On Dec. 5, 2014, Cardale Jones was a nobody. Third-string quarterbacks in top football programs rarely make the national news. However, there was something different about Jones. On Jan. 12, 2015, he was the biggest name in college football, after leading Ohio State in one of the most incredible post seasons in football history.

Jones’s story doesn’t start so recently, however, and may encourage college athletes to reconsider the way in which they evaluate themselves. But before Jones made history, he needed time to become the man he is.

Despite being a redshirt sophomore, Cardale is 22 years old. He took an extra semester of high school to get his grades up so he could go to Ohio State. He then became an “early enrollee” staring in the spring of 2012. He promptly made national headlines by tweeting the following: “Why should we have to go class when we came here to play FOOTBALL. We ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS.”

Fast forward two seasons and Jones is sitting third string behind two-time reigning Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year Braxton Miller, and unknown but talented J.T. Barrett. In preseason workouts, Miller suffered a season-ending shoulder injury, shoving Barrett into the spotlight. Barrett proceeded to lead Ohio State to a one-loss regular season, only dropping one early season affair to Virginia Tech. Barrett preformed so well in his first season of work that he  finished 5th in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Ohio State’s season was threatened once again in the final game of the regular season, when Barrett gruesomely broke his ankle, finally putting Jones in his starting role. Jones had one game to show the College Football Playoff Selection Committee that he could ensure no drop off for the fourth-best team in the country. Jones’s real story started on Dec. 6 when he obliterated a strong Wisconsin defense to the tune of 59-0.

Many people were skeptical of Ohio State despite the team’s win in the Big 10 Championship Game. They thought that Ohio State would clearly fall to the football titan that was Alabama. On New Year’s Day, an incredible play by sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliot and the dominating Cardale Jones shocked the sporting world. Jones repeatedly shrugged off soon-to-be NFL defenders only to lower his shoulder for extra yardage. Jones’s 6’4” 240-pound frame supports not only a kind of physical dominance, but also a cannon of an arm which allowed him to easily make a deep throw that other quarterbacks wouldn’t even attempt.

The scene was repeated in the National Championship against the Oregon Ducks where, despite four turnovers, the Buckeyes dominated the game and cruised to victory. Cardale’s pandemonium was in full force and the biggest question of all came to the forefront: Could Cardale jump from college to the NFL after only three collegiate starts? And if he did where would he go?

The question debated at length was if Jones could make the leap so many others couldn’t. Then Jones took to Twitter, the social media outlet that got him in trouble just three years earlier, to announce that big decisions were ahead. Jones would hold a press conference at his old high school to announce his career choice.

Jones stood at the podium in front of the press conference to announce that he was returning to Ohio State–a surprising decision, but one that makes Jones a legend.

Jones looked at the camera after he said he was returning and stated his case for his decision. He didn’t mention having unfinished business or going for another title, or even getting better as a player. He said that he valued his education more than football and that his academics would take him ten times farther than his athletic career. He said he wanted to be a financial planner and that he needed a degree. Cardale Jones isn’t the typical athlete-student that football has created recently; he believes in the head on his shoulders.

Record numbers of underclassmen have been leaving school for the NFL as of late, but many of those players will not last very long. The average NFL career is only about three years. Jones went from joke to folk hero, and now his draft stock may never be higher. There is no guarantee that he will even play for the Buckeyes next year. But Jones embodied the message that every parent should tell their child: Your brain is more important than your body. You will lose your physical gifts, but the stuff between your ears will be with you forever.

And for that reason Cardale Jones is the future of athletics. He knows that football is way to get the education his grades cannot give him, and yet the value of his scholarship is not being exploited by the NCAA. It is worth every dollar he earns in the future as a financial planner. Other athletes should look to Cardale’s example because it is the only way to show the NCAA that the athletes are still in charge.

The early NBA season has been marked by several stories. From Lebron and the Cavalier’s slow start in Cleveland to the historically efficient Dallas offense, there is plenty to talk about. One team likely to contend for the title this summer has been all but forgotten due to injuries, but after their two stars get healthy, the Oklahoma City Thunder are ready to take their place near the top of the Western Conference.

