Left attacking college sports

Duncan, Obama

With the NCAA basketball tournament in full swing, our ruling elites seem to have launched an attack on one of America's last remaining meritocracies.  On March 17, without any constitutional authority, Obama's hand picked Secretary of Education, the annoying Arne Duncan, proclaimed his desire to regulate college basketball.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says schools not on track to graduate at least half of their basketball players should not be allowed to compete in the NCAA men's and women's tournaments.

If such a standard were in place now, three women's teams and 10 men's teams, including traditional powers Syracuse and Purdue, would not be in the tournaments

Central New York's basketball coach reacted quickly. 

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim calls Duncan's proposal "completely nuts."

Unlike almost any other area of modern life, college sports rewards the best, based on wins and losses, period.  Coaches and athletic administrators struggle to put the country's best student-athletes on the the court or on the field.  If a coach were to select a point guard based on anything other skill and ability, he'd soon be looking for another line of work.

You certainly might wonder if your surgeon got behind the scalpel strictly due to her talent and skill, or whether the fact that the governor appointed her uncle to the board of the state university played a role in her admission to medical school.  Yet, politicians still can't influence a basketball player's free throw percentage.  The most powerful of our self anointed elites cannot influence outcomes of college basketball games, and at this time of year that must be driving them nuts.

Now, we suspect not coincidentally, radical leftist Ralph Nader has joined the attack.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is calling for the elimination of college athletic scholarships, saying the move is necessary to "de-professionalize" college athletes.

"As we near the exciting conclusion of 'March Madness' -- which would more accurately be described as the 2011 NCAA Professional Basketball Championships -- it's time we step back and finally address the myth of amateurism surrounding big-time college football and basketball in this country," said Nader, whose League of Fans is proposing that the scholarships be replaced with need-based financial aid.

Need based financial aid, of course, is subject to all sorts of political and ideological  agendas.  It's no surprise that Obama, Duncan and Nader would prefer elitist control.