College (Fucking) Football
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:28 pm
I spent last weekend with a group of male cousins in a state which shall be nameless. The four of them see each other maybe twice a year (they all live in the state, but they are separated by some hours drive). I would guess about 40% of the total conversation was about the Missouri football program: where they will fit in the conference, who are the star players and whether any of them are injured - they were even familiar with a couple of the incoming Freshmen. [I guess I fucked up the "nameless" thing]. They insisted on taking me for a tour of the Missouri campus (we met in Columbia), with great emphasis on the football stadium. A couple of them graduated from Missouri and the other two wished they had. All are contributors to various Missouri alumni sports programs, and three of them are season ticket holders (for decades), despite living a couple hours from campus. Not a single word was exchanged about the EDUCATION they received there, although during the tour they pointed out the dorms where they stayed when on campus, and the bars where they used to drink.
In a parallel universe I see news footage of wailing Penn State students, alumni, and others associated with the University, and observe that many of these people are suffering greater "loss" than if a parent had died.
To be sure, the Penn State football program is being devastated by the NCAA sanctions, and it will likely be at least ten years before the program is back to "normal." Indeed, if JoePa was as good as many believe, the program will NEVER be back to "normal." [I think the sanctions imposed by the NCAA were extreme, unwarranted, and possibly even illegal - given that PSU is a state-related university, but that is grist for another thread].
But how fucked up is this? We are talking about damage to a single extracurricular activity, in which a maximum of 100 students (out of tens of thousands) actively participate. And most of those "students" (the football players) have about as much in common with the actual students of Penn State as I do with Brad Pitt (I'm a Pitt graduate). One could go on and on (and believe me I have experienced PSU alumni going on and on) about how beneficial the PS football program is to the University, but this "devastation" will result in nothing more than the school having maybe a below-average football team for the next several years, rather than a very good football team. It's a statistical fact that more than half of the college football teams in the country end each season with records of .500 or worse - and the respective students and alumni of these schools SURVIVE!
In a sane world, Penn State would be considering the SELF-imposition of the so-called "death penalty," and re-focusing on EDUCATION, of all things. (If you can ignore the $100 million in football-related facilities on campus).
And believe it or not Penn State is a pretty good college - very good for a state-related school.
But would anyone still want to go to Happy Valley with a mediocre football team? Will the university still be able to be as selective as they have been without the draw of a national-powerhouse college footbal program? PS has campuses all over the state, but those remote students literally pine for the chance to go to Happy Valley for their Jr and Sr years.
I guess we'll find out.
In a parallel universe I see news footage of wailing Penn State students, alumni, and others associated with the University, and observe that many of these people are suffering greater "loss" than if a parent had died.
To be sure, the Penn State football program is being devastated by the NCAA sanctions, and it will likely be at least ten years before the program is back to "normal." Indeed, if JoePa was as good as many believe, the program will NEVER be back to "normal." [I think the sanctions imposed by the NCAA were extreme, unwarranted, and possibly even illegal - given that PSU is a state-related university, but that is grist for another thread].
But how fucked up is this? We are talking about damage to a single extracurricular activity, in which a maximum of 100 students (out of tens of thousands) actively participate. And most of those "students" (the football players) have about as much in common with the actual students of Penn State as I do with Brad Pitt (I'm a Pitt graduate). One could go on and on (and believe me I have experienced PSU alumni going on and on) about how beneficial the PS football program is to the University, but this "devastation" will result in nothing more than the school having maybe a below-average football team for the next several years, rather than a very good football team. It's a statistical fact that more than half of the college football teams in the country end each season with records of .500 or worse - and the respective students and alumni of these schools SURVIVE!
In a sane world, Penn State would be considering the SELF-imposition of the so-called "death penalty," and re-focusing on EDUCATION, of all things. (If you can ignore the $100 million in football-related facilities on campus).
And believe it or not Penn State is a pretty good college - very good for a state-related school.
But would anyone still want to go to Happy Valley with a mediocre football team? Will the university still be able to be as selective as they have been without the draw of a national-powerhouse college footbal program? PS has campuses all over the state, but those remote students literally pine for the chance to go to Happy Valley for their Jr and Sr years.
I guess we'll find out.