Volleyball is over and basketball has yet to begin.   Sure, practice has started but how does that help me?  My team, MCTC's Maraudin' Mavericks have been granted a stay of execution.  The plug was pulled last spring.  The Student Life committee said they didn't want to pay for sports out of student fees anymore and the college president said "Okay, dump sports."  When it was pointed out to this august personage that the sports programs at MCTC are nationally renowned, perennial championship programs that help an overwhelming number of underprivileged kids achieve college educations and in fact have a much higher graduation rate and a higher percentage of students who go on to earn four year degrees than the student body at large, he said (I'm paraphrasing) "Sports are icky."

I have no idea what he meant by that but this is the same guy who made the team change their name a few years ago. They had been The Marauders for nigh on forty years with nary a complaint but dear leader said the word was (paraphrased) "too scary.  'Marauders' EEEk!  See?"  I guess it wasn't 'marauders' that scared him, but athletics in general.

After a summer fraught with adventure, the same president who pulled the plug then told the program to raise their own money, said the college would help and even printed up hundreds of lovely, full color brochures (an expense they were happy to bear) touting the wonderfulness of the sports programs at MCTC. Then a letter was received from the school that said (I'm paraphrasing again);

"wE hAVe YoUr AssItant cOach.  If yOu EveR WaNT To HAve HIM oN tHe BEnCh agAIn LeaVE $118, 000 In UNmarkED biLlS on ThE BENch in ThE QuaD bY NExT MarcH.
LOve, the administration."

Just when things seemed hopeless, dear leader said (again with the paraphrasing) "Just kidding!  The school will fund your programs this year, but  after that, if we ever see you around these parts again with a basketball, we'll shoot first and ask questions later.  Capiche?"

So that's where we are.  Dead Team Walking.

The pre season national ranking came out this week. 

We're number one.

 

What did you think of this article?

Liked
Disliked
No Opinion