Sport Law. Players Sell Their Shoes, And That’s the Scandal, M. Powell

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Sport Law
In his article titled Players Sell Their Shoes, And That’s the Scandal, Michael Powell presents what to him appears to be an ironical situation given the fact that the bigger issue is yet to be handled. He starts the article by giving a summary of what the scandal entails. Apparently, thirteen students from the University of North Carolina were caught selling their basketball sneakers to a local outlet and these players could face up to a four-game suspension. UNC’s basketball coach Larry Fedora shared his disappointments with the boys and went ahead to say how the young men deserve to be punished. His sentiments were echoed by UNC’s athletic director Bubba Cunningham.
However, Powell believes that this so-called ‘scandal’ helps to tell a different story and it is for purposes of amusing the readers. This he says because to him, such a story can never reflect badly on a university like UNC. He then goes further to sarcastically mention how the boys are now being depicted as untrustworthy simply because they decided to sell their sneakers even though they sacrifice their bodies, brains, and time playing for the N.C.A.A league. Here, his aim is to draw the reader into the irony of the story.
In the next section, he reveals a previous scandal involving UNC where the school was discovered to have knowingly engaged in academic fraud. Apparently, UNC had been providing fake grades and classes while also guaranteeing the minimum grade for the basketball and football stars. This was the plan they used to ensure the students stayed occupied in the field while their mates were busy studying.
A learning specialist by the name of Mary Willingham sought to test the above notion by aiming to prove to Roy Williams (a very respected coach) that the school’s former play...