It is becoming increasingly common for teams in the NBA to assemble a core of expensive superstars, surround them with a group of highly specialized role players and try to win a title. The Celtics started the “Big 3” strategy in the modern game when they acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to partner with Paul Pierce. The Heat then followed suit with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

What these teams did wasn’t stable though. These players are expensive and had the tendency to be established, veteran players, meaning that they aged quickly. The Thunder have been able to acquire two of the top-15 players of the league through the draft. Kevin Durant appears to be heir to LeBron’s crown as the face of the league, while Russell Westbrook is one of the most explosive offensive point guards in the league.

The Thunder haven’t been able to get over the hump in the past, being stymied by different Big 3s over the last few years. This season appeared to be in doubt early as Durant went down with injury. It was considered by many to be Westbrook’s time to show the league that he was an elite player without needing Durant to support it. The only problem was that Westbrook only lasted a few games before he went down with an injury himself.

The Thunder struggled mightily, limping out to a 5-12 record before Durant and Westbrook came back. Already being behind the 8-ball in terms of making the playoffs it will be tough for the Thunder to get a good matchup early in the postseason. They can’t be counted out, though, as both Durant and Westbrook carry with them the ability to completely take over a game.

What the Thunder have really been lacking is any sort of offense. Without their two superstars the team is 29th in points per game and dead last in assists per game. Both of these aspects should change drastically over the course of the next few games as they find a rhythm with their superstars back.

The Thunder are already six games out of the last playoff spot, and eleven behind the Golden State Warriors for the top spot in the Western Conference. The good news is that the season is so early that they have plenty of time to try and make up the difference between themselves and the rest of the pack.

The road is made harder by strength of the Western conference as a whole. For the last several seasons the West has been viewed as a much deeper and more difficult conference to compete in. They are helped by competing in the Northwest Division, one of the weaker for the conference, but unless they can take over the top spot it won’t matter much.

Westbrook is one of the strongest competitors in the league and will not take the chance of missing the playoffs lightly. Durant will have to continue to carry a lot of the offensive load offensively, averaging 27 points a game already. When this summer rolls around the Thunder are a team to watch out for, playing with a chip on their shoulders and ready to take the next step with the help of their leaders.+

Every Thanksgiving is marked around America by food, family and football. Every year the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys host an affair, and a rotating third game was added a few years ago. This year was especially poignant for us here at Whitman as the Seattle Seahawks took on the San Francisco 49ers in the final game of the evening.

Thanksgiving might be the second biggest day of the football calendar, only behind the Superbowl. But it appears that Thanksgiving is more than just another day where people watch America’s most popular sport. It is the only day that seems to honor tradition over dollar signs.

The addition of a third game was clear ploy for viewers and advertising dollars, but the steadfastness of the NFL to keep Detroit and Dallas as the hosts for their annual games remains one of the final symbols of  “the good old days.”

This wasn’t always the case, though. The Lions were rumored to be in danger of losing their Thanksgiving game just a few years ago. Coming into the 2013 contest against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions had dropped nine straight games on the holiday, rendering it a real downer for fans around the country. The Lions won that game easily and have since returned to relevance in the league.

The Cowboys are a whole different story. They have been America’s team for a long time, and their annual showcase on Thanksgiving has to be a big part of their lore. Owner Jerry Jones has taken the Cowboys to heights unseen in the league previously, and his ability to keep this day special for the Cowboys is a symbol they will have to pry from his old wrinkly hands.

This year was different than recent history. The Lions (8-4) had the early game against Chicago (5-7), a division rival that has been struggling on defense. The Lions had been on a small skid of their own but were able to pull out the big win behind some amazing play from the passing game and running back Joique Bell.

Dallas (8-4) had a much less happy holiday as they were demolished by the Mark Sanchez-led Eagles (9-3). Dallas started out hot this year but has cooled significantly and will need to find their rhythm to get into the playoffs.

