Scamateur Athletics, Reprise 0
Bob Molinaro, sports writer extraordinaire at my local rag, introduces his column on the prospects of a local kid who has been demoted to third-string quarterback at Virginia’s always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride football factory with this bit:
Following the Blue-Orange spring game, Sims said that sometimes he has to shake free from the feeling that football is “more of a job than anything,” though it really is for a college player.
“You’re so focused on studying film and doing everything on the practice field so perfectly,” he said, “you forget that this should be fun.”
He uses the quotation to lead into a nicely-done human interest story about the player.
He could just as easily have led into a story on the overall state of college sports and entertainment factories.
For a few of the fans, it’s obsession. For others, it’s a source of income (a bracket bucket shop). For most, it’s still a game.
For the college sports and entertainment cartel and its members, though, it’s all business.
