As I was watching TV this past Tuesday evening, a news banner appeared at the bottom of my screen to inform me of a breaking story. Usually they have to deal with some type of tragedy, major accident, political update or weather alert. Alas, my fellow Observer, none of these editorial inspirational subject matters were meant to be dropped in my lap giving me the easy way out for this weeks article. However.... me being the perpetual optimist that I am (no snickering please) I try to find the positive in every negative situation and vice versa. On the latter part of that statement, the news flash was about the University of Connecticut's woman basketball team winning their 10th championship title. In my true and usual cynical fashion, the fist thing that went through my mind, upon reading the news, was not "Good for them." or "Great job, they deserve it.". I didn't even give them a "They worked so hard to get here again.". Nope..... the first thing that I thought was, "Oh.... Great... How much is this victory parade gonna cost?
Now, don't get me wrong. If winning a some game or a lot of games or a championship or two is on the short list of your daughters or sons collegiate achievements, then by all means cheer and cheer loud. If sports are the only reason your child went to college, feel free to celebrate vicariously through them till your under age binge drinking hearts content. And if you feel justified in spending an average of $150,000.00 on a celebration parade and rally in our capitol to give all those kids that ever so important (and ridiculously expensive) golden pat on their backs instead of using that money to fund other more deserving causes.... you might want to have your moral compass adjusted. Not to take anything away from the players achievement of 10 championships within the last 20 years and the last three were consecutive, I give my sincerest congratulations on the accomplishment. I'm sure that I'm not the only one doing so. And if the players were really true sportswomen, that should be enough for a group of humble competitors. The pomp and circumstance of these after parties has seen it's day, as far as I'm concerned, and I believe they should be, by university policy, limited to some type of pep rally on campus (Such as the already existing Victory Lap at UConn). This should be more than enough for modest champions instead of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that people and business' throw at these things to do nothing more than inflate the egos of these kids and their parents.
As of late in Connecticut, the money to fund these shin digs has been provided by private and business donations instead of state and cities footing the bill. Although this has been a piece of good news for the taxpayers, it still shows an example of outrageous indifference from the private sector towards our state's and citizen's financial troubles. And the problem's reach extends farther than the "boosters", alumni and other well off "philanthropists" funding these events. Corporate money has been pouring in by the thousands provided by the likes of Webster Bank, Travelers Insurance, AT&T, Bank of America, Mohegan Sun, Cigna, Northeast Utilities ands United Technologies just to mention a few, with many more associate sponsors laying claim on the advertising opportunity sport celebration bandwagon. Why wouldn't these companies want to donate this money to.... lets see... I don't know.....scholarships maybe? I do understand that it is so much better to put your advertising budget money into and slap your logo onto an event where the participants can afford to buy your products or use your services. I mean, really..... It is so difficult to sell your appliances when the only advertising return you get is your logo on a cardboard box that some family is using for a bedroom. Hey there, Mr. Marketing.... maybe you'll get lucky and they'll put on an addition.
It does appear that the political mentality towards these celebrations in Connecticut is getting better, although I'm not sure it has been for the right reasons. Within the past decade our state and town legislators have passed the buck and refused to use tax dollars to fund these events. So much so that in 2011 they wouldn't drop a penny to bail out the UConn's men's basketball team's championship parade and rally when it almost didn't happen due to lack of donations from the private and business sectors. The states approach to the matter since 2005 has been basically if you want to do it, find a private way to do so because we aren't going to ask the taxpayers to fund them anymore. Even the state legislators realize that this money has more important uses. Wait a minute....I actually agree with our lawmakers?..... Must be some kind of mistake. Far be it from me to point out that they probably just didn't want to answer to their constituents on matters of unnecessary spending anymore than they already have to and figured it would help them keep their jobs. Naw.... I'm just grasping at straws....I'm sure. To be honest, I'm surprised it took them so long to figure that one out. I'm also astounded that the states population allowed the government to fund these events for so long.
I further submit that if UConn feels so strongly in celebrating these student accomplishments in the streets of our capitol, why do they never want to fully fund them? The last I checked UConn's athletic department is not hurting for cash. Women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma's salary this year was a modest 2.1 million with a total contract of 10.9 million for four yeas. Kevin Ollie, the men's basketball coach, after winning his first championship, renegotiated a yearly income of 2.8 million. Tickets to a men's game jumped this year from $49.00 to $177.00 per butt in the bucket. Women's tickets also saw an increase from $47.00 to $103.00. With 8 home games for the men and 6 for the women (that nearly always sell out) split between Gampel Pavilion in Storrs CT (10,167 seats) and The XL Center in Hartford CT (16,294 seats)..... well you do the math.... my head already hurts enough from looking up all this..... stuff. And this is just the basketball program. All in all the athletic programs at UConn proverbially "rake" in the sport soaked dough and doesn't seem to like to share when it comes to the kids that make their programs such a success. The money spent on the coach's salaries alone is shameful in itself. By way of comparison, the average professor's salary at UConn (you know.... the people we sent our kids to learn from) is $45,000.00 to $175,000.00. I'll let those numbers speak for themselves while I let Geno sum up the rest. This past Wednesday at UConn, during the Victory Lap celebration and rally, Auriemma said, "People don't pick up the paper in the morning to find out how the psychology department did last night.". I expected no more than that type of attitude and never will.
