{"id":26,"date":"2026-05-26T19:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:11:16","slug":"overshadowing-the-final-four-was-trumps-threat-to-hamstring-college-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26","title":{"rendered":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Because he\u2019s apparently not fully occupied with the war he started that\u2019s shaken up the world, President Donald Trump signed an executive order concerning college sports Friday that reveals yet another megalomaniacal fantasy. Just as the Final Four, the culmination of college basketball\u2019s billion-dollar tournament, was about to tip off, Trump demanded a return to yesteryear: When players didn\u2019t get paid. When, unlike every other college student, they couldn\u2019t move from one school to another without penalty. When disproportionately Black basketball and football teams had to do whatever the white men ruling the roost decreed.<\/p>\n

Read more There\u2019s a valuable lesson in tonight\u2019s WNBA draft that Congress could really learn<\/a><\/p>\n

The president\u2019s executive order says it\u2019s intended \u201cto bolster the effectiveness of key college-sports rules on transferring, eligibility, and pay-for-play by evaluating whether violations of such rules render a university unfit for Federal grants and contracts \u2026 establishing clear, consistent, and fair eligibility limits, including a five-year participation window \u2026 banning improper financial arrangements including pay-for-play \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s more properly seen as an attempt to put Black athletes in their place.<\/p>\n

The University of Michigan Wolverines,\u00a0who won the\u00a0national college basketball championship\u00a0Monday night,\u00a0and\u00a0the University of Connecticut Huskies\u00a0they defeated\u00a0will,\u00a0for the first time ever, share in the millions of dollars they reaped for\u00a0the NCAA\u2019s Final Four. But if Trump\u2019s retrograde executive order\u00a0were the rule, they\u00a0couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines would have just gotten a commemorative ring, a grab bag, a ball cap, a T-shirt and an \u201cattaboy\u201d pat on the back. That\u2019s what the winners of the tournament got for decades.<\/p>\n

Ten of\u00a0the 16 players on\u00a0Michigan\u2019s championship-winning squad, including\u00a0four of the\u00a0five starters, are\u00a0Black. The\u00a0Huskies\u00a0team they defeated is predominantly Black too.\u00a0The\u00a0demographics\u00a0of basketball and football,\u00a0college athletics\u2019 only profitable sports, have for decades\u00a0colored\u00a0the country\u2019s perception of\u00a0what those athletes deserve and how they should be treated.<\/p>\n

As Christian Collins, a Center for Law and Social Policy analyst in Washington,\u00a0wrote\u00a0three years ago\u00a0about the racial economics of college sports: \u201cFrom 2005 to 2019, Black college athletes across men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball and men\u2019s football in the largest five athletic conferences are projected to have lost between $17 [billion] and\u00a0$21 billion\u00a0in compensatory theft, or roughly $250,000 per athlete per year, if revenue sharing in collegiate athletics modeled that of professional sports leagues. College athletic programs are often complicit in the economic exploitation of underrepresented student populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, academics Ellen Staurowsky and Joel Maxcy, when both were at Drexel University, fought for fair treatment of college athletes, and those athletes have gotten some liberation in the form of the protection of their athletic scholarships. Most famously, they have won the right to cash in on their own athletic celebrity, as their own schools had been doing, by getting paid for the use of their name, image and likeness.<\/p>\n

Read more On this Jackie Robinson Day, reject this lie Major League Baseball tells about itself<\/a><\/p>\n

And\u00a0just this season,\u00a0after another legal victory,\u00a0college athletes won a\u00a0share\u00a0of the billions of dollars they produce that can make\u00a0their\u00a0coaches, athletic directors and college sports commissioners\u00a0millionaires several times over. Those billions also finance women\u2019s college sports and sports young Black men\u00a0largely\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0play, such as golf (this president\u2019s\u00a0favorite), tennis,\u00a0lacrosse and ice hockey.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At a symposium\u00a0we\u00a0participated\u00a0in at Vanderbilt University in February,\u00a0Duke University anthropologist Tracie Canada, author of \u201cTackling the Everyday: Race and Nation in Big-Time College Football,\u201d said,\u00a0\u201cI see small movements that athletes are making, small changes of looking at the ways that athletes are speaking out about how\u00a0they are\u00a0identified.\u201d\u00a0She continued:\u00a0\u201c\u2018Am I a worker? Am I an athlete? Am I a student? How am I positioned at this university?\u2019 Making decisions for themselves that might not benefit the\u00a0institution,\u00a0might not benefit their team, but they might benefit them individually as athletes who have to make decisions for themselves, because they are the ones who are going to be injured. They are the ones who are potentially going to make money from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0to Trump, that more equitable\u00a0treatment\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0predominantly Black\u00a0college athletic laborers\u00a0have won is evidence of\u00a0societal erosion, not\u00a0progress. Indeed,\u00a0his executive order\u00a0was\u00a0called for\u00a0in\u00a0that\u00a0road map to hell, officially known\u00a0as\u00a0Project 2025,\u00a0the\u00a0887-page reactionary proposal\u00a0from\u00a0the Heritage Foundation\u00a0that is now being enacted as policy\u00a0in Trump\u2019s second term.\u00a0Project 2025 called for the immediate replacement of\u00a0the National Labor Relations Board\u00a0because\u00a0its members\u00a0declared that college athletes\u00a0who toil on football fields and basketball courts should be viewed as employees\u00a0and afforded the common benefits of\u00a0laborers:\u00a0pay, protections and the right to unionize.<\/p>\n

Last\u00a0month, Trump invited\u00a0to the White House\u00a0about 50 people in college sports\u00a0he found\u00a0of like mind\u00a0who wanted to lasso 21st\u00a0century\u00a0college athletes as if they had run away from the plantation.\u00a0There were NCAA President Charlie Baker,\u00a0major college athletic conference commissioners including Southeastern Conference boss Greg Sankey, and\u00a0University of Alabama football coaching legend Nick\u00a0Saban.<\/p>\n

Trump invited everyone except\u00a0the\u00a0liberated\u00a0athletes, the ones with the most at stake. Not unlike\u00a0the way he is rampaging around the world, from Venezuela to Iran, without an iota\u00a0of consideration for those in his wake.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s order\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0about saving college sports.\u00a0It does, however, savage\u00a0the athletes\u00a0who play them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Megan Thee Stallion says her boyfriend cheated. But to the manosphere, she\u2019s the problem<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The University of Michigan players who won the\u00a0national college basketball championship\u00a0Monday night will share in the NCAA\u2019s profits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nOvershadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The University of Michigan players who won the\u00a0national college basketball championship\u00a0Monday night will share in the NCAA\u2019s profits.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26\"},\"wordCount\":957,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26\",\"name\":\"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=26#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Distance Movers USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA","og_description":"The University of Michigan players who won the\u00a0national college basketball championship\u00a0Monday night will share in the NCAA\u2019s profits.","og_url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26","og_site_name":"Long Distance Movers USA","article_published_time":"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"headline":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes","datePublished":"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26"},"wordCount":957,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp","articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26","name":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes - Long Distance Movers USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-26T19:11:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e048bc10a6e3fd94065179c52499b981.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=26#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Overshadowing the Final Four was Trump\u2019s threat to hamstring college athletes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/","name":"Long Distance Movers USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}