The most heavily-hyped game turned out to be the most disappointing to watch. The San Francisco 49ers (7-5) were shut down by the visiting Seahawks (8-4) 19-3. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman made headlines earlier in the week after a bizarre press conference pointing out the hypocrisy of player safety by having players play twice in five days. This was an odd decision seeing as this is the one week that the Thursday game trend has been historic, not part of the new Thursday Night Football program that the NFL began in 2007-2008.

The Seahawks ended up with their lopsided win, but between sleeping off dinner and blowout games it would be hard to say how many people watched each game. Football might be getting a huge makeover in the next few years, but Thanksgiving football is here to stay.+

Last time the Whitman community saw all-American basketball player Ben Eishenhardt was last May as he walked across the commencement stage after graduating from Whitman. His basketball journey, however, did not stop there. After years of injuries and setbacks, he will be playing for Elitzur Yavne, a team in the second division of Israel’s professional league this year.

 Realizing this long-held goal did not come easily.

Photo contributed by Ben Eisenhardt.

Eisenhardt started tossing the idea of playing professional basketball around with his friends during his junior year here at Whitman, something that could fulfill a lifelong dream.

Things for Eisenhardt were looking up after his second season at Whitman. He became the first Whitman player to be named third team all-American in his junior campaign. Eisenhardt was poised for a strong final season at Whitman, a crucial step if he was going to be play at an elite level overseas.

Eisenhardt’s senior and final season in Walla Walla was anything but easy. He missed extensive time with concussion symptoms and struggled with being confined to the sidelines. Eisenhardt came back strong to help the Missionaries finish off the season, but he clearly appeared frustrated that he couldn’t have helped the team more.

After his senior season, Eisenhardt began getting attention from overseas teams. Without the pressure to rush back and help Whitman’s team, he was able to focus on improving himself as a player and preparing for the jump from DIII to the professional level.

Senior Cheney Doane thinks that that Eisenhardt has what it takes mentally to be able to handle all the changes that are associated with the step up.

“Ben just has a kind of confidence that you really look for. On and off the court he just always seems to be ready to go and move forward,” said Doane. “All the negative stuff just seems to bounce off and he can focus on the good.”

Eisenhardt was able to work out all summer and signed with Elitzur Yavne after getting involved with Summit Sports Group, a Seattle-based agency that specializes in brand building and contract negotiations. Eisenhardt has the added benefit of newly-acquired Israeli citizenship to aid him, as teams are only allowed to have so many foreign players on their rosters.

Eisenhardt’s style always catered to a more European, open style of play. Junior teammate Tochi Oti summed up what Eisenhardt will be able to contribute on the court for his new squad.

“Ben is a great shooter and has really good length,” said Oti. “He kind of has that ability to stretch a defense out. If he gets bigger he could be a really good player over [in Israel].”

Eisenhardt has enjoyed some early success while overseas, getting decent playing time in his rookie campaign. Yavne has started well with a 3-2 record in the Israeli National League, only one game out of the top spot.

It hasn’t been all work, as Eisenhardt has been having a good time adjusting to new life overseas. Of course problems like the language gap and new surroundings have led to some interesting interactions.

“They aren’t always impressed by my lack of Hebrew, but I get around,” said Eisenhardt. “But my teammates are great and I’m having a great time being over here and playing ball.”

It hasn’t been all roses, though, and Eisenhardt has had a realization that basketball isn’t just something he does anymore, but a real job.

Photo contributed by Ben Eisenhardt.

“The craziest thing you realize is what is on the line. It’s not like at school where you play poorly and you get benched,” said Eisenhardt. “If you have a bad season here, you’re unemployed, so the level on intensity is just a lot higher.”

Eisenhardt is the second Whitman player to enjoy professional success overseas recently, following in the footsteps of David Micheals. Micheals graduated in 2012 and currently plays for SK Korea. Eisenhardt’s young career is off to good start, but he hopes to be able to continue to play at a high level and enjoy plenty of success on and off the court.+

The NBA is proven drawing card to a variety of fans, but the biggest news tends to come during the summer months when playoff basketball combines with the NBA’s player-friendly team movement rule. The biggest stories usually come along late in the season and early in free agency. The NBA has gotten off to its quiet start this fall, however, and there are plenty of reasons to watch.

