The Noble Pundit

They Are Student Athletes

This morning I was reading along through Sports Illustrated.com and came across an editorial by Mike Fish: Graduation rates still a problem. And as I look through at the list of worst schools for graduating athletes, I find my alma mater, the University of Central Florida, on the list at #6.

Now I can sit here and explain why that number for UCF is probably a bit deceptive. Bit that would ignore the more important point:

These are the numbers for the student-athletes.

Most of these kids are attending school on our (the Public's) dime via an athletic scholarship. We are not (in theory) paying them to play football or baseball or track or softball or soccer or whatever. We are giving them an opportunity to gain an education. If they happen to be able to turn their opportunity into a professional contract, great.

But while they're in school, they should be studying. Earning that degree that we're paying for has got to be their top goal. A scholarship is not an opportunity to go play - it is an opportunity to go and learn, to gain that education that is going to put you ahead in the world if, like over 90% of all student-athletes, you don't get that multi-million dollar pro contract.

Yes, football brings in huge amounts of money. Yes, fans and alumni want to see the best athletes on the field, not necessarily the best student-athletes. Yes, you can lose huge amounts of bowl money by sitting out your star for a week or two.

But at some point the question arises: what is the goal of the university? Is it to produce educated students or is it to produce professional athletes?

The goal of the university is to educate. Sometimes the goals of the university’s purpose and the athletic department will be in opposition. Sometimes a special athlete comes along who is academically challenged. At what point does education trump athletics?

Most universities do a good job of providing tutors for those athletes that aren't having an easy time in class. And I have absolutely no problem with the athletic department using its funding to provide these tutors as it works towards the overall purpose of the university. And for those athletes that just can't make the grade, the NCAA does have a standards requirement which will force the athletic department to remove from the program an individual who is not living up to the student-athlete name.

But what about a department that isn't graduating its students? Should there be sanctions against a school that manages to graduate less than half of its student-athletes in six years?

I think that there should, but that the statistic should be modified somewhat to take into account the players that have gone on to the professional leagues. The percentage needs to be figured based on the number of athletes whose future earnings will be based on their educational exploits, not their athletic ones.

Bottom line, however, is that a school that is now graduating less than 45% of their students won't make the grade even taking out the kids that went on to the pros. And with the ultimate goal of the university experience being to educate, an athletic department that is failing in that primary job needs to be penalized.

College athletics may be a big business for the university, for the conferences, and for the NCAA, but in the end they should not be allowed to trump the purpose of the school. They should not be allowed to take precedence over education.

Quick Links

Conservative Media Under Attack! - Apparently some folks are trying to slip a version of the Fairness Doctrine into the new FCC bill. I want to know who will decide what is a conservative viewpoint and what is a liberal viewpoint. Implementation should be interesting.

A confluence of cynicism - A nice look at some of the less ethical events related to the California recall.

Iran envoy in bombing inquiry is freed on bail - The British Court system is, despite the pressures, doing an excellent job of following the rules and regulations - even when it isn't the most popular decision.

Language influences the way you think - Another excellent analysis of how language can affect the ways in which we communicate - even the non-verbal ones.

Today Has Sucked

You know how you can tell when you're having a bad day?

You wake up at six in the morning to find out that your power has been off for 2 hours - and will still be off for two more (Thanks Progress Energy! You guys couldn't maintain a battery operated flashlight properly - even if it had fresh batteries.)

I get to work and decide that today is the day that I'm going to deal with the Case of the Missing Employee. He left early on Saturday and we haven't seen him, heard from him, or anything else since. I go over to his house, and as I'm knocking on his door, I notice that someone either keyed or nailed a swastika onto his door.

Now this guy has some issues that the neo-Nazi's would just love to pick on. He also has some medical issues that could have possibly been dangerous. So I decided to report him as a missing person. All I really wanted was for someone to find a way to check to see if he was in the house (I tried talking to his landlord, but the guy wouldn't answer his door.)

I've figured out why 9/11 happened and why all the kids on the milk cartons would now be about 30 years old. No cop wants to take a report.

