Crack Baby Athletic Association: An Analysis

While the popular television show “South Park” is well known for displaying two extreme sides of a controversial issue or a current trend in popular culture, the show’s fifth episode of its fifteenth season, “Crack Baby Athletic Association,” surprisingly focuses on one argument surrounding the debate on whether or not college athletes should be compensated for their services with more than the cost of their tuition, room, and board. Within the episode, the viewer is able to see how the athletes are exploited by other actors and they ways in which someone can be corrupted to believe this exploitation is acceptable or justified. The writers of “South Park” use the idea of crack-baby basketball to demonstrate the ways in which athletes are

The “Crack Baby Athletic Association” episode of “South Park” demonstrates the moralistic failures of the NCAA and how employees can fall into the trap of rationalizing the exploitation of athletes, as is demonstrated through the corruption of Kyle. What the episode does not expand upon, or possibly intentionally left out in order to prove a point, is the NCAA’s place in the purpose of higher education. Many college athletes do not complete their degrees, have lower GPAs than other students, and are admitted as “special admissions” which some see as unfair to those who academically qualify for admittance to the university without special consideration, and who do not receive financial compensation to attend in the same way an athlete may be compensated. Athletes are sometimes encouraged to take less difficult courses to ensure they can focus on training and be eligible to play; however, this places importance on what they can provide to the university and NCAA through their athletic ability rather than placing importance on their education and academic growth. It is possible the writers of “South Park” intentionally stayed away from the place of athletics in the furthering of higher education as a way of pointing out that athletics do not further higher education at all. Instead, it furthers an idea the episode equates to modern day slavery: the exploitation of college