The biggest story of the offseason was LeBron James’ return to his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland completed the latest installment of the ever popular “Big 3” team construction by trading the two most recent number-one overall picks, Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett, to Minnesota for All-Star power forward Kevin Love. The Cavaliers mortgaged their future for the chance to capitalize on the tail end of LeBron’s prime and bring a championship to Cleveland for the first time in the team’s history.

Jason Kidd, who last year was the first player to take over a team right after his playing career has moved from Brooklyn to Milwaukee after falling out of favor with ownership, but Derek Fisher has followed in his footsteps. Fisher will install Phil Jackson’s triangle offense in New York for the Knicks in an attempt to get Carmelo Anthony a shot at a title.

The Indiana Pacers, who finished second in the Eastern Conference last year, will likely take a big step backward. In preparation for the FIBA World Cup late over the summer, Pacers star Paul George suffered a compound fracture in his leg and will miss the entire 2014-2015 season.

The East also has a serious darkhorse contender in the Chicago Bulls. Last time Derrick Rose played an NBA, he was playing at an MVP level, but that was two major knee surgeries and almost two years ago. Rose looked good during the World Cup, but an 82-game season is different that a summer tournament.

The Western Conference also welcomes back a superstar who will have to play extraordinarily for his team to have success. Kobe Bryant returns from injury to headline a depleted Lakers roster that will need a miracle just to make the the playoffs.

As for actual contenders in the West there appears to be some uncertainty. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs are one year older, yet people have been saying that for years and have seen no real change in production. Kawhi Leonard will presumably take a larger role, and the Spurs should once again be one of the top team in the league.

After the Spurs lie the real question marks when it comes to contenders. The Clippers have to deal with the Donald Sterling aftermath. The Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma City Thunder all hope to take the next step in the spotlight as the Spurs fade. The Thunder have the toughest time as their two best players, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, will miss significant time this season with injuries. The Clippers need more maturity and consistency, and the Grizzlies need a bit more offense. The Golden State Warriors also pose the threat from the West with the “splash brothers” Stephon Curry and Klay Thompson powering an explosive offense and underrated defense.

Despite all that goes on in the offseason, basketball will separate the contenders from the pretenders soon enough. This year the teams that are able to be successful may be the teams that are able to stay healthy, or there will be unknown come through and shock the world.+

The Pac-12’s rise to national prominence in the past few years has not come without a cost. Pac-12 basketball has hit a bit of a lull recently. Traditional powerhouses Arizona and UCLA have maintained strong teams, but teams in the northwest like Washington and Oregon haven’t been able to keep pace.

Lorenzo Romar is the longest tenured Head Coach in the Pac-12 but hasn’t done much recently to reach a solid level of job security. Teams in large conferences, especially ones that have little depth, expect to make a push for the tournament every few years. The Washington Huskies may go an entire class without making it to the big dance. Romar may have to survive one more bad season before it gets much better.

Washington hasn’t made the NCAA Championship Tournament since 2011 and this year doesn’t figure to change the tone. Recruiting hasn’t been great as of late, but that could change in a hurry with this class ranked 10th in the nation by ESPN. The class is highlighted by four four-star recruits that should figure heavily into plans for the future. The team will be talented, but probably too young to make the top teams in the conference too worried.

In most Pac-12 previews from Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated, the preseason rankings aren’t optimistic about the Huskies’ potential. Both publications have the Huskies ranked as the eighth-best team in the conference. The lower middle-ground in the conference is a tough spot for a team that could be seeing large amounts of roster and administrative turnover in the next few years.

The 2015 recruiting class figures to be the saviors featuring four four-star recruits and a few three-star players. It will probably get worse before it gets better as the Huskies will lose their leading scorer from last year C.J. Wilcox. Wilcox was one of three players to start every game last year and the Huskies are lucky to welcome back the other two, guards Nigel Williams-Goss and Andrew Andrews. Williams-Goss and Andrews will form a strong guard combination for the Huskies.

Williams-Goss is clearly the star of the show though, ranking as the 1^7th best point guard in the nation at the start of the year. He will need to display incredible playmaking ability this season if the Huskies are to have any chance of contending for one of the six spots that the Pac-12 is anticipating receiving for this years tournament.

