TC the Terrible

I talk a lot of smack about NFL this, and NFL that. But seldom do I talk about college football. Maybe it’s because I went to different schools, and neither of them is anything close to being a football power. Or it could be that I’m just lazy and the NFL is much easier to write about. Odds are it’s the latter.

But I need to change that, if only for a single posting. My alma mater, Arkansas State University, is the other university in the state. We’ve been second fiddle for so long at times I wonder why we even try anymore. Then we have years like this one.

This year we are bowl bound. The mighty Indians only went 6 – 5, but that gave them a share of the Sun Belt conference title, and they were winners of the tie breaker. So off to the New Orleans Bowl (being held in Lafayette, La. for some reason) we go. The opponent on the field will be Southern Mississippi. The real battle is against the football fans in Arkansas.

Only in a backwards place like Arkansas can a person be cast out from friends and family for daring to say that the state can handle I-A football teams. In Alabama fans get to pick between the Tide and Auburn. Florida has the ‘Cains, ‘Gators, and the Seminoles. Texas gets to have Longhorns and Aggies. Get the idea?

But in Arkansas you can either root for the Hogs, (4 – 7 this season by the way) or keep your mouth shut. The Athletic Director, Frank Broyles, is the god of sports and if the sports media gives more than a passing mention of ASU they are blackballed by him. It’s a crappy system, and Broyles has bought and paid for more than one player in his days as the coach, but he’s an old guy with tons of clout.

When he gets out of the way, maybe the Indians will have a chance in the media. Or of course they could just keep winning. Put enough ‘W’s on the big board and the press will have to give you respect.

Go Indians!

More later.

One more thing. For all of you Hog fans out there, let’s go ahead and get something straight right now.

The name of your school IS NOT the University of Arkansas. You attended the University of Arkansas Fayetteville campus. The University of Arkansas is a SYSTEM of campuses, four of them in fact. Monticello, AR has a campus with a world renowned forestry program. Little Rock, AR has a campus with a great art program and a hell of a law school. Pine Bluff, AR has a campus with a proud tradition of educating blacks when other schools wouldn’t. All you guys have is frat parties and football. Get used to it.

For the past few months the Army has been pushing a business concept called Lean Six Sigma.  If we do it right, then we’ll all be better for having gone through the front end hurt of the process.  And believe me, the training really does hurt the brain.

Now New Orleans’s Tulane University is doing something along the same lines.  They have decided to cut some of their programs as part of the Katrina recovery effort.  Getting rid of some of the less respected departments will allow the school to maintain academic standards in the better programs, with fewer students and less administration costs.  Sounds like a good idea to me.

After all, isn’t the entire purpose of college to give the student the best possible education with the fewest distractions?  On top of that they are going to require that all students participate in public service projects to graduate.  A better academic environment, raising social conciseness, and a chance to help rebuild a devastated city; what more could a student ask for from college?  Drunken frat parties can be found anywhere.  

Tulane deserves a round of applause for doing the right thing, even when it may be the hard thing.

More later.

I told you this town is full of wimps and wusses.  Rummy went to the Hill yesterday and all the liberals that are screaming for his head on the talk show circuit failed to show up and say it to his face.  Typical.

More later.