Early this morning, I almost reTweeted this:
@SCLegislator
SC LegislatorI propose that on Saturday, rather than the alternating “Game….Cocks” cheer, we try “Only…..Football.” #perspective
But I thought, no, football is really important to a lot of people, not to mention an important economic driver for our community, so I’m not going to pass on wry remarks about it.
That was before I realized what had happened last night. Another Tweet, from Nicholas Kristof, clued me in:
@NickKristof
Nicholas KristofI wish rioting Penn State students were as concerned with abused children as with Paterno: nyti.ms/vFdlU2
That made the other post make a lot more sense.
We’ve arrived (actually, we arrived here some time ago) at an interesting place when the firing of a football coach is this big a deal, while the dismissal of the president of a major university is more like, And they fired some other guy, too.
Yep, I know Paterno has been a major deal — winningest coach ever, and so forth. And I’ve heard a lot of positive things about his substantial support for what universities are supposed to be about — academics.
I cannot imagine — I really can’t — what gets into the heads of kids who riot because their football coach was fired, when it was over a cause such as this one. By comparison to them, the Occupy Wall Street protests look like a very high form of expression indeed.
Anyway, since even NPR has seemed incapable of talking about much else today, I thought I’d give y’all a place to talk about it here.
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And for those who don’t recognize it, my headline was a play on the classic comic monologue by Andy Griffith, “What it was, was football.”
When you were in college, were you more more interested in who was on a sports team or on the Board of Directors?
I’m thinking I don’t want to know the answer.
BTW – I’m guessing there are better sources for sports information than National Poindexter Radio.
New Entry in the Devil’s Dictionary:
Football: America’s real religion.
Steven,
So you think this is a sports story. What do you think, Brad? Would a newspaper be all, “hey, news guys, leave this one alone, Section D has this covered. They really know how to delve into Grand Jury deliberations” So Steven, which sports network do you think would be digging in the weeds asking the tough questions, and raking the muck, when its primary duty is fawning boosterism. But sure, to borrow a sports metaphor, take a cheap shot at NPR. Very strong point.
Why is this story buried in Sports when earlier this fall, the news section was slathered with pure sports stories–not counting the special Lattimore Watch Section?
It’s not sports information; it’s crime and coverup information involving sports figures. Was the OJ trial supposed to just be in the sports section?
Well, technically speaking…
It’s a big-deal story for news departments in Pennsylvania, and for any national types who can send anyone to work on it.
The main reason it made the front page in South Carolina — and the refer, at the top of the page, took up as much space as any story on that page — is a sports reason.
If it had just been the college president — someone virtually no one in SC has heard of — it wouldn’t have been much of a story here. It was the football angle that made it that big a story here.
Thanks Tim, for telling me what I’m thinking. If nothing else, people around here sure do a lot of assuming. And you know that old saying.
Your are right, Brad. Which, and I think you would agree, is sad.
I caught it, Brad. My father loved that piece by Griffith. And so do I.
Steven,
I don’t read minds. I read words.
“I’m guessing there are better sources of sports information than National Poindexter Radio” What did I misread about “Sports Information” that can’t be construed that this is what you think?
I apologize for assuming “you write what you think.” I assume that is the old saying I think you were thinking about writing about.
And at the other end of the spectrum, there is the story of Chip Mullen, the Hilton Head Island High School football player with Down’s Syndrome. The video of his touchdown was the No.2 national story on ESPN.
Check out Ron Morris’ column today:
http://www.thestate.com/2011/11/11/2042290/morris-a-player-whose-story-touched.html
Screw legends. THIS is the kind of coach and team I want for my son. (Except he’s not allowed to play football. Basketball, baseball, soccer, yes – no football).
@ Rose–You’re a good mother.
Why doesn’t Rose let her son decide whether or not he can play football if he wants? In basketball he can blow out a knee, take an elbow to the face; in baseball many, many bad things can happen with a ball moving over 100 mph; soccer is more dangerous than football.
Blowing out a knee doesn’t give you concussions, hemtomas, brain damage, or paralysis. Baseball does scare me too. But they’re not intentionally bashing their bodies into each other.
I’d like my son to be a good all-around athlete for the exercise, team work and sportsmanship. High-pressure school leagues? Athletic scholarship? Pfft.