Getting on my soapbox for the PK80...

1,623 Views | 17 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by LonghornsNo1
bobinator
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It will be annoying over the next several days to hear ESPN commenters who have talked about these FBI investigations being about a few people and not a systemic problem with all of college basketball rant and rave about Phil Knight and Nike. Namely Dick Vitale, who is either willfully ignorant, an idiot, or a combination thereof.

Nike is the brand that started this whole mess. And it's the kind of hypocrisy we're going to see over the next several days, where ESPN pimps that brand, that has caused these sort of underlying issues in college hoops.

This isn't a "the players should be paid" rant necessarily but the fact that players aren't paid contrasted against the sheer amount of money that gets exchanged around college basketball will be on full display at this thing and ESPN is happy to play along.

/rant over
//will definitely be watching
The Collective
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Amen.
BQ_90
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ESPN and Dickie V acting like hypocrites, who'd thunk it
bobinator
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I should mention, if you haven't been following the background on this thing, the PK80 is a basketball celebration for Nike founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday.

For this thing, they've brought together 16 Nike-sponsored schools for a two-tournament event: UNC, Duke, Arkansas, Oklahoma, UCONN, Oregon, Michigan State, Duke, Butler, Texas, Florida, Stanford, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Portland, Portland State (I assume because they're nearby) and for some reason Depaul.

So again, the brand that the school you play for wears is having a direct impact on the stage you're playing on.

Know Your Enemy
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bobinator said:

/rant over
Promise?
bobinator
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I promise nothing
GrayMatter
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Oh come on you know they know who signs their checks. They aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them.
The conversations will be uncomfortable, but we all have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable for progress to be made.
bobinator
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AggieBaller98 said:

Oh come on you know they know who signs their checks. They aren't going to bite the hand that feeds them.
I don't really expect them to. That's what I'm talking about though, the hypocrisy to act stunned at what's come out (which several of their folks have) while being part of an event like this is basically part of the fabric of college basketball.

"I AM SHOCKED AND APPALLED AT THESE ALLEGATIONS, but what an amazing event these Nike folks have put on this week...."
jja79
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When the FBI news broke Vitale was on Sirius 84 talking about how unfair it all was to Pitino.
agryan12
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bobinator said:

I should mention, if you haven't been following the background on this thing, the PK80 is a basketball celebration for Nike founder Phil Knight's 80th birthday.

For this thing, they've brought together 16 Nike-sponsored schools for a two-tournament event: UNC, Duke, Arkansas, Oklahoma, UCONN, Oregon, Michigan State, Duke, Butler, Texas, Florida, Stanford, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Portland, Portland State (I assume because they're nearby) and for some reason Depaul.

So again, the brand that the school you play for wears is having a direct impact on the stage you're playing on.




I think depaul is in it because Georgetown backed out at the last minute
_lefraud_
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Meh, Nike (the brands) have done a ton for college basketball over the past 30 years. College basketball (athletics) is entertainment, and entertainment comes at a price.

Universities, players, coaches, brands and networks all benefit from the current model. Sure I don't necessarily like it, and yes, there will be some hypocrisy this weekend, but it is what it is.

As for paying college athletes. If an athlete wants to get paid right away for his/her athletic ability, they certainly have that right, just not as a college athlete. Being a college athlete comes at a price, and not getting paid (monetarily) is one of them.
bobinator
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agryan12 said:

bobinator said:

I think depaul is in it because Georgetown backed out at the last minute

Thanks, I was wondering what was up with that. Portland and Portland State make sense, but that was a weird one. Probably a good call by Georgetown.
bobinator
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I don't want to turn this into a "should athletes get paid" thread, because that's not really the point in this case.

The bigger point is that brands like Nike, and the media like ESPN, have been complicit in this whole enterprise for years now, but act like they have no idea what's going on or that this FBI thing is just a few bad apples or something.

ESPN has employees who are former coaches, some who are even AAU coaches (Miles Simon, just for a quick example, was an ESPN commentator and coached a team in the Nike EYBL.) So for them to act like they have no idea what's going on when something like this happens is just laughable.

It's the duplicitousness of the whole thing that I think bothers me, but that's the case with a lot of things I guess. There's the real story that the public never knows but everyone who lives in that world does, and there's the story that they tell everyone.
JJxvi
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Why, you're nothing but a got danged agitator!
miller0926
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Is this just a one year event?
agnerd
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This is a GENIUS move by Nike. They have now created an added incentive for schools to choose their brand. You don't think basketball coaches are going to mention this tourney the next time the apparel contract is up for negotiation? Genius move to create demand among the coaches.
mikesyracuse1
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Good tournament.

Mikesyracuse1
expresswrittenconsent
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miller0926 said:

Is this just a one year event?

I assumed it was a one time deal but espn is referring to it as the "first annual" pk80 tourney so who knows.
LonghornsNo1
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You are correct sir.
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