I figured that since our store in the city of Orlando and the guy lives in the city of Winter Park, that the best place to call would be the Orange County Sheriff's Department, as they should have jurisdiction in both cities. The SO wanted nothing to do with it, and advised me to call the Winter Park PD, since that is where he lived.

So I called the WPPD and they sounded very receptive to taking the report, asking many questions and so on. They then told me that they could not send an officer out of his jurisdiction to take the report, so I had to go to Winter Park and then call back. So I drive over to the guy's house and call again. The WPPD then decides that since he was last seen at work, he disappeared in Orlando and therefore I need to drive back to Orlando and report it to the Orlando Police Department.

By now, I'm getting really, really ticked, but back to work I go and I call OPD. They send their officer over and the first question he asks is, "Where does he live?" I say Winter Park and he starts down the "Call the WPPD instead" route when I stopped him and explained the runaround I had already been through. So he called the WPPD and asked them to send someone around to do a "well-being" check.

In the end, it took me well over 3 hours of phone calls and driving around town to get this guy reported as missing - and even now he hasn't officially been reported, pending the outcome of the well-being check.

I now understand why some people don't get found for weeks or months after their death. The process of reporting them as missing is a royal pain in the butt.

I just worry about how I'm going to react if I find out that he dehydrated or bled to death on say Tuesday or Wednesday - and I didn't call until today. The people I work with keep telling me I should feel good about having done something, but is something done too late good?

Too much deep stuff to consider on a day like today.

Quick Links

I've been trying to avoid getting into the whole reflecting on 9/11 thing today. I figure that two years after the fact, no one wants to hear about what I did that day or anything else like that. Problem that I've been having today is that pretty much all the news article are 9/11 related. The other stories are not exactly the easiest in the world to write about, so here are the links for your reading pleasure:

Questions Related to Aqidah (Faith). - Some of these are really, really out there. Really makes me wonder....

Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) about Linking - With some large companies going overboard with attempting to limit speech through the manufacturing of "copyright" violations for linking, this page is very useful to help you to understand what is ok and what it not.

The Only Safe Place To Put Money - It's long, but it's a good analysis of the current state of the economy and where we might be heading.

The Day Nothing Changed - I don't agree with everything that is written here, but I'm not sure how to express the points on which I disagree.

Welcome Salon Readers!

Welcome to everyone who has found this site through King Kaufman's column on Salon.com! I'm guessing that you're probably looking for my sports related posts, so let me get you pointed in the right direction.

All of the sports related posts on this site can be found here, in the Sports category.

Most of my sports related posts have actually been over at SportsBlog so let me point you in the right direction over there:

I've got most posted under either College Football or College Football: Big East. I also have a few in NFL: Miami Dolphins and one in NFL: Cleveland Browns.

If you want to see my take on current events and such, just scroll on down or take a look through the category links in the sidebar.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you find something to keep you coming back either to here or to SportsBlog!

I Hit The Big Time!

This is too cool. Your humble writer has been quoted and linked in Salon.com. King Kaufman, has written an article about football blogging in which I am quoted. (Good article, worth the read. Click on the free one day pass if you're not a subscriber.)

This has made my day.

6 Reasons The Roadmap Will Fail

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURE IN THIS POST

I've been of the mind for a while now that the "Roadmap" was a dead-end. Some still want to believe that there is hope for it to bring about peace in Israel. Here are six reasons why I don't believe that the region is ready for peace:

Israel obviously doesn't trust the Palestinians yet:

Israeli army soldiers assemble a new concrete checkpoint tower, or pillbox, along the main route connecting northern and southern Gaza, at Deir el-Balah refugee camp, near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom, Gaza Strip (news - web sites), Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

The Palestianians have reason to distrust the Israelis:

A residential building is detonated by the Israeli army in the divided West Bank City of Hebron. A Palestinian boy was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli missile while a local head of Hamas' armed wing and his aides were found dead in the building besieged by the army during the operation.(AFP/Hazem Bader)

And as the murder and mayhem continues in Israel:

The weapon and uniform of an Israeli soldier lays amid broken glass at the scene after an exlosion outside an army base near Tel Aviv September 9, 2003. A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a major army camp near Tel Aviv on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding several, police and rescue workers said. REUTERS/Nir Elias

