UNC Athletics Scandal - HBO Real Sports

[SoCalDukeFan]

I don't have HBO but am pretty sure I will get good summary info here.

Looks like an interesting show. Not sure if anything new will come up but the more publicity the better.

Here is a link to teaser.

http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-...SVpgIAV3AXOA==

SoCal

[moonpie23]

awesome …..keep the heat on!!!!

[weezie]

Oh boy! Can't wait! Swahili!

[ricks68]

I need to set my recorder right now. The ironic thing about this is that I would bet that if there was a course in Swahili at Duke, it would be extremely demanding, really tough, and one to avoid if one did not have plans on needing to constantly use it.

ricdks

(I was going to edit my sig, but I thought that I will leave it because it may actually be the way it is spelled in Swahili. Is there anyone out there from UNCCH that can help me out here? No? I didn't think so.)

[CatDevil]

Looks like this could get ugly. Guess we will know more tomorrow night at 10pm. Will the UNC admin be held accountable for cheating or get a pass...again?

[77devil]

My understanding is that the segment on Real Sports is about academic issues with major sport athletes in the power conferences generally and is not devoted to UNC. I expect UNC will be front and center because it's current, but if it's a typical 20 minute segment, they'll move pretty quickly to the broader issue.

Mary Willingham was interviewed and presumably she will use the opportunity to reiterate her findings and criticize the administration. Will the UNC PR wizards spin the next day or lay low?

[throatybeard]

When is this? I have HBO, but the earliest I could see Real Sports was like five or six days from now.

[BigWayne]

When is this? I have HBO, but the earliest I could see Real Sports was like five or six days from now.

Supposed to be Tuesday night at 10PM EDT.
http://www.hbo.com/#/real-sports-wit...nt-gumbel.html

hbo.jpg

[miramar]

The whole thing seems to be a devastating attack on UNC athletics and academics at first glance, but then the whole thing falls apart because Mary Willingham comes on and says it was a scam and we all know she is a liar (because the UNC administration says so).

Ironically, the two players seem to be good guys who could babysit your grandkids, so why didn't UNC try to get them a proper education?

To be fair to ol' Roy, he said any of the players that he recruited over ten years "you would take home with you and let you guard your grandchildren," which may only mean in pickup basketball games in the driveway. You certainly wouldn't allow them to drive your kids around Chapel Hill, unless you want them in the same car with someone who drives 93 mph with a suspended license and drugs in the car, and probably listening to ear-splitting music in Swahili to boot.

[Mudge]

I need to set my recorder right now. The ironic thing about this is that I would bet that if there was a course in Swahili at Duke, it would be extremely demanding, really tough, and one to avoid if one did not have plans on needing to constantly use it.
ricdks

(I was going to edit my sig, but I thought that I will leave it because it may actually be the way it is spelled in Swahili. Is there anyone out there from UNCCH that can help me out here? No? I didn't think so.)

I'm not sure I understand all the UNC/Swahili references in this thread, but ironically, I have personal knowledge of a Duke grad who has had to learn Swahili to aid the development of his Silicon Valley-funded start-up business in Africa-- it wasn't a requirement, but it made it better/easier to facilitate various business-related conversations over there... apparently, there are several grades of Swahili (just as there are several grades of English below the King's English that one might consider "proper"), and some countries over there tend to speak the more bastardized versions of it that get labeled as "Swanglish"-- and are looked down upon (or should I say "askance") by those other countries that tend to speak the more formal versions of the language.

[Mudge]

Don't know if this merits a separate thread (or if anyone else even saw this), but Carson Daly's late night show, Later, featured about a 5-7 minute interview last night with Duke's Jason Williams, in which he talks about the challenges he faces/d in becoming competent at his new primary profession of sportscaster, as well as the challenges he faced when he destroyed his leg and his career in his motorcycle accident-- as he has said elsewhere, he now calls it "the best thing to ever happen to [him]"... knowing that he has said that he contemplated committing suicide, in the depths of depression caused by his accident, that is a pretty strong statement...

I guess this is related, in that it is an example of another person (who also would have been a UNC basketball player, had they not rejected him first, according to his statements in this piece-- and elsewhere) rising above a major setback and adversity, to make lemonade out of lemons-- maybe these guys who have strayed from the regulator-approved path at UNC will find a way to do likewise...

