Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

The Spanish Olympic men's basketball team making their eyes slanted during a team photo before the games: Dumb. (photo from NPR.org)

A week ago at Huffington Post, Myles Brand wrote an article titled “The ‘Dumb Jock’ Myth is Dumb.” The article focuses on the dumb jock stereotype as it pertains to D-I college athletics:

Student-athletes in Division I — where the dumb jock myth is most firmly attached — graduate on average at a higher rate than the general student body, according to data gathered by the federal government. Student-athletes graduate at a rate of 63 percent, one point better than all other students. Given that more than 100,000 student-athletes participate in Division I, the differences in federal rates are statistically significant.

While I was a dumb jock myself (Division III sadly, so my graduation means nothing in the context of this article), I don’t take any gratification from the article. I don’t think it disproves the stereotype at all. I’m not even sure the stats are meaningful.

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photo courtesy of Steve Boyle/RISE, taken from brandonjennings.net

The question must be asked: does Brandon Jennings understand what he may have done?

Jennings should be in Tucson right now, sweating his way through captain’s practices with his new teammates as a freshman on Arizona’s hoop squad. Instead, he is in Italy, sweating his way through training camp with his new teammates as a rookie on Lottomatica Virtus Roma, a top Euroleague team.

The difference (other than the continents): about $1.2 million dollars plus endorsements.

He should be thanking David Stern for every penny of it.

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