Greg writes:
> stuff deleted about OSU coach Jerry Walsh's comments
 
>                   Does *everybody* out there equate de-emphasizing
>athletics with respect to academics with "not working hard"? Another
>example of this sort of reaction came from Jack Parker last year, when
>the number of hockey scholarships was cut back. Parker said (this is a
>paraphrase, but one which I think is accurate) "the NCAA is forcing us
>to compete with not enough players". I guess by Parker's definition
>that means the non-scholarship schools have for years fielded teams and
>won championships with NO players!
 
	I disagree with your analysis of the NCAA cutbacks.  The object
	of the mythical "academics first" movement should be to improve
	the lot of scholar-athletes.  Do you think cutting coaches and
	scholarships will improve the conditions for these students?
	I think the answer is obviously no.  These cuts will reduce
	the pool of athletes able to attend college, who put in the extra
	effort required as an athlete, while lessening the learning
	opportunities afforded by more coaches.  The academics first
	movement is a myth because its real aim is to reduce costs.
 
	The NCAA cuts were across the board cuts that deeply hurt
	first class programs in sports other than hockey.  These sports
	matter little to the NCAA because they don't bring in big
	bucks via TV for the NCAA.  Hockey does make money at many
	Div. I schools but probably not at OSU.  All the more reason
	for Jerry Walsh and the OSU athletic dept. to be unopposed
	to the hockey cuts.
 
>Everybody knows that the NCAA is starkly hypocritical in cutting back
>the resources of other sports while allowing the big-time basketball
>and football programs, whose infractions and excesses provided the
>public impetus for the "academics first" movement in the first place,
>to do whatever they want.
 
	Well I certainly agree with you here.  The odd thing is that
	many people think that the NCAA is cleaning up college sports.
	Yet how many changes have they made that affect basketball and
	football, the problem sports that started this mess.
 
 
mark grassl
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"I'm so, I'm so unsatisfied."	---the Replacements