I tend not to pay much attention to college sports at the national level. I don't live under a rock and self-righteously avoid watching any college football or basketball games. I would just be terrible at a college sports trivia game due to the fact that I don't care for it too much. The UCLA basketball players caught stealing in China is a story that became entangled in a web with creatures from all over the spectrum. A member of the Ball family to the President of the United States are in on this act. A quick summary; Three UCLA basketball players were caught shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store in China. The three college "students" were arrested and faced a harsh punishment for their crime. To clarify, stealing is wrong, but serving 10 years for theft is an easy case where the punishment doesn't fit the crime. This has lead to the President asking for thank yous and media condemning how dumb these three men are and stirred up all kinds of opinions from people in sports, politics, and everything in between.
What I want to know is why UCLA basketball team in China in the first place? This is a college athletic program not a professional team. The men that play on the team are "Student"-athletes. The word student is before athlete because they are students before they are athletes, is the interpretation of the NCAA president. I understand that the UCLA men's basketball team plays basketball, duh, but why were they playing in China? I think the excuse from UCLA athletic department and NCAA was that it attempted to educate the team about a different culture. But, come on! If that were remotely true-which I highly doubt it was-then why was the team at a Louis Vuitton store?! Shouldn't the field trip consist of seeing the Great Wall of China? That's an easy one to point to, but the rest of it just further reveals how the NCAA and college athletic programs are about making money. Playing basketball in China is not about goodwill or spreading the game as it already exist in that country. It was a clear marketing stunt tagged with the standard b.s. that comes with the two major college sports. The preseason exhibition games would be a poor excuse since there are plenty of basketball programs in the United States to prepare a team for the upcoming season without having to fly over the Pacific ocean. To be fair, I have not heard or read that excuse made because frankly that would be a really dumb excuse to use as a defense for those in charge.
UCLA is on a quarterly 10 week academic schedule which means midterms and finals come fast for non-athlete college student. "Student'-athletes have a busy schedule as is, now casually toss in a trip to China to promote the school's brand while those in the NCAA administration and sadly others regurgitate that "student"-athletes are not being paid because they are compensated by receiving the best education the top schools in the nation have to offer. This solidifies that the whole "student"-athlete is a joke. They are not receiving an education and happen to play top level basketball, they are top level basketball players that are forced to sign up as students in order to be eligible for their "compensation."
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