[Atlanta Duke]

Bernard Goldberg: What language did you study?
Bryan Bishop: Swahili
Bernard Goldberg: Swahili ... (pause for effect) ... That come in handy since you graduated?

http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-...SVpgIAXbkXOA==

But in her blog post regarding tonight's show Laura Keeley of the N&O peddles the everyone does it response

Living in this area makes it easy to stare at the tree and miss the forest—UNC is not the only school that has compromised its academic standards in attempts to keep athletes eligible. In reality, there is a nationwide failure to properly educate the athletes colleges have recruited for athletic purposes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/...#storylink=cpy

Some trees are saplings - others are redwoods

[flyingdutchdevil]

Bernard Goldberg: What language did you study?
Bryan Bishop: Swahili
Bernard Goldberg: Swahili ... (pause for effect) ... That come in handy since you graduated?

http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-...SVpgIAXbkXOA==

But in her blog post regarding tonight's show Laura Keeley of the N&O peddles the everyone does it response

Living in this area makes it easy to stare at the tree and miss the forest—UNC is not the only school that has compromised its academic standards in attempts to keep athletes eligible. In reality, there is a nationwide failure to properly educate the athletes colleges have recruited for athletic purposes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/...#storylink=cpy

Some trees are saplings - others are redwoods

Thanks for posting the link. I just watched the preview. Definitely going home and watching the whole documentary today.

In those 2 minutes, I absolutely, 100% sympathize with the kids. They didn't say it, but I'm sure they felt cheated. Maybe not at the time, but certainly now after some reflection.

UNC Athletics Department - shame on you. Absolutely pathetic.

[DukieInKansas]

Bernard Goldberg: What language did you study?
Bryan Bishop: Swahili
Bernard Goldberg: Swahili ... (pause for effect) ... That come in handy since you graduated?

http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-...SVpgIAXbkXOA==

But in her blog post regarding tonight's show Laura Keeley of the N&O peddles the everyone does it response

Living in this area makes it easy to stare at the tree and miss the forest—UNC is not the only school that has compromised its academic standards in attempts to keep athletes eligible. In reality, there is a nationwide failure to properly educate the athletes colleges have recruited for athletic purposes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/...#storylink=cpy

Some trees are saplings - others are redwoods

Just because there may be other trees in the forest, doesn't mean you should ignore the "diseased" tree. It is better to remove the infected tree to benefit the rest of the forest.

[miramar]

I'm not sure I understand all the UNC/Swahili references in this thread, but ironically, I have personal knowledge of a Duke grad who has had to learn Swahili to aid the development of his Silicon Valley-funded start-up business in Africa-- it wasn't a requirement, but it made it better/easier to facilitate various business-related conversations over there... apparently, there are several grades of Swahili (just as there are several grades of English below the King's English that one might consider "proper"), and some countries over there tend to speak the more bastardized versions of it that get labeled as "Swanglish"-- and are looked down upon (or should I say "askance") by those other countries that tend to speak the more formal versions of the language.

We make a lot of Swahili references because that was one of the common phantom classes at UNC. The Duke grad "had to learn Swahili," while the UNC people didn't even have to show up to class to earn a passing grade.

[BigWayne]

We make a lot of Swahili references because that was one of the common phantom classes at UNC. The Duke grad "had to learn Swahili," while the UNC people didn't even have to show up to class to earn a passing grade.

That and it comes up twice in the teaser clip for the HBO show.

[BigWayne]

Bernard Goldberg: What language did you study?
Bryan Bishop: Swahili
Bernard Goldberg: Swahili ... (pause for effect) ... That come in handy since you graduated?

http://www.hbo.com/real-sports-with-...SVpgIAXbkXOA==

But in her blog post regarding tonight's show Laura Keeley of the N&O peddles the everyone does it response

Living in this area makes it easy to stare at the tree and miss the forest—UNC is not the only school that has compromised its academic standards in attempts to keep athletes eligible. In reality, there is a nationwide failure to properly educate the athletes colleges have recruited for athletic purposes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/...#storylink=cpy

Some trees are saplings - others are redwoods

N&O link above didn't work, but found it here:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/03/...nt-gumbel.html

Interesting that the comments are so far running heavily against UNC. The apologists haven't found it yet.

