Submitted by bizgrrl on Wed, 2009/12/09 - 8:37am

A significant part of the investigation is focused on the use of recruiting hostesses who have become folk heroes on Tennessee Internet message boards for their ability to help lure top recruits.
...
Some recruits say their influence is significant.

You don’t want to go to a college where they ain’t pretty,” Lattimore [a running back from James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan, SC] said.

Apparently the six existing "unintentional" recruiting violations since Kiffin has been coach have brought UT to the attention of NCAA officials.

Recruiting hostesses? Hmmm...

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ma am's picture

new slogan?

UT:  Putting the "HO" in hostesses!

Feminist disclaimer:  I am appalled at the shameless use of women to service men....as usual.

 

sugarfatpie's picture

hostessing part of UT's schizoid identity

Plenty of people have mentioned on other sites that hostessing is an old tradition found throughout college sports, and one not unique to UT.

And we're probably getting the attention because of Kiffin's repeated secondary recruiting violations, which are minor.

But that's all beside the point to me, as the hostessing tradition is worthy of examination regardless of what school ends up taking the first fall(if any). 

What seems clear to me is that regardless of what hostesses are paid to do (yes they are paid employees of most universities), which is give campus tours and talk to recruits and their families when they visit...there are different interpretations of that role among different hostesses.

Some don't go beyond these formal roles, while others do.  It seems the UT athletic department has a responsibility to educate hostesses about what their role is and is not, and to let them know in no uncertain terms when they have stepped over the line.  UT is after all an educational institution, not a sports/entertainment institution.

This is especially important considering the unspoken primal urges driving this whole thing.  Sex sells (or recruits) plain and simple.  If sex wasn't driving this, hostesses wouldn't be predominantly female (recruiting male athletes) and universally cute.

Having said all this, I'm still waiting for the smoking gun, which would be something like anyone in the athletic department either encouraging or doing nothing to counteract an understanding among hostesses that they should be doing anything more than giving campus tours and talking to recruits and their families about UT.

If a smoking gun does emerge, then UT athletics should suffer some significant consequences.  If not, not.  Regardless, we will still left with a schizoid university, part of which thinks it is here to educate, part of which thinks it is here to serve up gladiators to the masses and to potential donors (to the athletic department that is, not the university). 

Lets be clear on what these players are though.  They are gladiators who sacrifice their bodies, and often their education, for our enjoyment and who are treated, pretty much like the original gladiators were, as slaves.  Sure there's a few perks thrown in for the best ones, but most get very little for what they give out.  An education?  Maybe, if you consider a degree in something un-employable and a largely perfunctory attitude towards learning as an "education". A life outside football?  Hardly. 

And indeed, most have worked away throughout much of their youth for this opportunity. 

Why then don't we take the final step and create a minor league for pro football that is separate from universities?  Ok that's not going to happen.

But could we at least cease the practice of letting the athletic department reserve donors for themselves?  Donors who could be benefiting the educational wing of the university but who are instead shunted into funding the next athletic dorm.

 

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

The purity of the world.

Why then don't we take the final step and create a minor league for pro football that is separate from universities?  Ok that's not going to happen.

You're right. It's not gonna happen. Mostly because there's no possible way you could get people even remotely interested in paying to watch it.

Regardless, we will still left with a schizoid university, part of which thinks it is here to educate, part of which thinks it is here to serve up gladiators to the masses and to potential donors (to the athletic department that is, not the university).

You're partly right. But the people who come here to play sports are not deprived of their freedom. Comparing them to slaves is grotesque, and disrespectful of people who have endured actual slavery in the past and in the now.

Whether they take advantage of it or not, recruits have the opportunity to get an education here. In some cases a very good one. But many football recruits come here to prepare to take their shot at the NFL. The fact that most of them won't make it is beside the point. They don't have to put all their fast-twitch fibers into that one basket.

You may not believe that that opportunity to get an education is worth the risk, but a lot of people disagree. Some of them come here to play football.

You may think that the actual University's relationship to "its" athletic department is a joke. That's a matter of fact, of course.

metulj's picture

The economics of UT Football

The economics of UT Football tracks closer to plantation mercantilism than capitalism.

You've got all the factors in place: Underpaid fieldhands, sharecropping, overseers, crackers, the Big House, the company store, promise of getting off the plantation and prosperity, etc.

I don't think they are slaves, but they certainly are vastly underpaid for their labor. What's the Marginal Physical Product of a UT QB? It's a shitload more than a free ride at a very cheap public insititution, three hots, and a cot.

 

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler Stimulating the economy as best we can! Further stimulation with Yoga Wear!

sobi's picture

And your point is what, exactly?

I'm not arguing that they're paid enough. You can wrestle with that question all you want.

