the BigAmateurism monologues

On July 9th, 2018, the NCAA issued its “Notice of Allegations” (NOA) to NC State, alleging NCAA rules violations in connection with transactions that were the subject of a criminal case in the Southern District of New York. The NOA is the NCAA equivalent of an indictment. This episode analyzes and contextualizes the NOA, including the NCAA’s and member institutions’ long-standing hypocrisy on their relationship to shoe and apparel companies. Taylor Branch’s provocative 2011 article “The Shame of College Sports” (and comments to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in 2001 by shoe industry insider Sonny Vaccaro) zero in on this hypocrisy. The NCAA’s case against NC State resurrects the unholy partnership between shoe/apparel companies and big-time college sports universities. I also discuss the flimsy basis for the NCAA’s NOA and the unreliability of the “evidence” upon which it relies. The NCAA’s use of the investigatory tools and circumstantial evidence standard—put into NCAA legislation in August 2018 after the Commission on College Basketball’s Report—is an afront to basic principles of fairness and due process.