Until a few years ago, March Madness instantly brought men’s college basketball to mind among the general public, well conditioned to follow the cultural phenomenon for its office pools if nothing else.
The concurrent women’s national tournament? It was a mere afterthought, treated like a shabby property used for tax write-offs. The NCAA didn’t improve accommodations or extend March Madness branding for the women’s tournament until glaring discrepancies were uncovered in August 2021.
Now the women are kicking the men’s ass in popularity and TV ratings.
Iowa star Caitlin Clark got
her revenge on LSU star Angel Reese, surely enthralling goo-gobs of white folks
who viewed Monday’s Elite Eight matchup through a racial lens. I certainly
understand their glee in watching Reese get her comeuppance for taunting Clark
in last year’s NCAA championship game.
Clark is their darling, the
biggest star in women’s college basketball – which currently is far hotter than
the men’s version. ESPN reports that Iowa’s 94-87 victory drew 12.3 million
viewers, the
most ever in women’s college hoops. Last year’s tilt set the
previous record, 9.9 million viewers, when Reese pointed to an imaginary ring and
waved “you-can’t-see-me” as Iowa lost the title game.
Reese was demonized and caricatured afterward, becoming a target for anti-Black sentiment from haters of every stripe. Meanwhile, Clark continued her path as America’s sweetheart and a national phenom, setting numerous records on the court and at the box office.
Sophomore Madison Seipp, a history major, typically isn’t attracted
to courses that involve engineering or the environment.
“Those are not two fields I’m usually interested in,” she
says. But Seipp signed up for “Engineering, Empire & Environment” anyway,
figuring “this must be a cool class” because it was taught by Alison Fletcher,
the W. Newton & Hazel A. Long Professor of History.
The course, which Seipp says indeed was cool, exemplifies Juniata offerings that embrace hands-on use of sophisticated technology and touch multiple disciplines, integrating liberal arts principles into technical fields. Fletcher decided to teach it in response to Juniata’s burgeoning civil engineering program.
Let’s begin with a reminder that the NFL draft is patently unfair to players entering the league. Yes, the draft has been an institution since 1936, and only a few individuals have challenged its authority. But that doesn’t make the process right.
You shouldn’t be obligated to work
in, say, Green Bay just because the Packers selected you. Barring any personal ties
to a city like Buffalo or Jacksonville, many young men wouldn’t start their
careers with the Bills or Jaguars if given a choice.
Players go where they’re sent because the system offers a nice bag while disregarding their personal desires. Bucking the time-honored tradition is almost inconceivable, requiring copious amounts of gall, ego and nerve from whoever might dare.
Like many people outside the paper industry, Cameron Wiles never stopped to think about its pervasive nature, even as society becomes more and more digitized. But when he became General Manager for BalTerm last year, Wiles quickly realized that paper products are everywhere — not just in clinging-to-life newspapers and magazines, but also cartons, packaging, brochures, direct mail, boxes and toilet tissue.
BalTerm plays a leading role nationwide by servicing the world’s top forest-product producers at the Port of Baltimore, which imported a record 793,695 tons of paper in 2022.
The company began as a family business in the late 1980s and was established as a joint venture offering stevedore and warehousing services in 1990. In 2009, BalTerm was acquired by Logistec, a leading marine services provider, offering safe, reliable and sustainable cargo-handling expertise at 60 ports and 90 terminals across North America.
Handling It the Right Way
“We’re very niche in that we handle all of this paper and handle it very well,” Wiles said. “We’re focused and conscientious in how we handle different types of paper, which are very fragile products by nature. The same way you can rip a piece of paper at your desk, you could rip a piece of paper using a forklift. Our guys take pride in handling it the right way. It really takes a certain skill set.”
Between BalTerm’s stevedore and warehouse divisions, Wiles said the company has over 100 people working daily to safely handle the cargo.
“Metsä Group and UPM are based in Finland and they’re two of our larger customers,” Wiles said. “BalTerm is well-positioned for future growth and is open to handling new customers’ cargo of both local and international origin.”
After working previously in Houston and Tampa, Wiles is impressed with the Port’s sense of teamwork. He said the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) genuinely wants BalTerm to grow as much as the company does, and the administration is quick to support and assist in those efforts.