But you're goofy in the head to suggest this:

The economics of UT Football tracks closer to plantation mercantilism than capitalism.

Please. It's capitalism pure and simple. It's a facet of the fucking entertainment industry. Nobody's forced to contribute their labor to it.

It's also football. Anyone who plays or watches it knows that it's a destroyer of bodies. People still compete fiercely for the opportunity to get on the gridiron. Are they all suckers? Maybe so, but it's an awful lot of fun to play it, and if I had the ability to play at the D1 level, I'd have sure tried. As long as players will fight for the chance to play, why should anyone pay them anything?

metulj's picture

Under a capitalist system,

Under a capitalist system, workers would be able to go freely to another employer for a higher wage. Without a "release" a UT football player cannot transfer to another scholarship opportunity (forget wages) at a better school or a school with a better team. That's mercantilist control if there ever was one as the export of raw material (what a player is) was generally banned in pre-capitalist societies. Once they are kept within the plantation they can't leave without paying off their heriot or without permission of the lord. Oh, wait. That's medieval.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler Stimulating the economy as best we can! Further stimulation with Yoga Wear!

sobi's picture

What fun.

I love analogies. Yours is really, really colorful.

But it's also a bit off. The player is not the raw material. He's an entirely voluntary laborer who helps to make a product, which is entertainment. That's what's being consumed, and that's what generates the heavy cashflow in this industry.

So a player has a noncompete clause in his contract with his employer. Big deal. I've had those before. They're extremely common in some fields. Just like the player you're talking about, I had all the freedom in the world to walk away from those restrictive contracts before I signed them.

Football players as serfs. As far as metaphors go, gladiators was a lot closer.

sugarfatpie's picture

Do you even know what

Do you even know what gladiators were?

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

Oh, crap.

No, I don't. What were they?

metulj's picture

Slaves. True happiness is

Slaves.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler Stimulating the economy as best we can! Further stimulation with Yoga Wear!

sobi's picture

Really!??!??!?!?!

What kind of work did they have to do?

metulj's picture

Killing each other and the

Killing each other and the preparation for such. See Auguet's "Cruelty and Civilization" or Barton's "Sorrows of the Ancient Romans."

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler Stimulating the economy as best we can! Further stimulation with Yoga Wear!

sobi's picture

Omigod!

You mean they really and truly killed each other? Like, as in killed them unto death? That's not just another metaphor?!

That's horrible!

And these young athletes, these proto-Vols, were lured into four years of this way of life by artificially-tanned women promising athletic scholarships and warm, friendly companionship?!?

Oh, me! I'm having the weirdest feeling of deja vu!

sugarfatpie's picture

You do realize how callous

You do realize how callous this sounds don't you?

Or are you perhaps just ignorant of the kinds of injuries you can get playing football?

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-745227.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/03/sports/plus-college-football-paralyzed-player-shows-improvement.html

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

metulj's picture

The Sporting Chance

Giuseppe. We've missed you.

 

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler Stimulating the economy as best we can! Further stimulation with Yoga Wear!

sugarfatpie's picture

How does the world look

How does the world look through those rose colored glasses?

But many football recruits come here to prepare to take their shot at the NFL. The fact that most of them won't make it is beside the point.

No that's exactly the point. 

What are essentially our "minor leagues" for football don't pay a dime.  Very few players ever get fair compensation for the years they spend literally breaking their bodies for our enjoyment. 

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

Your moral objections...

...to the marriage of football and commerce notwithstanding, if people don't want to play football, nobody is gonna make them.

Not that it's a consideration that's attached to anything in the real world, but what exactly do you think would be "fair compensation" for college football players? How would you determine what that is? WHO would make that determination?

If players feel like they're getting screwed, why do they keep on playing? What would stop college football players from organizing and saying to the NCAA, "We're not doing this anymore. We want scholarships and we want salaries. Pay or we don't play."

Your whole argument strikes me as weird simply because the participants are willing. Some of them are making lots of money, but they're doing it with the complicity of people who want to play the game. That's just reality. If anyone's got some rosecolored glasses on, it's you, my friend.

sugarfatpie's picture

Wow... "moral objections" to

Wow... "moral objections" to capitalism. The audacity!

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

You object to capitalism?

I just thought you were pissed off about this particular manifestation of it. My bad.

sugarfatpie's picture

Not that it's a

Not that it's a consideration that's attached to anything in the real world, but what exactly do you think would be "fair compensation" for college football players? How would you determine what that is? WHO would make that determination?

Again, let me apologize for finding fault with your "real world".  I didn't mean to upset your gleaming vision of people operating with perfect information and hence fully capable of navigating complex systems that are stacked against them.  It must really be awful to have someone suggest that we actually do something about a blatant unfairness.  The horror.

