hoop·rake
intr.v. hoop·raked, hoop·rak·ing, hoop·rakes
A hoopraker (n. hoop-rak-er) is a journalist, writer or filmmaker who investigates and exposes societal issues effecting college basketball, such as exemplary effort, player development, coaching incompetence, institutional malaise, child labor in fraternity houses, unsanitary conditions in collegiate dining halls, and fraudulent claims and hypocrisy related to similar matters. Generally, hoopraking tends to be targeted at the established basketball forces within the Big Ten Conference.
The term hoopraker (New York: 2006) is a derivative of the word muckraker (Chicago: 1913). While beginning in the late 1800s to early 1900s Muckrakers were investigative reporters and writers, the term is also applicable to contemporary writers who follow in their tradition and craft. In the early 1900s, muckrakers shed light on societal issues by writing books and articles for popular magazines and newspapers such as Cosmopolitan, The Independent, and McClure’s. Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at Any Speed (1965) and Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, (1906) are well known books written in the muckraking tradition which, respectively, led to significant reforms in automotive manufacturing and meatpacking in the United States.
Similarly yet different, Hooprakers seek to ostensibly serve the public interest and those components of society consumed by college basketball, while thoroughly releshing every moment they spend observing college basketball. Hoopraker seeks to provide incisive commentary and analysis free from the restraints of corporate and mainstream media. Rake on.
Special thanks to Wikipedia on the history of muckrakers.
