From Phil Mushnick in today’s New York Post.

Speaking of mindless pandering, Big Ten image inserts that ran during Bowl games starred a rapper grabbing at his crotch seven, eight times. Yep, this is the image chosen as representative of Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan, Penn State, and all the others.

On-campus and near-campus sexual assaults have become epidemic, and recruited athletes, arriving with inflated senses of entitlement, are daily charged with such crimes. And the Big Ten produces a check-us-out promo proudly displaying a fellow emphasizing his genitals.

What are they thinking? Who scripted this? Who approved this? Or was it designed as a come-on to recruits?

Meanwhile, if a player did that even once in a game, it’s 15 yards and a possible ejection and/or suspension. Good grief.

The spot in question, featuring Talib Kweli (above), can be seen here (Windows Media Required). I’ve watched the ad a few times and not once is Kweli seen grabbing his crotch. His hand is in that general vicinity a few times, but there’s no actual “emphasizing his genitals”.

In addition to his solo releases and collaborations with Hi-Tek and Mos Def, Kweli and Def purchased Brooklyn’s Nkiru Books some years back, currently The Nkiru Center for Education & Culture, a non-profit organization promoting literacy and multicultural awareness. The sort of thing that might prevent the youth of today from having to get jobs at the New York Post when they grow up. But I shouldn’t have to explain this to Phil, given that his parent company was responsible for some of Kweli’s best known works.