881 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zirin, Dave. "The Shame of the NCAA March Madness generates a tidal wave of revenue-but the players don't see a dime of it." (2013): 24-26.

    Read More

More about The Pros and Cons of March Madness

Open Document