Suchergebnisse

The passage of Rule 48 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) pro voked the most heated racial debate within the organization since the onset of widespread collegiate sports integration during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the core of the controversy are concerns over the legislation's anticipated financial and academic conse quences for those Division I institutions which have traditionally set less stringent academic standards for athletes' admissions and sports participation. Predominantly Black institu tions' efforts to establish and maintain parity with predominantly White institutions in the race to recruit "blue-chip" Black athletes is examined within the context of Rule 48's implica tions. The forces precipitating Rule 48 and those complicating its equitable implementation are shown to be rooted in the traditions and ongoing character of interracial relations in American sport and society. And, finally, problems of academic quality and integrity in collegiate sports are revealed to be only part of a much broader and potentially more devastating crisis afflicting education in America.

American's traditional relegation of sport to the "toy department" of human affairs conceals both its signifi cance as an institution and the seriousness of its impact upon social relations and development. Nowhere is the validity of this assessment more evident than in the situation confronting Afro-Americans. Here, sport is revealed to be neither "fun- and-games," a citadel of interracial brotherhood and harmony, nor blacks' passport to the "good life." Rather, for blacks, it emerges as a fog-shrouded, institutional minefield, even further obscured by naivete, ignorance, and decades of selec tively accumulated myth. In reality, sport not only exhibits the same structure and ideological rationalizations of human rela tions as exist in the larger society, but it plays a fundamental role in sustaining the character of those relations. Only through a thorough understanding of the functions of sport as an insti tution and the dynamics of its disproportionately powerful influence upon Afro-American life can black people ever hope to extricate themselves from what can only be termed a politi cal and cultural tragedy.

American's traditional relegation of sport to the "toy department" of human affairs conceals both its signifi cance as an institution and the seriousness of its impact upon social relations and development. Nowhere is the validity of this assessment more evident than in the situation confronting Afro-Americans. Here, sport is revealed to be neither "fun- and-games," a citadel of interracial brotherhood and harmony, nor blacks' passport to the "good life." Rather, for blacks, it emerges as a fog-shrouded, institutional minefield, even further obscured by naivete, ignorance, and decades of selec tively accumulated myth. In reality, sport not only exhibits the same structure and ideological rationalizations of human rela tions as exist in the larger society, but it plays a fundamental role in sustaining the character of those relations. Only through a thorough understanding of the functions of sport as an insti tution and the dynamics of its disproportionately powerful influence upon Afro-American life can black people ever hope to extricate themselves from what can only be termed a politi cal and cultural tragedy.

America's traditional relegation of sport to the "toy department" of human affairs conceals both its significance as an institution & the seriousness of its impact on social relations & development. Nowhere is the validity of this assessment more evident than in the situation confronting Afro-Americans. Here, sport is revealed to be neither "fun-&-games," a citadel of interracial brotherhood & harmony, nor blacks' passport to the "good life." Rather, for blacks, it emerges as a fog-shrouded, institutional minefield, even further obscured by nai$TUMvete, ignorance, & decades of selectively accumulated myth. In reality, sport not only exhibits the same structure & ideological rationalizations of human relations as exist in the larger society, but also plays a fundamental role in sustaining the character of those relations. Only through a thorough understanding of the functions of sport as an institution & the dynamics of its disproportionately powerful influence on Afro-American life can black people ever hope to extricate themselves from what can only be termed a political & cultural tragedy. 1 Table. HA.