8/2/2011: I don’t know what to make of this RG op-ed by Pat Walsh of local PR firm Vox PRPA. Starts off sensibly:
For Duck football coaches who spend their days managing the fitness and academic pursuits of the youngest of adults — and pocket more money in a month than many of their team’s fans will make in years — being investigated for alleged recruiting violations by the NCAA “suits” must be new and unfamiliar dates on the game schedule. …
Then he says we should respect the NCAA’s process? Nobody is that naive. Or maybe he is:
Guilty or not, fans will know whether the values all university presidents and their coaches preach about the educational compatibility between big-time locker rooms and big time classroom are true at the UO.
It will be clear if leadership, integrity, character, teamwork, sacrifice, commitment, excellence and so on are lived by the UO administration and beloved Duck football coaches, or are just punch lines in the script of another big-money entertainment experience.
If?
Danke, danke, danke for saying exactly what I was thinking. Mr. Walsh is totally reasonable except where he says we should “trust the process” the NCAA has set up which has proven HUGE flaws in the last few years (See: USC vs. Auburn/Ohio State).
Why are we supposed to trust a system which is arbitrary, at best?
Why? Because we love football!