Understand that it's not just the money spent that I have the most issue with. The message inherent that we send to these kids is unforgivable. Putting them up on pedestals, throwing laurels and money at their "sport" achievement while parading them in front of adoring crowds through the streets of our capitol while parents two streets over from the festivities are wondering how they'll feed their children tonight. Maybe that family might show up along the route and be lucky enough to catch a T-shirt. Then they could stay a little warmer on those chilly nights. How dare we? What does it say about our community attitude by attending and supporting these events? Am I the only one watching these self centered degenerates cheering in the streets on the local news and shaking my head? I sincerely hope not. The problem is that there are a lot more people cheering than there are shaking their heads.
For your further outrage pleasure, my loyal reader, you need only skip to the next level of stupidity to find even more outrageous, unnecessary, lavish, shameful spending. From the New England Patriots and their duckboats to the San Francisco Giants and their streetcars, professional sport teams spend millions on their victory celebrations and what's worse is that cities and states actually help fund them. The reason? I'm glad you asked. Most cities and states feel that they will recoup their investment and then some from the fan participation revenue it will create. Wait..... What?? Really? OK all you financial gurus... answer me this... Get your slide rules and calculators out.... OK.... Ready? How is that going to happen after all the money you'll have to spend to the damage created in your streets by the fan participation sport riot that occurred on the night your team won the championship that you'll be celebrating if you can clean up the parade route in time, replace the four police cars that were set on fire or overturned and deal with all the lawsuits from the businesses that were vandalized. Did you follow all that, Kresgin? Or is your turban wrapped too tight? What are your financial mind powers telling you now...huh? Your teargas costs alone already have you in the red. Maybe you should take your political career on the road.... like in a sideshow. Wait.... that may be a little too up class for your mentality.
What I don't understand is when our priorities became so backward thinking. When did we start to believe that celebrating these accomplishment with parades and public rallies was a good thing? We never have a rally for the homeless or the sick. How about a parade for the hungry or the veterans? You never see that, do you? Well...I take that back. You do see them.... sort of. We call them telethons and walkathons. Problem is that sponsors for these things are a lot harder to find. Especially the ones who are busy dumping their money into sporting events. I guess these things never caught on in the past or the present, for that matter, because the subject matter is just too depressing. It has not been for lack of trying, though. Comic Relief, The Jerry Lewis Telethon, Live Aid, Autism Speaks, Farm Aid, The Jimmy Fund and don't forget all the "walks". Walk To End Hunger, Alzheimer, Cancer, Homelessness and Diabetes to name just a few. These events do exist and deserve a lot more recognition than a sports team celebration. The sad reality is that they don't. They're not happy or up beat enough. I have found, over the years, that we as a society don't like to face things that bring us down or send out negative energy. We are a lot more happier distracted by games and the newest technology. They're a lot more fun and not only do they make us feel better, they help us forget the trouble that others (that can't afford the newest I Phone) face, or moreover, each of us may face at any time. We all want to forget that it only takes one unforeseen domino tipping over to start a chain of bad luck.
If we are to evolve as a race before we destroy ourselves from within we have to rise above our current sensibility in order to achieve it. Sport celebrations, award shows, parades and other forms of corporate self serving events meant to keep us buying, supporting, donating and contributing in order to fuel the machine that enslaves us into thinking these are "good" things while robbing us of our morality have to be recognized and avoided. This level of thinking has to be achieved in order for us to realize that we are being lied to by the very people we've entrusted the most. Though you may very well be thinking that you have stumbled onto the ranting's of a bitter cynic, I submit to you that these events, looked at from that perspective, are more than just a college basketball team celebrating a championship..... It's 20,000 meals for the hungry. It's not just a parade with cable cars for a World Series win...... It's 70 homes for the homeless. It's not just the Oscars...... It's a months operating cost for St. Judes. When we start looking at these "events" in that light, our journey toward a more evolved sensibility begins. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, there's a sideshow in town I just have to see.
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