NCAA Brackets Contest

[slofstra]

I'm running another NCAA brackets contest this year. Admission is free and there are prizes. I know that college basketball is the spectator sport of choice for classical music fans so that's why I'm letting you know about this.

www.slofstra.net/ncaa

[John F]

I know that college basketball is the spectator sport of choice for classical music fans...

Where did you get that idea? Over here, those CM fans I know who care about sports at all are mostly baseball fans, and the only sport I follow is top-flight soccer/football in the Barclays Premier League.

[slofstra]

I know that college basketball is the spectator sport of choice for classical music fans...

Where did you get that idea? Over here, those CM fans I know who care about sports at all are mostly baseball fans, and the only sport I follow is top-flight soccer/football in the Barclays Premier League.

I'm an Arsenal fan. Do you think Leicester City will end up winning the league this year?

[Modernistfan]

Normally, I root for the Ivy League team, as the Ivy League, which does not give out athletic scholarships, is generally free of the corruption that permeates college sports.

Not this year.

As anyone who has been following the news knows, the captain of the Yale basketball team was expelled from Yale for sexual assault. His teammates rallied around him without any consideration of what the victim of the sexual assault, or of other sexual assaults, has gone through. Feminists and their supporters at Yale protested, to no avail. Yale should have had the decency to decline any NCAA bid and not participate in any postseason tournaments. They failed to do so.

The linkage between athletics and rape culture, and the tendency of university administrations to overlook it, are well known, especially when overprivileged white athletes are involved. What makes this case somewhat unusual is that the sport involved is basketball and not one of the preppie-heavy sports such as lacrosse, swimming, crew, tennis, or golf.

I hope Yale loses their first-round game against Baylor by 60 points.

[John F]

What makes the case really unusual, at least for me, is that it's Yale. I'd expect better from such a university.

[Modernistfan]

My point exactly. They should have declined the bid.

[John F]

I'm not sure of that. If there was only one rotten apple in that barrel, and he was expelled from the university, and the NCAA invited the team in full knowledge of all this, then it might be a toss-up (sorry!) whether to punish the rest of the players, the coach, and the staff as well. For me it would depend on what "rallied around" amounted to, specifically. If they knew what he'd done and condoned it, then sure, the university should make an example of them.