Tuesday, May 1, 2012

False Advertising



Robin Harris




In the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008, one of the most severe allegations against the big brokerage firms like Goldman Sachs was that they were supposedly pumping up mortgage-backed securities to customers while short-selling those same securities for their more favored clients and themselves.

We'll never know how much of those allegations were accurate, but what I know is 100% true is the Ivy League is guilty of the same kind of thing as it continues to push all the great things about Ivy athletics to potential TV networks while the same group of Ivy presidents undermines athletics time after time on campus.

Don't get me wrong, I support Executive Director Robin Harris' hard work to get the Ivies a new football and basketball deal on the air. We truly DO have a great product and our athletes deserve as much exposure as possible. 

The problem is that most of the Ivy presidents and all of the powerful tenured faculties don't agree. 

The movement to de-emphasize insane efforts to pump football that began in the 1940's was a noble goal. No one wants our schools to become like USC or Florida.

But that effort went haywire in the late 60's and has eroded Ivy sports to the bone.

The tenured faculties that truly run every Ivy school much for the worse, have an unquenchable hatred for athletics and they will not be satisfied until they erase all evidence of competitive sports on all eight campuses. 

So while Harris pushes the Ivy sports brand to the networks, the Ivy schools continue to work hard to undermine that product in every way imaginable. That includes siphoning off money meant for athletics in numerous ways that can't be called theft... but really should be.

Entering into this mix in the last several months is Yale senior Chelsea Janes

Her extensive, respectful, and still damning columns in the Yale Daily News have rightfully embarrassed the President Richard Levin's administration and forced it to answer some tough questions from several donors. 

If the Ivy schools want to continue undermining sports, that's fine I guess but if so, STOP asking me for money every five seconds to support athletics! When we give money we give it to support the athletes, but to support them in their efforts to WIN... not just to exist on campus. 

Yale doesn't get that. Columbia doesn't get that. All the Ivies, except for maybe Harvard and Penn don't get that. 

And the Ivy's most successful and loyal alumni have had enough.

This is all an elaborate promo for Ms. Janes as she prepares to appear on my FOX Business show, "Varney & Company" TODAY! TUESDAY, MAY 1ST at about 10:45am Eastern Time. I hope all of you will be watching.


False Advertising II

Speaking of false advertising, below you will see an example of an article by the Columbia Athletic Dept. the likes of which I NEVER want to see again! 

Here's the headline:


PLEASED??? Read the article here.

We lost EVERY race! 

I don't think we should beat up on our own teams, but I know I'm not alone when I say I am sick and tired of this acceptance of failure in athletics. 

We lost EVERY race to Navy this weekend, period. 

No more excuses, or putting "smiles" on a losing day. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

On Voy Mon. you wrote the YDN columnist would be on tomorror. Here you say tomorrow.

DOC said...

I think putting a positive spin on things athletic is just propaganda for the masses (us).
I would hope that the rowing coaches didn't go into the locker room and say that losing to Navy is a good thing.
I'm sure Navy didn't feel like they lost because Columbia made it closer than expected.