Although the year has yet to begin, there is already some controversy. Early this year, first-year Tristan Etienne left the team for personal reasons. Etienne has said that he does not intend to transfer. The move leaves Washington at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to size. The Huskies now only have four players above 6’7″ on the roster for this season. To add perspective, Whitman’s basketball team featured the same amount of players of that size last year. Whitman didn’t have much a of a problem playing the in NWC, but the Pac-12 is a different animal in terms of size.

Washington could make some noise as a potential upset team. For a team regarded so poorly by the media it would be easy for teams to see the Huskies as an easy victory. This would be a mistake as Washington’s roster is poised for explosion, though likely not consistently. Depending on how quickly Romar can begin to maximize his youngest players, the Huskies could aim to make a push for the NCAA tournament, especially if they have a strong end to the season in the Pac-12 tourney.

Husky fans may be witnessing the end of Romar’s time at Washington unless he can really maximize the talent he has this season. The next coach will inevitably have more success with the classes coming in over the course of the next few years. It’ll get worse before it gets better, but it should all happen pretty soon.

Fantasy Football is taking over Whitman’s campus, but one man is the most mediocre of them all. Kyle Seazly is owner/GM/president/coach of the startup TKE1 league’s Steroid Nut Shrinkers. The Nut Shrinkers have jumped out to a hot 4-4 record, good enough for fifth place of the eight-team league.

Steroids season got off to a rocky start, being the only team to use Yahoo! Sports auto draft feature to begin the year. Kyle foolishly prioritized his mother’s birthday dinner over his fake football team, which left his team at a distinct disadvantage. Upon examining his roster the next day Seazly exclaimed, “At least I got Megatron, you guys are going to suck it!” Since then it has only been uphill for the Nut Shrinkers, as they have turned into one of the more competitive teams in the league.

The strong receiving corps of Calvin “Megatron” Johnson, Demaryius Thomas and Pierre Garcon originally carried the Nut Shrinkers. Seazly also lucked into one of the early season surprises in the Steeler’s Le’veon Bell. The start to the season would go well for the Nut Shrinkers, as they scored a league high of 143 points in week one, but injuries and questionable free agent decisions would soon derail the once promising season.

In week two Kyle decided to stick with what got him the big win and made no roster changes, but scored only half the points his first game. This introductory look into the volatility of fantasy football rocked Seazly hard. He moped around the house cursing the 49ers defense and tight end Vernon Davis for their performances until the waiver wire opened on Wednesday. Seazly also takes the bold strategy of always carrying two kickers, and as Kyle puts it, “I play kicker on our IM team dude.”

“You can never have enough good legs to fill out a roster,” he said.

Week four was the turning point for Kyle’s Team, after leaving one of his crucial running back slots empty and getting embarrassed by the Stick Pony Battalion, owned and operated by Ben “The Hebrew Hammer” Eisenhardt all the way from Israel. The Nut Shrinkers new resolve was a little slow to take off, as he was once again taken advantage by Big Blunts after giving a motivational speech to his computer on Saturday.

Week seven is where we really saw the big turn around as he came out swinging against Cobi’s Grand Team to snap his short losing streak. The injury to Calvin “Megatron” Johnson is taking its toll on Nut Shrinker morale. Seazly is commonly pacing back and forth these days offering musings about how the Lion’s might use his favorite player to maximize fantasy output.

The newest dilemma facing Steroids is the quarterback positions. Seazly has held fast on his devotion to Matt Ryan, whose fantasy output has been steady despite the Falcons dropping fat dookies each and every Sunday. The inspiration for change was brought on by Ben Roethlisberger’s near record setting performance in week eight single handedly putting up 44 points for the Steroid bench. Kyle’s inability to properly pronounce Roethlisberger hasn’t factored into the decision at all. A change at QB would be a bold move for the Nut Shrinkers, as Ryan has showed some real fantasy leadership of this team, being the only player to start every week. Real Ben Roethlisberger is coming into his out with the addition of some receiving help and actually starting to speak to his coaches again.

