No Transfers
Transfer Talk... Over
Sources now tell me that all the talk about an incoming transfer this summer for football have been just that; talk. There is no one coming to the program this year other than current high school seniors.
Meanwhile, spring practice rolls on with the players continuing to completely buy in to Head Coach Pete Mangurian's tightly controlled system. Mangurian is truly looking like a net positive, so the only serious question will be how many wins do we think this will translate to in the fall.
Reality Check
It was a pretty good weekend for Columbia sports as the men's tennis team remained undefeated atop the Ivies with a big win over Dartmouth Saturday and huge upset over Harvard.
In the live blog of the match, newly controversial Columbia Spectator columnist Jim Pagels posted a comment, refusing to back down from his call to end recruited athletics at Columbia. Sad.
In some back-and-forth emails with Jim, he told me that his real goal was to try to end the "stigma" recruited athletes feel at Columbia by eliminating what the other students see as a preferred pathway to admission.
(That reminded me of a famous essay Jean Paul Sartre wrote about the Jews. The gist of it was: "everyone would stop hating the Jews if they would just stop being Jews." Thanks, but no thanks Jean).
But that somewhat garbled message gave way to the real reason for Pagels' stand a little later in our correspondence yesterday. He told me he doesn't like feeling like less of a student and writer because he wasn't recruited to come to CU like the varsity athletes.
Okay, NOW I see what's happening here.
Pagels is suffering from the end result of a full generation of "participation trophy" America. We've told our kids that they're all special for so long that when they start to see truly special people with rare skills being rewarded, well they get upset.
Let's hope this dose of reality leads young Jim Pagels to a new understanding of how life works.
7 comments:
Pagels should take some pride in knowing that he was accepted without having any special admissions "hook".
Loved your last comments about Pagels and couldn't agree with you more. The problem is he represents a voice of Columbia's student body and holds a position of responsibility. The factual errors in his article were numerous and represent poor journalism. The standard metrics that are applied for admission to Columbia do not result in a diverse representative student body. The advantage given to athletes is similar to, but usually less, than the advantage given to minorities. What would happen to Pagels if he called for an immediate end to affirmative action? Not very politically correct? But it's OK to jump on the jocks! No backlash. Pagels will have to deal with the fact that he was born with less melanin in his skin and average physical prowess, and had to spend extra time and money juicing his sat and gpa to get in. If he wants to attack scholar athletes, he should at least get his facts straight. Honestly, there was so much BS in his article the Spectator should boot his butt off it's staff.
Pagels is guilty of gross psychological projection. That's one of many reasons his arguments are flawed. He claims that Columbia athletes who are recruited face some sort of stigma from the rest of their peers. He needs to take a good long look
at himself in the mirror.
Jake,here's some interesting recruiting news. Intermat, the leading wrestling website, is reporting that Columbia has received a verbal commitment from Zachary Hernandez, an outstanding wrestler from the Punahou School in Hawaii. That's the same private school that President Obama attended before coming to Columbia. Hernandez was state champion of Hawaii in the 184 pound class. He also played linebacker and defensive back for the football team at Punahou, which has a excellent overall sports program.
Jake, here is some interesting news. Intermat, the leading wrestling website is reporting that Zach Hernandez, an outstanding wrestler from Punahou School in Hawaii, has verbally committed to Columbia. Punahou is the same private school that President Obama attended before coming to Columbia. Hernandez was the Hawaii State Champion in the 184 pound class. He also played linebacker and defensive back for the Punahou Football Team.
There should be no "favors" provided to athletes for purposes of admission, PROVIDED that Columbia is consistent---that is to say, race, sex, poverty, wealth, talent in the fine arts (dance, music) cannot be considered . In short, Columbia admits based soley on board scores and grades---PERIOD....of course, the school would no longer be Ivy League, because it could not possibly compete in the conference. it would make columbia the only school ever to shed the Ivy designation. While we are at it, no favors for journalism success in high school either.
If columbia wants to be a "merit based" school, then apply the standard across the board....and no "favors" for international students either----grades and scores, baby and that is it=====signed The Fearless Spectator
There should be no "favors" provided to athletes for purposes of admission, PROVIDED that Columbia is consistent---that is to say, race, sex, poverty, wealth, talent in the fine arts (dance, music) cannot be considered . In short, Columbia admits based soley on board scores and grades---PERIOD....of course, the school would no longer be Ivy League, because it could not possibly compete in the conference. it would make columbia the only school ever to shed the Ivy designation. While we are at it, no favors for journalism success in high school either.
If columbia wants to be a "merit based" school, then apply the standard across the board....and no "favors" for international students either----grades and scores, baby and that is it=====signed The Fearless Spectator
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