In the last 40 years 40 percent of the NCAA men's basketball national championships have been won by the four teams meeting in this year's Final Four; and interestingly this year’s championship game is being played on 4/4/22. Furthermore, of 137 teams who have made an appearance in the tournament since 1939, the top 10% (14 teams) have captured 48.8% of the coveted Final Four slots, the middle 40% (teams 15 thru 69) have earned 43.4% of the Final Four berths, while the bottom 50% have snuck into the Final Four with only 7.8% of the 332 theoretical possibilities.
There is an even larger disparity in national championships. Using the same rankings, (number of Final Four appearances, with ties broken by national championship then runner-up), the top 10% have 65.1% of the titles, the middle 40% own 34.9%, and the bottom 50% have 0.0%. Incredible! Even if we were to accept as a foregone conclusion that the bottom 50% would never win a championship, based on the percentages of the top 50%, the middle 40 should have won 47.4% of the titles yet they have only won 34.9%! In this land of the Red, White and Blue, there is a myth that anyone can win. This is apparently not true even in an athletic event that is supposed to be contested on a level playing field.
I found some striking parallels.
From the 2022 World Inequality Report: “The richest 10% of the global population currently takes 52% of global income, whereas the poorest half of the population earns 8.5% of it.” Leaving the middle 40% with 39.5%.
Also from the 2022 World Inequality Report: “Global wealth inequalities are even more pronounced than income inequalities. The poorest half of the global population barely owns any wealth at all, possessing just 2% of the total. In contrast, the richest 10% of the global population own 76% of all wealth.” Leaving 22% for the Middle 40%.
And finally, specific to our United States, again from the 2022 World Inequality Report, “Wealth inequality levels in the contemporary US are close to those observed at the beginning of the 20th century, with a top 10% wealth share above 70%.” Specifically in the United States the richest 10% owns 70.7% of the wealth and takes 45.5% of the income, the middle 40% owns only 27.8% of the wealth and takes 41.2% of the income, and the bottom 50% owns a paltry 1.5% of the wealth and takes only 13.3% of the income.
Income is opportunity.
Wealth is power.
If we were to equate Final Four appearances with income and Championships with wealth, comparatively the percentages are scarily similar. Summary below.
Final Four Appearances:
- Top 10 – 48.8%
- Middle 40 – 43.4%
- Bottom 50 – 7.8%
US Income Inequality:
- Top 10 – 45.5%
- Middle 40 – 41.2%
- Bottom 50 – 13.3%
National Championships:
- Top 10 – 65.1%
- Middle 40 – 34.9%
- Bottom 50 – 0.0%
US Wealth Inequality:
- Top 10 – 70.7%
- Middle 40 – 27.8%
- Bottom 50 – 1.5%
Nine weeks ago I drew another parallel between sports and social justice. In that week there was an uproar over the blatant injustice of the NFL overtime rules. I said then, “there is a reasonable chance the rule will be changed to allow for more equitable opportunity.” And regarding social justice, I also asked, “Where is the uproar? Where is the demand for equitable opportunity? Where is the rules committee?” This week the NFL changed their overtime rule. And I am still asking, when will we connect the parallels?
For some weeks now I have been agitated and disturbed by our apparent inability to not only NOT understand the concept of equity (balanced justice according to circumstance), but even more so by our inability to see its importance to our survival as a species. Two weeks ago I expended considerable personal effort to explain equity to myself. I want to understand! In that thought I said, “One who is in a position to actively apply (their version of) truth and reason, by virtue of their position has already tainted justice. There is no way completely around one's loyalty (i.e. subservience) to their advantage in a given power dynamic.” By nature we are selfish individuals and if I’m okay, you should be okay; especially when I am okay AND when I have the advantage of power. Yet even without that advantage most of us find a way to be okay; most commonly by being unimaginatively simple.
If you have read the headlines this week regarding the Final Four, you found frequent mention of blue bloods. And yes, all four of this year's participants are in the top 10%. The richer continue to get richer. Throughout my life I have said that as a fan, sports, athletic competition, should be an entertainment and a distraction. But tear away its sheep’s clothing and we see it for the wolf it is; a reflection of our American way of life substantiating, justifying, empowering and perpetuating wealth and entitlement. Inequity is so ingrained and entangled in every aspect of our being and doing that we can no longer see it, certainly do not care about it and even when given the opportunity we refuse to optimally act on it. The NFL’s rules committee for example, only changed their rule to advance equitable opportunity for playoff games; which comes across somewhere between pretentious and elitist. And due to internal political maneuverings they did not even choose the most equitable option for the playoffs.
Blue Bloods: persons holding exceptional rank and privileges.
No matter the venue, where there is American capitalism, there will always be a class of blue bloods.
I said above, in this land of the Red, White and Blue, there is a myth that anyone can win. Throughout our entire history wealth and entitlement has factored into that equation, keeping it from being so, partially by maintaining a powerful class of blue bloods; even in our games. And in stuff that matters, if we tear away the sheep's clothing of patriotism, partisanship and populism, we find other factors, both episodic and as a constant undercurrent, that show the true nature of the Red, White and Blue; Red Scare, White Power and Blue Bloods. And today it seems to be more public, more conjoined, and more widespread than ever.
And empathy and compassion have become rhetoric and ignorance.
No one will talk to me about equity.
Good fortune I believe puts one on a winning path. And once on that winning path one has more opportunity to widen it, pave it, add shoulders, put a line down the middle, make it one way, and build on-ramps and off-ramps to control access. But in the beginning, there was simply good fortune; luck; random chance of birth and circumstance. And this framework or landscape applies to multiple, various levels of circumstance from our games to stuff that matters. And it is not justice. No matter how adamantly those traveling their thruways insist that everyone has the same opportunity and insist that they are winning because they earned it and they deserve it, no matter how loud they scream it, winning 65% of the championships and 71% of the wealth is not equity.
Income is opportunity.
Wealth is power.
And no one will talk to me about equity.