All in all the Nut Shrinkers have some work to do if they want to make the playoffs, but as of right now they are one of the most dangerous teams in the league. With Seazly’s devil-may-care attitude about dropping and adding as many players in a single week as some teams do all year, the sky is the limit of this rag tag team, or they could crumble and burn pretty easily too.

The World Series is the peak of America’s pastime. Although baseball has lost the title of America’s favorite sport to football, the World Series is the pinnacle of sports traditions. This year we saw two completely different teams in the seven game series.

The San Francisco Giants came in to the World Series having won two of the last four Championships, seeking to reach dynasty status by getting a third in five. The Royals were making their first playoff appearance since the Reagan administration and are in their second World Series ever.

Both teams had exceptional reasons to root for them, but that seems to be where the similarities ended. The Giants have always been a team full of characters, from Brian Wilson and his dyed black beard in 2010, to this year’s beer-chugging hero Madison Bumgarner.

The Royals on the other hand appeared to be a team of destiny. After suffering for almost three decades it appeared that they are ready to bask in championship glory once again. 1B/DH Billy Butler is in his seventh season and led the offense for Kansas City.

The Royals took a 2-1 Series lead after the dropping the first game to the constantly stellar Bumgarner. The Royals were able to regain home-field advantage once again thanks to stellar pitching late.

Game Four brought some controversy and the Giants didn’t pitch their ace Bumgarner down 2-1 in the series, but they got the win anyway. Bumgarner then shut Kansas City down in Game Five to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. The Royals, facing elimination, then came through one of the most dominant games in World Series history with a 10-0 shutout.

The final Game Seven was between Tim Hudson, the oldest Game Seven starter in the history of baseball and Jeremy Guthrie. Despite pitching in Game Five, rumors proved true as Madison Bumgarner came in  for a relief appearance after the third inning and pitched a shutout for remainder of Game Seven. The go ahead run was scored by Pablo Sandoval in the top of the fourth, giving the Giants a 3-2 lead.

This victory gives the Giants their third World Series Championship in the last five years, marking one of the most successful championship runs in recent memory. Manager Bruce Bochy now joins a five-way tie for sixth all time in World Series Championships, where everyone ahead of him is in the Hall of Fame. The early 2010s Giants also go down as one of the great eras in any team’s history as one of only five baseball teams since 1903 to take home so many titles in such short order.

The Seattle Seahawks shocked the NFL world late last week when they traded one of their most talented players, Percy Harvin. Many recognize the name because of his standout career at the University of Florida, or his iconic kick return that helped Seattle dominate the Broncos in last year’s Super Bowl.

Harvin was traded to the New York Jets, a team that has a blusterous Head Coach (Rex Ryan) but doesn’t have much offensive identity. The Jets fell to 1-6 last week after losing to the New England Patriots. The direction of this trade seems to be the most curious part of the entire thing. Usually teams performing as poorly as the Jets try to unload playmakers in an attempt to acquire draft picks in a rebuilding process.

Similarly, teams like the Seahawks that are perennial contenders usually attempt to acquire as many tools as possible to make another deep playoff run. With top teams devaluing draft picks lately it wouldn’t be surprising at all if the Hawks had traded for an elite outside threat to add to their productive yet relatively unheralded receiving corps.

This move doesn’t make any sense from a football standpoint. Seattle let Golden Tate walk away in free agency this offseason. Trading away Harvin has left Russell Wilson with limited options in the passing game. The emphasis will now fall on Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and rookie second-round pick Paul Richardson to pick up the slack in the passing game. Wilson has outstanding chemistry with both Kearse and Baldwin, but neither has the kind of game-breaking ability that Harvin possess.

The Jets now have one of the top set of skill players in the league, something that they have sorely lacked in the last several years. With the addition of Harvin and the offseason addition of the always-productive Eric Decker along with rookie tight end Jace Amaro, the clock is officially ticking on whether or not second-year pro Geno Smith can be the Jets’ answer at quarterback.

