Buzz Bissinger
When the guy who wrote "Friday Night Lights" calls for the banning of college football, as he does
in today's Wall Street Journal, you know we've got a problem.
On one hand, I agree with much of what Buzz Bissinger says as it regards to big-time BCS football.
But the maddening thing is that almost everything Bissinger rails against does not apply to Ivy League football. In fact, Ivy sports solves most of the problems Bissinger discusses and turns those liabilities into assets.
Just to review: Ivy athletes have an almost 100% graduation rate. They tend to find employment at a much HIGHER rate than their non-athlete peers. And they are much more likely to become life-long financial supporters of their schools and higher education in general.
What's maddening about that is someone like Bissinger and just about every other sportswriter in America can't be bothered to cover Ivy sports, especially football. So while they rail against the corruption of big-time college ball, they prove their hypocrisy by being just as addicted to it and averse to Ivy ball as the rest of the major news media and fans.
It should be noted that while most hard core Ivy football fans want a slight uplifting of the programs, (namely an 11th game on the schedule and more importantly, participation in the FCS playoffs), none of us is calling for a return to FBS football or going back into the world of "ringer athletes" who do not even play the role of part-time students.
Guys like Bissinger would have a much more sound argument if they promoted Ivy football at the same time as they bashed BCS ball. But their likely ignorance of everything Ivy League sports stands for destroys much of their credibility.
The Crimson Cut
By now, many of you have probably already seen the brutal assessment of Columbia athletics published in
the Harvard Crimson.
It leaves out some important facts, but it's damning just the same. It seems like every few years, student journalists at the other Ivy schools need to remind new undergrads of just where Columbia stands in the league's sports picture.
The facts charted in the piece should serve as a stern reminder that Athletic Director
Dianne Murphy needs to prove her fitness to continue in the job unless Lion sports teams really start to turn it around this fall.
But there is something good I took away from the article as well. If readers need to be reminded about our futility, that means just a few seasons of success really can erase the stigma of decades of failure.
Sports is like that. It's all about the last season, the last game, where you are right now.
Time to turn it around.
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