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT: Israeli medics evacuate a wounded woman from the scene of a suicide bombing at a Jerusalem cafe, late Tuesday Sept. 9, 2003. A suicide bomber blew up outside a cafe in Jerusalem Tuesday night, killing at least four people and wounding about 40 others, witnesses and rescue workers said. The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for both suicide bombings in Israel Tuesday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

The Palestinian people celebrate:

Hamas supporters celebrate in the streets of Gaza City after a suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem, September 9, 2003. The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas hailed two suicide bombings in Israel in a statement sent to Al-Jazeera television on Tuesday. Picture taken September 9. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Hamas supporters celebrate in the streets of Gaza City after a suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem September 9, 2003. The military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas hailed two suicide bombings in Israel in a statement sent to Al-Jazeera television on Tuesday. Picture taken September 9. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem




The time for peace is not yet upon us. An atmosphere of trust and respect, by both sides, must be built before real progress towards peace can be made. As long as the Israelis feel a need to dig in and fortify or the Palestinians feel a need to celebrate the murder of Israelis, there will be no peace.

True peace begins with the removal of Arafat. Sharon will likely have to follow pretty closely behind. Both men are too polarizing for the other side. They are lightning rods for criticism, founded and unfounded.

Celebrating the murder of a human being or destroying the home of many to get one: those are not foundations of trust or respect.

A house without a foundation will sink and collapse in short order. A peace without trust or respect will do the same.

The region needs to learn to crawl before we can expect it to walk.

Quick Links

The Quick Links will be early tonight as I have a six part essay (this time it really will be six parts only) that I'm going to post after this - and I want to stay on top until tomorrow (don't worry, it'll be very easy to follow). So, with out further jabbering:

Jordan becomes new R&R spot for occupation troops serving in Iraq - This will be a really cool R&R spot. I loved Petra - a most cool city and well worth the time to visit.

What Americans know - It begins and ends with some pretty vile anti-Americanism, but his look at some of the true problems with textbooks and curriculums rings very true. Too bad he buried it so much that few people will ever get to it.

Dutch trades union calls for Cuba boycot [sp.] - If we could only make Castro go away..... But I'm glad to see the Dutch unions pushing to get on board, even if their support is likely to only be temporary in nature.

Should The Times Be Sued For Blair?

The Village Voice has a short blurb (see the third item down) in which a professor discusses the possibility of suing the New York Times for "journalistic malpractice" over the Jayson Blair incidents.

Now as bad as the accusations in the Blair case are (that the Times continued to publish his stories, even after they knew they were false) I don't see a need for the instigation of litigation here.

The Times screwed up, bad. And they deserve a punishment for having done so.

That punishment has been meted out by our society. The Times has lost a huge chunk of respectability and perceived integrity. For a self-respecting journalist, even those at the Times, losing those two intangibles is a fate worse than virtually any monetary penalty that could be imposed.

For without respect or integrity, a journalist is nothing. To last in their chosen field, they must have both. Whether the Times reporters like it or not, they've lost a measure of both. That is the punishment for the Blair episodes.

An unemployed journalist with respect and integrity will soon find employment in the journalistic field. A rich shyster like Blair will end up at the National Enquirer or the World Weekly News before he ever works at someplace like the Times of Podunk again.

Besides which, how do these lawyers intend to quantify the damage done by Jayson's joshes? Ok, so Blair did wrong - we'll assume he committed malpractice for a moment. Where is the harm? Where is the loss? If a doctor commits malpractice there are physical consequences, which can be quantified. If a CPA commits malpractice there are financial consequences, which can be quantified. Where is the quantifiable harm caused by Blair's actions?

I have no great love for the Times, but there is no justification for manufacturing a new legal peril to rectify a self-correcting and non-harming problem. This sounds to me like some lawyer angling for massive class-action fees.

Quick Links

Expect Monday nights to be light on postings for the next, oh, 17 weeks or so. But I'll try my best to keep them coming.

Survey: Americans still favor security over personal liberties - Some people never learn, I guess.

Belarus Dictator Tightens Grip With New Restrictions on Religious Groups - But here's a good lesson.....

'Don't Take The Clothes Off My Back' - a 10 cent tax on espresso in Seattle. Pure taxing genius. Not good for re-election prospects though.

