Al Capone once said: “capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”
Many people today believe that idea is best illustrated by the NCAA, the ruling body over the multi-billion dollar college basketball and college football industries.
According to the AP, the Illinois congressman:
“made the accusations at a congressional forum on college sports called to look at the impact of “back-room deals, payoffs and scandals” in college sports.
Says Rush: “I think you would compare the NCAA to Al Capone and to the Mafia.”
Rush spoke after hearing from a couple of mothers of student athletes who complained of ill treatment by schools after their sons suffered injuries.”
The NCAA hasn’t responded yet. But then again, this report has been live for barely an hour yet. I applaud Rush, my home state congressman, for invoking Capone as the Boss Don in his analogy instead of more modern mafiosos like Pablo Escobar or John Gotti. And he went real life in the comparison instead of referencing the Corleone family or Tony Montana.
No matter what you think of the idea to pay college football and basketball players, or of Rush’s politics, you got to commend him for reppin’ Chicago. You see, before Michael Jordan or those obese, Bears obsessed fan Saturday Night Live characters came along, do you know who the #1 character associated with Chicago was?
That’s right- Capone! Traveling anywhere in the world in the 1980s, I found it to be the first name people dropped when I told them I was from Chicago. So I leave you with another “Caponism:”
“I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports.
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; he’s also a member of the FWAA, USBWA and SPJ. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.