Contemporary "Blue Chips:" A Critical Analysis of a Sports Journalist’s Approach to the Scandals Surrounding College Athletics

Dublin Core		PKP Metadata Items	Metadata for this Document
1.	Title	Title of document	Contemporary "Blue Chips:" A Critical Analysis of a Sports Journalist’s Approach to the Scandals Surrounding College Athletics
2.	Creator	Author's name, affiliation, country	Brock Adams; Weber State University; United States
3.	Subject	Discipline(s)	Journalism; Communication; Sports; History; Popular Culture; Cultural Studies; Film; Cinema; Sports Journalist; Sportswriter;
3.	Subject	Keyword(s)	Image of the Journalist; Image of the Sportswriter; Image of the Sports Reporter; Image of the Reporter; Popular Culture
3.	Subject	Subject classification	Popular Culture
4.	Description	Abstract	In 1994, the film "Blue Chips" brought into focus the crooked world of collegiate sports and the various characters involved in the corruption. While the film primarily focuses on the affiliation between an archaic coach and his high-profile athletes, it also explores the relationship between an elite college basketball program and the sports journalist assigned to cover this type of team. This film is relevant in today’s landscape, given the scandals occurring in the pay-to-play world that has embodied modern-day college basketball. This paper examines "Blue Chips" specifically from the perspective of Ed Axelby, the sports beat reporter covering the nationally ranked Western University men's basketball team. First, it dissects Axelby’s moral commitments as a sports journalist and the constrained relationship he has with both the coach and the players of Western University. Specifically, it explores the true motivation of Axelby’s character and his pursuit of corruption within the men's basketball program. Next, it examines the student-athletes Axelby follows in the film, namely Neon Bordeaux, and Butch McRae, two high-profile black athletes. It discusses the structural issues surrounding them as fictional athletes compared to substantive contemporary athletes and their relationship with the modern media. Finally, this paper examines the for-profit mentality thousands of college athletes are exposed to annually while pursuing their education, and the associated accountability with present-day journalists covering them. To access the complete article, please go to the following: https://assets.uscannenberg.org/journals/ijpc/IJPC-2-Adams-Film.pdf
5.	Publisher	Organizing agency, location	The Norman Lear Center - USC Annenberg
6.	Contributor	Sponsor(s)
7.	Date	(YYYY-MM-DD)	2022-10-06
8.	Type	Status & genre	Invited Article
8.	Type	Type
9.	Format	File format
10.	Identifier	Universal Resource Indicator	http://ijpc.uscannenberg.org/journal/index.php/ijpcjournal/article/view/106
11.	Source	Journal/conference title; vol., no. (year)	The IJPC Journal; Volume 10 - Fall 2021 - Fall 2022
12.	Language	English=en	en
13.	Relation	Supp. Files
14.	Coverage	Geo-spatial location, chronological period, research sample (gender, age, etc.)	20th to 21st centuries
15.	Rights	Copyright and permissions	The IJPC Journal is an academic journal. As such, it is dedicated to the open exchange of information. For this reason, The IJPC Journal is freely available to individuals and institutions. Copies of this journal or articles in this journal may be distributed for research or educational purposes free of charge and without permission. However, commercial use of the IJPC website or the articles contained herein is expressly prohibited without the written consent of the editor. Authors who publish in The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (IJPC) Journal will release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd) license. This license allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given. For details of the rights authors grant users of their work, see the "human-readable summary" of the license, with a link to the full license. (Note that "you" refers to a user, not an author, in the summary.) This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. The publisher perpetually authorizes participants in the LOCKSS system to archive and restore our publication through the LOCKSS System for the benefit of all LOCKSS System participants. Specifically, participating libraries may: * Collect and preserve currently accessible materials; * Use material consistent with original license terms; * Provide copies to other LOCKSS appliances for purposes of audit and repair.