Malcolm X was more than just a great orator, he had a unique genius in being able to make the complex unfold plainly-he spoke to the layman in all of us. In 1963 when riffing his disdain for the “March on Washington” Malcolm illustrated a scenario whereby the leading Pastors were losing influence in our community through bickering that left a void filled by more aggressive grassroots demonstrations. This localized, more radical "grassroots" movement was more threatening to the powers that be-so they quickly summoned the now legendary “Big 6” and colluded to underwrite (and thereby control) the March on Washington and by Proxy “The Civil Rights Movement”. The Rights African Americans enjoyed immediately after the Civil War were more broad and enforceable than the virtual slavery we lived under in the 1930’s- how did the future become more bleak than the past?, a backroom deal between Northern Business and Southern Democrats that’s how. The SEC Football Conference, a defacto Semi Pro League is fun for you to watch but it took Bear Bryant and John McKay going through emissaries to secretly negotiate an Alabama home game vs. USC to make a racist fan base see what a dead end future racism guaranteed- and this was 1970!. In my own life I’ve grown up in a state (Illinois) that produced more Pro’s than people even know (Anthony Davis) about because black Chicago Public League Coaches have colluded to make sure the University of Illinois knew how they felt about their “practices”. Collusion is nothing new, it’s merely a way of charting your course by unofficial means and this country was built on it. The only time Authoritarian Collusion in Sports is thrown off is when labor (talent or in the NCAA’s case mules) utilizes the same tactic to make a political point, or simply to play for a team with cool uniforms.
My favorite Illinois Team was the 1989 Final Four Team that should have been led by Ben Wilson; he was the leader in player led collusion to go against the Boycott and stay home. After that crop moved on to the NBA there was never again another homegrown wave again, which is why I hate all so called College Basketball Powers. Collusion was afoot when LeBron James decided in 2008 to leave Cleveland for Miami-yeah that’s right 2008; it didn’t “just” happen which is why Dan Gilbert who probably colludes daily lost his shit. During the NBA “Lockout” Gilbert then recruited his own conspiratorial pack (starring Air Jordan himself) of small market owners and colluded to make sure that player led Collusions would be financially impossible for large market teams to finance. Boycotts aren’t as effective as collusions, they are merely spectacles that evoke awareness, but they are ultimately ended by a handful of people in a secret location-the proverbial “smoke filled room” in the back. Like unofficial biographies they aren’t bound by the same rules of engagement, that’s why they are ultimately more damaging to the subject and more entertaining to readers. In the case of College Football’s shameful minority hiring practices I believe the first thing anybody seeking change should understand is Alumni have shown a history of gloves off tactics and should be dealt with realistically.
Colorado Coach Jon Embry was just fired and with the backing of former Colorado Coach/Mentor Bill McCartney accused the institution of racial bias. I don’t have to get too deep into the NCAA’s record, I’ll let it be your homework for this article, just know that Brotha’s don’t get any second chances to screw up. The Washington State Coach Mike Leach is on his second tour of abusing players verbally and psychologically, when his torture chamber is located he’ll get fired and rehired by 2015-because he’s a “Good Ole Boy”. The NCAA and a majority of Football Factories profit from the indentured servitude of a workforce that is primarily Black. The schools who recruit their coaching talent from an old boy network of people they feel “comfortable” with have no problem trafficking in the worst black neighborhoods in the country because the mules are free-Coaches you pay on the record. The NCAA is loose on concussions, players hit more during the week than Pro’s and a Coach can rescind a Scholarship without fear of an appeal process or disciplinary action for unfair dismissal. What Power does a player have? He’s trying to get out of the circumstances he’s in so why bother with the fact that there are no men of color leading him? Rob Parker argues that the parents should take charge and enact a Boycott and vigorously examine Universities and their minority hiring practices but I don’t agree with this plan of action. Remember Boycotts are trying to lead to Collusion, and a lot of the parents of 5 Star WR’s aren’t available for such organization-they’re simply trying to survive until their sons get drafted. This is the Social Media, Technology age, every 5 star Athlete can find out what Schools are doing in their hiring practices with the click of a mouse. All of the kids are connected anyway through Travel Teams, Camps and 7 on 7 Leagues, it would be laughably easy to put the finger on a handful of schools and go elsewhere-without warning. It wouldn’t have to affect them at all, just migrate towards BCS schools that have shown a willingness to hire capable minority coaches and let it be known that you liked that about the institution-no 5 star kids should take themselves off the map by going to an irrelevant Conference. It took ONE Game to desegregate the SEC, TWO RECRUITING (in honor of the lousy 2 years Jon Embry was given) CLASSES could reform the hiring practices of Football Factories immediately. Two recruiting classes could tilt the balance of power in NCAA Football for 5 years, that’s like an eternity to institutions used to having their pick of unpaid labor. Alumni who put their money towards keeping Brotha’s from even interviewing at “Old State U” will be begging the NCAA to put their version of a Rooney Rule in Place-and the kids who prompted the change will not only be Pro Athletes but revolutionaries. Boosters will find it in their schedule to have dinner with talented men they had no incentive to “know” until 18 year old kids decided to use their IPhones to give them one. Sometimes it takes unofficial action to prompt the powerful to make official concessions and changes; in fact unofficial action is enough to sink a whole program…just ask Penn State.
Mississippi Goddamn
Speaking of Big-time College Football, is it me or did the Ole Miss Election Night Demonstration get buried? My Southern friends from "down thur" all talked about it for a while and guess what they told me? This shit aint over. Ole Miss was an also-ran in the SEC, the proud recipients of the crumbs that fall from the Alabama/Florida/LSU table-they are more vulnerable to player led collusion than any school in the SEC. This will however be a story in the coming years because I predict Ole Miss will get moved along due to Div. level talent and results-Florida State will fit nicely in their spot before this so called “Obamanation” is over. They are out of their minds if they don’t think young football players down south aren’t talking about what happened and their probably going to have to get ahead of this thing in a way that might turn Confederate soldiers over in their graves…Or Perish as a Football Program. That it could even happen at a School that clung to the Confederate Flag and threw a tantrum when asked to change their sickening mascot is no surprise-but it is stupid. Big Time Football is played hard on and off the field; and the time has come for “Ole Miss” to choose: Do they want allegiance to the rednecks in the dorms that produce no revenue or the black athletes who pay for everything.
