|
April 1, 2000 By Mark Alesia SportsLine.com Senior Writer |
INDIANAPOLIS -- It's a toothless tiger sponsored by NCAA adults who, you can be sure, won't let the people they often refer to as "the kids" get out of hand with their little student council. Shane Battier isn't exactly Marvin Miller.
That's too bad.
As ticket scalpers swarmed this city looking to capitalize on the games CBS paid $6 billion to televise, the new Student Basketball Council had its first news conference Saturday morning. These are hardly union firebrands -- they avoid the word -- but given the effect player organizations have had in sports history, it should have attracted more than 20 reporters.
Then again, this isn't a grassroots movement. It was at the coaches' hotel, paid for by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, in front of a backdrop of about 40 logos for the NABC.
The five players' schools paid for their trip -- with special dispensation from the NCAA so as not to break any rules. To the right of Duke's Battier, chairman of the SBC, sat an "advisor" who is -- big surprise -- a member of the NCAA bureaucracy, Big East Conference assistant commissioner Stan Wilcox. In the audience sat Battier's coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
Battier, who has brains, poise and the politician's ability to handle any question with a gentle answer and an easy smile, will likely become something bigger than a basketball player -- maybe a senator or a president.
He says the group will be strong-minded and independent, looking at issues from rules governing the number of scholarships available to stipends for players. But in reality, the NABC and others will be monitoring every single baby step these players take. And baby steps are likely to be the only kind. Don't expect this group to attempt a dunk after taking off from the free-throw line.
Still, after the news conference, Krzyzewski just about danced out of his shoes, so impressed was he at the display of admittedly impressive student-athletes, especially Battier and Mark Madsen of Stanford.
"I think it can be as powerful a thing as we have in the NCAA," Krzyzewski said, "because they are the NCAA."
Battier opened his remarks by expressing his own high hopes.
"We hope that 25 years from now we can point to this day as the start of something great for college athletics," he said.
The group's creation is positive, and the toothless tiger will probably bring about some kind of change. But it won't be much, and it will happen because the toothless tiger might learn how to growl even if it will never bite.
"You have to be careful when you use the word 'union,'" Battier said. "That automatically has a negative connotation. I think there may be issues that we feel so strongly about that we create a stir that everyone will know about. I'm not saying we'd strike the Final Four, but I think we can create enough of a stir to get some press and make our feelings known."
The NABC says it will allow the players to have an independent voice, although the SBC has already been bashed as a puppet of the coaches only two months after its creation. Battier said it's only practical the players would need an ally for financing and organization.
Krzyzewski bristled at the suggestion the NABC will control the players' group. To one reporter, he said, "Your question is really insulting to those kids."
"I think they have the most leverage of anyone in the (NCAA)," Krzyzewski said. "Are you going to watch the (Final Four) games this afternoon? Are you going to watch the NCAA? Are you going to watch the coaches? ... If those players didn't go on the court today, they'd have a hell of a lot of power. ... I'm not saying they're going to do that, but the fact that they could might motivate people to maybe pay attention to them."
But who's going to pay for the conference calls and the ballrooms and the microphones if the coaches don't want a boycott -- or even a job action less extreme?
"We started this because we believe in our efforts to facilitate them being heard," NABC executive director Jim Haney said. "I'm very comfortable at this point that we're going to honor their independence, and they're going to be able to express themselves. Only time will tell if that voice is being muffled in some way. I tend to think they are going to have an impact."
They'll need better media relations. It was a poorly publicized news conference. And when a reporter approached Battier afterward for a means to contact him in the future on SBC issues, he said to go through the NABC. That doesn't sound like a strong, independent voice.
"I think this is a strong statement right here, to come into the biggest sports weekend of the year and hold a press conference with five 20-year-olds," Battier said. "That's a pretty bold statement."
No, this is a pretty bold statement:
Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming. My name is Shane Battier, chairman of the Student Basketball Council. Earlier this morning, in a one-hour meeting with the NCAA, our final request for a $2,000 stipend per semester per player in Division I was refused by NCAA president Cedric Dempsey.
Unfortunately, after months of negotiations, we are left no recourse other than to refuse to participate in today's games.
Related Links:
Complete March Mayhem coverage T O P N E W S
Shane Battier might sound impressive as chairman of the SBC, but his words ring hollow so far.(AP)