The Campus Sports Guy
The airing of grievances
By Corey Ryan, Sports Editor
February 12, 2007 | 12:58 p.m.
Knowing full well Festivus is traditionally celebrated on December 23, there are some things I need to get off my chest. The wintry weather has me back in the holiday spirit, eager to celebrate the Festivus for the rest of us.
Made popular by Seinfeld, Festivus was born in the 1997 episode titled The Strike ("No bagel, no bagel no bagel...). Frank Costanza forms this holiday with a couple different aspects: the aluminum pole, supposedly to replace the Christmas tree, and the airing of grievances, which I will be focusing on today.
According to Festivus tradition, this is where everyone is seated at the holiday dinner table and everyone tells what they have been disappointed about the past year. Now that you know the rules, let the airing begin.
To you, [Athletic Director Kirby] Hocutt: I've been reading flyers and graffiti walls all over campus telling me that your athletic department stinks!
Didn't you know cuts were going to be made when you took the job as athletic director? Why did you have to make the cuts in the middle of the swimming season and the beginning of the track and lacrosse seasons? Why not cut women's swimming and diving instead of lacrosse? Why not listen to the athletes, who seem to have been willing to deal with less funding rather than complete elimination of the sport?
No, as a student in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, I do not think my situation is anywhere close to equaling that of a student-athlete, as indicated by Sean Balewski of The Athens News, but I do side with the student-athletes on how the whole situation was handled.
I understand full-well that the athletic department has been in financial trouble and the agenda is to build a football program that can financially compete in Division I football. However, I'm not going to be like Mark Chalifoux, Monday sports' columnist from The Athens News, and side with the University completely.
Now that I've gotten on the subject of the two sports columnists at Speakeasy's new media partner, let's talk about "The (sports) Gospel According to Mark." I first heard about the columnist from a colleague, a real reporter for another campus media outlet, where they truly are journalists. This week's column by Chalifoux was comparing the Missouri Valley Conference to the Mid-American Conference regarding men's basketball.
If I wanted to read or listen to the opinions of ESPN or Sports Illustrated, I would pick up an SI, go to either of their websites or watch ESPN. Why can't you go to the games, sit in the press conferences of MAC games (conveniently played regularly on this campus), watch the MVC when they are constantly on television and form a valid opinion based on your own research and knowledge?
It's a cop-out move to use your space to showcase other people's opinions, which the public can read at other publications. The only way local, campus media outlets can survive is by providing local, intimate opinions and coverage of local, campus events.
Now I give you my grievances with ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports. Stuart Scott is the most annoying hack in the national sports media. He's a prop in a bad joke. He is a pair of clown shoes. He has ruined <em>SportsCenter</em> by turning it into one big, cheesy joke and pop-culture game.
ESPN's Bracket Buster Saturday is a less funny joke. It seems unlikely that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee is going to watch any of those games with an open mind and give a team with an impressive performance an automatic bid. Sure, the MVC got those bids last year, but that's because that conference is deep, talented and deserving of multiple bids.
I'm not trying to imply that the MAC deserves two bids this year, because in my mind, the talent in the conference as drastically declined the last four years. The fact is the committee makes the decision of who gets in before the season even starts. The Big Ten, Big East, ACC, Pac-10 and Big-12 will all get their five to seven at-large bids while the MVC has simply taken the bids that C-USA used to get before they were gutted. ESPN should change the event, which will be held on Feb. 17 and feature the Bobcats at New Mexico State on ESPN 2 at midnight, title to mid-major Saturday, which is what it really is, 102 teams from 16 mid-major conferences where only 18 will be playing in the tournament.
I have to tell you, America, typing out all of my frustrations has been both overwhelming and comforting. It's like a huge weight has been lifted on my shoulders and dumped onto the information super-highway for all those to read. I highly recommend venting.
Festivus should really be a monthly celebration, if not an entire new religion based on honesty, an aluminum pole and wrestling. This is how I should celebrate the Sabbath. Come to think of it, cross a shortened aluminum pole with a taller pole, make one of the wrestlers a priest and the other an alter boy. But, we already have that religion.
Anyway, it is now time for the closing of the holiday, the feats of strength. Festivus will not be over until someone can pin me! Let's Rumble!
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Be sure to catch the Campus Sports Guy this Friday at the Ohio men's hockey game. During the intermissions, Corey will be chucking Speakeasy t-shirts into the stands while riding the zamboni.