Nationals Arm Race

Last week, embattled NCAA head Mark Emmert appeared on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” morning show.

Some idiot at ESPN thought it’d be a wonderful idea to solicit questions live for Emmert via twitter using the #AskEmmert hashtag.

What followed was hilarity.  As pointed out by three different outlets (blog AwfulAnnouncing), UsaToday, and si.com), people went to full snark mode almost immediately.  Each of the three links here posted different collections of tweeted “questions,” but they were awesome.  My favorites (pulled from these various links):

• “remember that time you mismanaged a $150 million building project at UConn so badly the governor ordered an investigation?”
• “UCONN’s graduation rate is 8%. Are these really STUDENT athletes?”
• “Why do athletic directors and coaches get bonuses based on player performance while the player gets nothing?”
• “Can you explain amateurism and not paying players without using circular logic?”
• “I run a non-profit, where can we apply to get free labor like you do?”
• “When are you going to resign?”
• “what’s it like to rule a organization of thousands of schools and millions of student athletes using “because I said so” as logic?”
• “Why do student-athletes’ parents have to get permission from compliance office to take their kid’s teammate to McDonald’s?”
• “hey, do you think we’re stupid, or do you really believe this stuff you say?”
• “I once gave a football player some gum in my class. Who do I contact to have his scholarship revoked?”
• “Do you think slavery would still be around if they called them “student farmers?””
• “Did you fly on a private jet to explain why the NCAA can’t afford to give athletes more than a scholarship?”
• “NCAA President says athletes are “taking seats from a paying student.” Wow.”

That last one was from highly-vocal NCAA critic Jay Bilas, joining in on the fun.

There were a ton of other funny questions … the above only lists the “serious” questions about Emmert’s organization.  But creativity points to others; see the above links for more.

All I can say is, wow.  I once heard a funny anecdote about the time that folksy SI.com NFL writer Peter King was mercilessly made fun of during a live Q&A session on social media (instead of getting football questions, he was hounded with “questions” about inane topics … you kind of have to read the chat session).  This is what happens when the entire internet lives behind a curtain of anonymity sometimes.

All I can say about Emmert’s Q&A session is this: man I would have loved to be in the room to see the color drain out of his face.