One of the most frustrating things for Hawks fans is the lack of compensation for Harvin. Less than two years ago, Seattle gave up a first-, third- and fifth-round pick for the then Vikings receiver. The Jets get Harvin at a bargain sixth-round pick that could turn into a fourth depending on how well Havin plays. The Seahawks will also have over seven million dollars against the cap next year from the trade. This means that Seattle won’t actually have to pay him, but NFL teams can “spend” 154 million on their team next season. In a year when the Seahawks have to find enough money to pay Russell Wilson, things could get interesting for Seahawks when roster cuts come out.

After the trade was announced, it has been heavily speculated that the trade occurred because Harvin was becoming a problem in the locker room. Harvin allegedly got into altercations with both Russell Wilson and Golden Tate last year. The latter altercation ended when Harvin punched Tate in the face a few days before the Super Bowl, leaving a bruise that can be seen in pictures of Tate raising the Lombardi trophy.

Harvin becomes one of the few elite players who will have now played for three teams during his prime. The list of others includes three embattled wide receivers: Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall. Harvin is in his sixth NFL season but is still relatively young at 26. Harvin still has plenty of time to turn his career from underperforming prima donna to elite receiver, but only so many teams will give him a chance, and time is running out.

I have been a fan of professional sports for as long as I can remember. Watching college and professional football every weekend hasn’t been a hobby; it’s been an obsession.

Growing up my heroes were Jerry Rice, Jeff Garcia, and Julian Peterson. I never read comic books, because my superheroes were real, and they played on Sundays. I remained under the illusion that sports was simply about competing with your teammates and that winning was the only thing that mattered. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize the injustices faced by individuals, and how archaic the system can appear.

A recent study by besttickets.com, which has been featured on Deadspin, ESPN, and the Huffington Post, ran a piece titled “The Unofficial 2014 NFL Player Census”. This piece looked at the physical stature of every position as well as the racial breakdown of the each position, team, and the league as a whole.

Not surprisingly the most common race amongst NFL players is African-American, a group of players that make up almost 70% of the league as a whole. What is unsettling about this number is the difference between black players and black coaches. Certain positions have different racial distributions and different positions have higher tendencies to become coaches, but the divide of 7 of every 10 NFL players being black and 7 out of 8 NFL head coaches being white is concerning. The premise of a group of composed mainly of black men being ordered around in a highly structured atmosphere immediately calls to certain aspects of pre-civil war America.

Graphic by Julie Peterson

While discussing the topic of slavery in a class this semester, I was enlightened to the fact that slaves weren’t just used for labor but for entertainment as well. Slaves were woken up in the middle of the night, and subsequently brought in to dance and do other things to entertain their owners.

My immediate thought was, “Do I contribute to a modern exploitation of men, mainly black, when I sit down on my couch and watch football every weekend it’s available?” From there began a decision to examine the issue of race in elite level sports, and how I see my role in perpetuating the idea of people’s bodies as my own entertainment.

From the moment men and women step on the field, court, ice, whatever it may be, their personhood to the general public starts to decline. Their persons are assaulted with every mistake, and they have no escape from the national spotlight. The most amazing thing, something that I am completely guilty of, is the reaction to athlete’s injuries.

Rarely do fans root for anyone to get hurt, but if Percy Harvin were to tear his ACL next week, I would be more concerned with how his injury would affect the Seahawks season rather than thinking the mental and physical anguish Harvin would be be forced to undergo in having been told that his season was over.

Athletes on the field have the unfortunate situation of being worshiped for their abilities as an athlete and completely disregarded for their individual personhood. As with articles I’ve written in the past, as well as the current NFL media cycle, no news is good news when it comes to a player’s off-the-field activity. Even NFL golden boy Russell Wilson admitted to being a high school bully earlier last week, which in light of the recent string of domestic violence cases could tarnish his near-perfect image.

Fans also believe that their favorite athletes owe them something. When pictures of Johnny Manziel partying at clubs in Las Vegas surfaced, the immediate reaction was, “Why is he partying when he has football to prepare for?” These players aren’t allowed to live everyday lives because the public only sees them as a form of entertainment.