What could we realistically do?  Absent any actual payment for services rendered, a minimum measure of fairness would be complete lifetime coverage for any healthcare costs related to any injury sustained while training, practicing, or playing UT football.  Seems to me that this could easily be done without capitalism grinding to a halt.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

Again, okay.

And you don't need to apologize for any of your faultfinding. I don't believe and haven't suggested any of the things you suggest, but you don't even need to apologize for being a blunt instrument. It's really okay. 

Absent any actual payment for services rendered, a minimum measure of fairness would be complete lifetime coverage for any healthcare costs related to any injury sustained while training, practicing, or playing UT football.  Seems to me that this could easily be done without capitalism grinding to a halt.

Sounds like an excellent plan. I'd even suggest a stipend in lieu of and at a significantly higher level of compensation than the value of the scholarship, and a clean decoupling of the AD from the university. That way, those who want to get a college education could simply purchase one on the same basis as everyone else.

Now. What do you think's gonna make all that happen?

sugarfatpie's picture

A lawsuit is probably the

A lawsuit is probably the quickest way.

Find a former player with some awful injury who has no health insurance and no support from the school he was playing for.

But to get a nationwide standard you would also need to go the "civil society" route. 

Create an NGO for injured former players.

Write some letters. Stage some demos. Involve some young fans(preferably under 12yrs old).

Get some coverage in the Librul Media.

Organize students at some really progressive school where "moral force" might work, and with tons of money and a big football program

Create a national movement that the NCAA can't ignore.

See its easy!

Someone's already setting the precedent, albeit at the high school level.

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090811/NEWS01/908110355/0/NEWS02

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

Great.

Maybe the approach you advocate could improve things for players. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

Organize students at some really progressive school where "moral force" might work, and with tons of money and a big football program

"Big football" and "progressive." I'm not sure how well these two flavors actually mingle.

I like my idea much better than I like any of yours, so far, but I still think the only thing that would ever professionalize college football would be for players to want it enough to demand it. Players have the interest in the change. Nobody else does.

For example, you talk about these guys laying it down for our entertainment. It must not be all that bad. If your moral objections to the spectacle were really all that offended, you'd opt out of playing your part in it.

No players, no industry. If they want to change the way they're treated, players need to not play.

ma am's picture

Have to take issue with

Have to take issue with this.  There are a lot of folks making a ton of money off of college football.  The guys doing the work and sacrificing their bodies get only a degree, if they are focused enough.  Yep, it's voluntary, but the risks are real, and the money is there.  Why aren't they paid for providing our collective enjoyment and many other folks livelihoods? 

And why isn't the football team like Pat's team?  Her players graduate.  Of course, the women players know they won't be rich and famous, ever, due to their athletic abilities.  But there is no reason why the men shouldn't likewise realize the same.  There are only a few who make it.  And there are some who are injured enough to influence the rest of their lives. 

sobi's picture

Okay.

Yep, it's voluntary, but the risks are real, and the money is there.  Why aren't they paid for providing our collective enjoyment and many other folks livelihoods?

Leaving aside the question of why someone would pay someone to do something that that person is obviously willing to do in exchange only for the opportunity to get an education and prepare for a career in pro sports, what would you pay them for the risks they run in playing this game? Would you pay them, say, what an enlistee in the Army is paid? Would that be fair?

R. Neal's picture

Statement from

Statement from UT:

"KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee confirms that there is an NCAA review under way. University Administration and Athletics are cooperating fully.

We are concerned about the alleged activities of some members of the Orange Pride. Both university and NCAA guidelines are a part of the Orange Pride’s orientation and training. If those guidelines were violated, we will take appropriate action. Because of federal student privacy regulations, we can’t comment further.

Orange Pride is one of three student admissions groups that serve as ambassadors for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Orange Pride’s responsibilities include staffing university-wide admissions programs, providing campus tours, and hosting prospective student athletes and their families. There are 75 students, both men and women, in the group. These ambassadors interact with hundreds of students across the campus."

ANGRYWOLF's picture

Other schools have this practice...

which the folks at the NYT and ESPN have noticeably failed to mention.

I'm not in favor of it btw...if the NCAA chooses to ban it I'm for that but UT shouldn't be singled out.

My guess is a couple of the young ladies will confess to doing this on their own, they will be fired, UT will get a slap on the wrist from the NCAA and the whole thing will blow over and disappear.

 

sugarfatpie's picture

Some provocative commentary

Some provocative commentary and somewhat provocative photos

http://theangryt.com/?p=3363

 

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher) "X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

sobi's picture

Me? Callous?

I'm not the one who compared football players to slaves who were compelled to murder each other for the entertainment of others. That's really callous. Stupid, too.

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