There's a clear effort to pump up the PSU football program here. We hired a nationally known coach, "the cowboy in black," and our new prez has gone on record as thinking football is really important to a university. Well, I do enjoy watching good college games but this doesn't mean football is important to a university, just that it's "there." What gripes me is that college football has become a minor, recruiting league for the pros at the university's expense. Let the pros bankroll their own minor league.
A major step in PSU's new drive is today's game at Pullman against Washington State, a Pac-10 team. Nationally televised! PSU comes away with almost a quarter million dollars for this, which (according to a news article) almost pays for the team's entire travel budget this season. If I were younger, I'd have driven to Pullman to see the game with my Godson Brad, who lives in nearby Moscow, Idaho. But I can't drive more than a few hundred miles at a stretch any more. When at UCLA, I used to drive to Medford to see my folks in one long session, 800 miles, leave after my Friday morning class and get there in the wee hours. Ah, youth!
I think "Ah youth and beauty!" is the title of one of John Cheever's better short stories. Something like that.
I'd like to see college sports get a more intra-mural feel and the pros bankroll their own minor leagues. Never happen -- but the way to start it, if a college prez were so bold, would be to get rid of all athletic scholarships.
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