When Bulls star Derrick Rose was slow to come back from two knee injuries, fans complained that he didn’t care about the game after he was awarded a large contract. Rarely was the idea that Rose was experiencing a mental block and could be hesitant to return to the court ever brought up after his former invincibility had been challenged.

Many star athletes have been able to reach where they are because of their ability to stay healthy, and returning after a major injury can lead to hesitancy on the court, a quality that can end careers even if the body is ready to return.

Even after athletes are thought of as objects to entertain the masses, there is a racialized stigma all over the sports world effecting people of every color, origin, and creed.

A few things have made me look at sports through a lens of racial inequality that runs though elite sport in the past. The first was several years ago when I learned about the Rooney Rule, an NFL rule stipulating that all teams must interview at least one minority candidate for a head coaching position. I saw this as unnecessary as it was my belief that the best coach would be hired regardless of race.

Then NFL teams began abusing this rule, typically interviewing a token minority candidate with no intention of hiring him. Usually this coach was a lower level position coach internal to a specific team, or a coordinator that flew around the country to satisfy teams need to interview a minority. This was only scratching the surface of really examining what the systemic problems of elite sports meant.

In a recent conversation with Professor Keith Farrington, who helped with this article due to his background in racial sociology and his deep love for the Patriots and the rest of the NFL, this scene was laid out between us.

“A white man sits in a luxury box, looking down on his field on which several men, majority black, sacrifice their bodies to entertain several million people,” I said, “These men are sacrificing their mental and physical futures, and as well compensated as they are, they are millionaires where owners make billions.”

Laid out in these basic terms it is hard not reach into a slavery comparison, whether warranted or not. Professor Farrington sat quietly for a moment, then responded, “I hate to hear it said like that as a fan, but that is one very real way to see what professional sports are in the world.”

Our conversation then moved on to how the NFL can continue to replicate the pre-civil war south when discussing the NFL pre-draft combine. The combine, held in Indianapolis each year, takes stock of how large, how fast, and how smart these players are. The only problem is that only the physical measurements are ever made public. Professor Farrington expressed his  concern for how the combine could be seen as a troublesome activity given the historical context.

“It’s tragically similar to a slave auction,” Farrington said  “these great men are brought out and tested so that they can later be picked on their physical merits.”

Anyone with cable can watch hundreds of men do the bench press, run a 40-yard dash, and catch a football, but every interview is done behind closed doors. The combine, while I consider it an important pre-draft exercise, could easily draw comparisons to a slave auction in which physical talent is at a premium, but those observing disregard mental

This is a continuing problem in sports, both at the college and professional levels.

Given recent information about Whitman’s lack of racial diversity it is interesting to see what athletes here have to say about the issue of race in athletics on our own campus. I had the opportunity to interview Evan Martin, a Junior basketball player who is also African American, to see what he had to say about the lack of diversity on campus.

“Obviously it isn’t where anybody would really want it to be.” Evan said “But at the same time I don’t think the school is trying to limit diversity in any way.”

Martin went on to say that he thinks that the Whitman basketball program is one of the more diverse in the league.

“I went to a suburban high school, so I’m used to having a pretty white student body, but most of my basketball teams were pretty diverse in terms of color.” Evan said “I look around most of the teams that we play in our conference and they are whiter than ours.”

Sports have been seen as a space where race isn’t supposed to matter, whatever gives a team the best chance to win is the action that gets taken. But at the end of the day different people are searching for different goals.

Owners want to be popular and make money, the coaches want to win to keep their jobs, and most players simply want to make sure they have a job in six months win or lose. The difference in goals leads to teams getting pulled in different directions and strain within the team.

It is very rare for reports to come out about racial strife within a team, the main objective has to be winning for everyone involved, but the racial disparity does need to be looked at. Whether white owners are hesitant and hire black coaches, black players don’t feel like they can become coaches, or whatever reason it may be, the racial inequality amongst these groups it disturbingly large.

Even here at Whitman we have a basketball program that is drastically more diverse than the general student body, which is in no way a knock on either of the teams, but on Whitman. If one of the primary ways we attract racial minorities to Whitman is play sports, we need to refocus on the way we present ourselves and the reputation that Whitman has in the larger College community.