Jacked up

 Contrary to what you might think, the Blob will sometimes say good stuff about the NCAA (See: Previous post). But it only does that so it can turn around and bash the soulless corporate automatons who exist for the sole purpose of helping member schools line their pockets.

See: This post.

Which begins with the UMass women's tennis team, not exactly a high profile launch point. But they've become Exhibit A for the NCAA's soulless automaton-y, not to say its willingness to do stuff that makes no earthly sense to anyone with an ounce of sanity or common decency.

See, what happened to the UMass women's tennis team back in 2017 is it hauled off and won the Atlantic 10 championship for the first time in 15 years. It was an especially sweet story because UMass' coach, Judy Dixon, was retiring after 25 years. So her young women gave her a sendoff she'd never forget.

And then, of course the NCCAs got involved. Or as one of Dan Jenkins' characters, T.J. Lambert, called them: "The g*****n, shirt-liftin' NCAAs."

The NCAA discovered that UMass had mistakenly reimbursed two of the UMass players for a phone jack they never even used. It came to $252, and it was a simple clerical error. UMass dutifully self-reported it and imposed a $5,000 fine on itself.

The NCAA rewarded this act of forthrightness by putting UMass on probation and vacating two years of UMass women's tennis victories -- including the 2017 conference championship.

This is how the NCAA looks after "the well-being of the student-athlete," one of its favorite shibboleths. Not to mention the way it honors a longtime coach for 25 years of service to those student-athletes, and to NCAA athletics.

What's wrong with these people? What in God's name is wrong with these people?