Community Update

             What I Will Do With My Billion Dollars

 My lost set of keys buried under two feet of snow at
the bottom of my driveway surfaced! Only four feet of snow remain before the
true signs of spring will be seen, and the crocuses pop. In the meantime, March Madness is palpable, and my usual
placemats at the breakfast table were mysteriously replaced with blank bracket
sheets. “Fill yours out Mom, maybe one of us will win the billion dollars.”

I immediately googled
NCAA billion dollars. Sounds like I
have as much of a chance as anyone. My stiffest competition was not my family.
There were software programs with more analytic expertise: Carmine, Watson,
Deep Blue, and perhaps, even Siri. But why not try? It was worth a shot. I
dropped everything and start filling in the blanks. After all, with a billion
dollars, I could save the NCAA!

I read the records of each of the teams and watched
carefully as President Obama completed his bracket on national TV. All I needed
to do now was to complete mine and predict the perfect outcome. Having fervent
confidence in my abilities and my strategies, I grabbed a pen and went to work.

While recent reports have emerged about the layoffs
of college professors and entire programs abandoned due to insufficient
funding, the NCAA basketball tournament miraculously has not suffered.  Division I colleges and universities
make millions of dollars from television revenues, alumni and fan support, and
by selling player likenesses for video games. Coaches are paid handsomely.  It is the players, and their families,
who are the real losers.

Ten thousand basketball players play on nine hundred
college teams. College graduation rates for these players are a dismal 47%.
What do players do without college degrees or preparation for the expectations
of the real world? Dreams of playing in the elite NBA are pipe dreams at best.
Less than one percent of college players ever make it to one of the thirty NBA
teams. The hopes of athletes and their families last a few brief years and then
evaporate.

We forget those statistics as we get caught up in the
excitement and madness of the moment
through conversations around proverbial water coolers, distracted fellow
employees, and money to be won or lost in office pools. There is a sense of
sadness and guilt as our seasonal pleasure is at the expense of these young
players. It is time to face and repair a broken system, and get our priorities
straight!

Here is what I would do with the billion dollars.
First I would create a college players’ association where players would have
representation and protection. Athletes would be paid fair salaries to invest
in their four-year educations. More likely, they would complete their college
careers and be better prepared to enter the workforce or attain additional degrees.
There would be reimbursement for their likenesses and jersey numbers in video
games, and perhaps they could pick up some extra cash by signing autographs.
Most of all, funds would be available for their parents to attend the
tournament; players would see their proud faces and hear their cheers.

As it is said, here a billion, there a billion, soon
we will be talking about real money. So part of my billion dollars would go to
repair this broken system. The rest of the billion dollars would support
legitimate college programs and devoted professors. I guess that will have to
wait until next year though. This year’s billion dollars are already off the
table, so I’ll grab those car keys and pick up a scratch ticket where the odds
are more favorable.