By Paul Gable
I was surprised and saddened to read the scope of the UNC cheating scandal that spanned 18 years, but I should have expected it.
Full disclosure requires me to say I am not a Tar Heel fan, don’t bleed Carolina Blue and don’t even like the color.
Nevertheless, I always had a certain respect for the fact that UNC generally fielded highly competitive athletic teams while maintaining a solid academic reputation.
Now we know that is so much smoke and mirrors.
I can just imagine the recruiting pitch – ‘Come to UNC, you’ll get a lot of national exposure to help you to the pros and you won’t even have to go to class.’
Student-athlete is not a term that applies to the big time men’s basketball and football programs in Chapel Hill anymore.
And what about the players that can’t make it to the professional ranks? The old excuse – ‘at least they get a free education’ can’t be used anymore.
Of course, it’s not just UNC.
I would venture to say that every men’s college football and basketball program that aspires to compete for the national championship, and reap the financial rewards that go with it, has some form of the UNC cheating scandal on campus. Some are just better hidden.
World class athletic facilities, multi-million dollar coaching salaries and athletes that can’t cut it academically but are needed for their physical skills can be found on most major college campuses.
Cheating has become the American way and it starts at the top – War on Terror, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Government Spying…
DSS bureaucracies that are a danger to those they are supposed to protect.
Crony capitalism, under the guise of economic development, that doesn’t produce jobs.
Politicians, who know nothing about governing, but are experts at lying to get re-elected.
Voters who vote for political parties and their sound bites, but know nothing about the candidate.
It’s all coming home to roost.
Gore Vidal once said, “The smartest people in the country came together to form a government and we haven’t seen them since.”
Remember that when you go to the polls next week.
Speak Up…