“Being from Houston, I have a lot of experience with oil and gas and solar commodities,” he said. “Some of those customers have expressed interest in coming to Baltimore and have us move cargoes that historically we haven’t moved through the Port of Baltimore. When I take these ideas to the MPA, instead of just saying yes or no, they say, ‘Yes, how can we help you?’
“Their willingness and ability to jump in and help us understand how we can handle our expansions has also really been beneficial and supports our ability to grow as a company,” he said. “It’s very reassuring to be a part of such a cooperative and collaborative community that helps us achieve the goals we have, as well as allows us to support them in achieving the goals they have.”
Growth on the Horizon
Wiles said BalTerm services six to eight vessels per month, each one requiring two to five days of labor. Although business might increase a bit in the summer, and ahead of the holiday season, he said the flow is pretty steady year-round.
“A lot of that is because of pivoting in the e-commerce business with boxes and the way specialty paper comes around,” he said. “These are very niche markets, with sharp ebbs and flows. Today it seems, everybody’s ordering something that uses a box or specialty paper, which keeps us steady when these ebbs and flows take off or slow down.”
He said issues at overseas mills and post-pandemic regression contributed to paper stalling somewhat last year after record numbers in 2022. But he expects a significant increase in imports and productivity in 2024.
“We’ve got a few significant events this year that I think will help our customers sell their materials,” he said. “E-commerce is also starting to figure out what its new life looks like since the pandemic.”
But paper is still on a roll, figuratively and literally (rolls weigh 7,000 pounds and would stretch 12 miles if unraveled).
“This industry has been very surprising,” Wiles said. “But it’s been very, very fun.”
The public nature of a pro athlete’s
career path allows us to watch and wonder how we’d react under similar
circumstances.
Notwithstanding ginormous paychecks
that make change easier to swallow, athletes are subject to the same laws of human
nature we all face. Moving from one employer to another, adjusting to life in a
new city with a new boss and new co-workers, can unleash a flood of mixed
emotions. Especially at quarterback, the most glamourous position in sports.
One day you’re cut, tossed out like spoiled leftovers, but the next day you join a storied franchise to restore your reputation. That was Russell Wilson’s story last week when he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was gonna smile no matter where he landed – the Denver Broncos owe him around $38 million and he still has Ciara – but now he’ll play under Mike Tomlin, whose 173 career wins ranks second among active NFL coaches and 13th on the all-time list.
In case you forgot what type of person she is,
LSU coach Kim Mulkey sent a reminder over the weekend.
It proved once again that she’s far from being
in South Carolina coach Dawn Staley’s neighborhood.
Maybe you saw clips of Sunday’s basketball game between undefeated South Carolina and bitter rival LSU, foes who have captured the last two national titles. The Gamecocks won – giving Staley four straight (second this season) against Mulkey – solidifying their No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll while leaving LSU unchanged at No. 8.
South Carolina survived Tennessee on
Saturday and outlasted LSU on Sunday to win the Southeastern Conference women’s
basketball tournament and remain undefeated this season. No other NCAA Division
I team has a perfect record.
Only seven other teams have
unblemished conference
records, including Jackson State (23-6 overall, 18-0 in the Southwestern
Athletic Conference).
The Tigers open play Wednesday in the SWAC tournament after winning their fifth consecutive regular-season title under head coach Tomekia Reed. She’s trying to reach the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years but already notched an unprecedented feat. The program received its first-ever vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
MLK wasn’t the only person with a dream. At least he shouldn’t
be the only one.
Black Thought has visions of “Nat Turner holding his master’s
head – like Yorick and Horatio in Hamlet – smacking it like a tennis racket, underhanded.” Others among us invent less-violent
scenarios, maybe just building something to leave as a legacy for our offspring,
maybe locking arms with our white cousins and singing Kumbaya.
Marcus Garvey fantasized about a back-to-Africa movement where we’d pack our shit and be out. Segregationists like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond didn’t actually want us ALL the way gone (too many missing service workers); they craved returning to their notion of good ol’ days, when more Black folks were forced to “stay in their place.”
There are 21 conferences in the National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Only one is led by a Black woman
commissioner.
Effective July 1, that league will have a new name that
embraces its mission and membership: the HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC),
with the tagline, “Where Winners Thrive.”
After serving for three years in an interim capacity, Kiki Baker Barnes was installed as permanent commissioner of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) in June 2022. She said her leadership team worked with Black-owned marketing firm Ten35 for two years before choosing the new name.
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