[Bluedog]

I agree that there is a failure in many administrations to properly educate athletes, but I'm going to take a slightly different viewpoint for a second playing a bit of devil's advocate just for argument's sake...Some of these athletes are ill-equipped to succeed in the classroom at many universities across the country as they have not been prepared in elementary and high school (some would argue about self-accountability here too, but clearly some high school systems simply are abysmal). Should a supposed top notch university really admit somebody like that in the first place? (I'm not saying this applies to the UNC athletes interviews in the above clip, but speaking more generally.)

What is worse - giving a student-athlete a full ride and at least some opportunity to grow academically while playing in a sport that excel in OR simply getting rebuked completely by higher education OR admitting the student into an environment in which they have no chance of success academically? Is it the university's responsibility to have a full-fledged team of tutors and support staff to make sure athletes can muster grades in the classroom, but not for the rest of its students? I'm not saying it's so black-and-white and just throwing out some hypotheticals. Almost every school I know has a large percentage of its football players enrolled in similar subject areas (known as clustering) and nearly always to supposedly "easier" majors. I suppose it's okay if the athletes choose it on their own and aren't funneled in a certain direction - and, of course, if the subject matter actually has substance and isn't composed of fake classes.

[cspan37421]

Hopefully this won't get me put on holiday.

We all have had a great many laughs about players being guided into Swahili, among other classes, at UNC-CH. The players in the video said they didn't pick the class, it was picked for them.

Awhile ago I posted (and so did bluedog) that Kyle Singler, while still a student, mentioned on the Dan Patrick Show that he was taking Wolof, a language spoken in Senegal. In the interview, he declined to say anything significant in the language, except for hello and goodbye. OK. Well, a quick search of Wolof and Duke turned up this video featuring FB WR Braxton:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...CLID=205243842

On the plus side, the class is actually meeting, and the students are actually speaking it in class! Whew. So that's good. It's not a no-show class.

But I found it curious that:

The class is entirely athletes, save for a fellow in his late 40s.
The class is held in the K Center. How many non-athletes have classes there?
BB said: "This is the only light of day we see, to come back outside at 5:15" - ??
Wolof has not been offered since the 2011-12 academic year, and then only in summer term, according to
https://registrar.duke.edu/wolof [all of a sudden it's irrelevant?]

I suppose legit answers to the first three questions might relate to the nature of what Duke students attend summer session, and what summer session can be like. But there can be other answers too, ones not so creditable.

But when you hear the Real Sports guy (Goldberg?) asking how useful Swahili has been, ask yourself, why did so many of our own athletes decide upon Wolof? Why weren't non-athletes taking it? Why take Wolof instead of, say, Spanish? I can think of answers our rivals and detractors might suggest.

[DukieInKansas]

Hopefully this won't get me put on holiday.

We all have had a great many laughs about players being guided into Swahili, among other classes, at UNC-CH. The players in the video said they didn't pick the class, it was picked for them.

Awhile ago I posted (and so did bluedog) that Kyle Singler, while still a student, mentioned on the Dan Patrick Show that he was taking Wolof, a language spoken in Senegal. In the interview, he declined to say anything significant in the language, except for hello and goodbye. OK. Well, a quick search of Wolof and Duke turned up this video featuring FB WR Braxton:

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...CLID=205243842

On the plus side, the class is actually meeting, and the students are actually speaking it in class! Whew. So that's good. It's not a no-show class.

But I found it curious that:

The class is entirely athletes, save for a fellow in his late 40s.
The class is held in the K Center. How many non-athletes have classes there?
BB said: "This is the only light of day we see, to come back outside at 5:15" - ??
Wolof has not been offered since the 2011-12 academic year, and then only in summer term, according to
https://registrar.duke.edu/wolof [all of a sudden it's irrelevant?]

I suppose legit answers to the first three questions might relate to the nature of what Duke students attend summer session, and what summer session can be like. But there can be other answers too, ones not so creditable.

But when you hear the Real Sports guy (Goldberg?) asking how useful Swahili has been, ask yourself, why did so many of our own athletes decide upon Wolof? Why weren't non-athletes taking it? Why take Wolof instead of, say, Spanish? I can think of answers our rivals and detractors might suggest.

Where did the group of football players go in Africa to dig a well? Can't remember if it was Senegal or not.