Greens wage on Africans - More evidence of eco-colonialism and unintended consequences.

Rents Up Over 1/3 Since '99, Study Says - Interesting problem, but is more government interference in the housing market really the best answer?

US military plane sets off earthquake gauge in Hiroshima - Ah, the earth shaking power of the US military.

Ex-KKK leader endorses Bustamante - When you lie down with dogs, you've got to expect to get bitten by the fleas. Bustamante wants to hang around with racists and now the racists want to hang around with him.

United States of Anxiety?

The Independent in the UK has gone and published just about the worst analysis of a poll that I have ever seen.

Have things changed since 9/11? Sure. But have we been shocked in to be a nation of cowards like this article seems to indicate? Absolutely not.

When I talk with people around me - whether they agree or disagree with Bush, the war, the economy or anything - none of them have been scared into a shell. They are aware of the new circumstances, but they're not scared or anxious.

Why do they hate us? Why do we care? They hate us because we're Americans. They hate us because we fight amongst ourselves, but fight as one against them. They hate us because we are everything they are not - tolerant, generous, and free. Are we naive? Maybe, but it allows us to believe that the impossible is possible, where the "sophisticates" can only see why things aren't possible.

We face problems and challenges, but unlike most of the world, we're not afraid of what lies ahead. Unlike those who are scared of the unknown, we enjoy changing the status quo.

Now, besides the general anti-American tone, what else makes this article such a poor analysis? Well, take these three examples:

Asked if they agree with the statement, "I support President Bush's decision to attack Iraq as an 'axis of evil' nation", almost a quarter disagreed.

Meanwhile, there was a softening of support for the assertion, "I support the decision of President Bush to route out terrorists throughout the 'axis of evil'", compared to immediately after 9/11. And more than one third supported the notion that the US is using the events of 9/11 to do "whatever it wants around the world".

So, assuming a 10% undecided factor (I don't know what it really is, but I'm guessing it is less than 10%) this means that 65%+ support the moves against the "axis of evil." Assuming the same undecided factor, over 50% disagree with the premise that we're abusing the memory of 9/11 for military or geo-political gain.

Of course, I should probably expect spin like this from a paper that is advertising a Robert Fisk column right next to its analysis.

Should The Government Discriminate To Prevent Discrimination?

An openly gay Vineland, NJ student is protesting the use of Cumberland County College facilities by the Boy Scouts of America. He makes the claim that the Scouts should be banned from campus because they discriminate against gays and atheists.

Ignoring the obvious fun that could be had with this (he was intimidated by a Boy Scout ceremony?), I believe that he is absolutely wrong. Simply because the Boy Scouts legally, as a private organization, discriminate and the college receives public funding does not mean that the Scouts should automatically be banished from campus. To say that they should be is completely inconsistent with the concept of freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech requires that sometimes public facilities get used for purposes, congregations, rallies, or events with which we disagree. And that is a principal that has been upheld by the courts time and time again. People burn flags in public parks. Are we to eject all flag burners and make them do their deed on private property? The KKK holds marches and rallies on public streets and in public parks. Taxpayers fund those streets and parks, just like they do the college. Is the Klan to be denied their right to hold public gatherings because allowing them to walk down the street might be construed as government sanction of the Klan position?

Even on campus, fraternities and sororities would be illegal as they are gender discriminatory. Sports like women's softball, women's soccer, and men's swimming would all become illegal because of gender discrimination. Book clubs would be taboo because they might discriminate against the illiterate. Engineering organizations would become illegit because they might discriminate against mathematically challenged liberal arts students. Atheist organizations would be a no-no because they would discriminate against believers. And gay organizations would be out because they might discriminate against heterosexual students.

Taken to the extreme, in an effort to protect Mr. Brandon's sensibilities (which I think are lacking - oops, sorry. I said I wouldn't do that. Bad, Chris. Bad!), we would essentially outlaw the freedom of association and the freedom of free speech in the very atmosphere where there is the greatest cry to protect those freedoms.

"If you select to discriminate against one organization because of its viewpoint," [David Perry, executive director of the Southern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts of America] said, "you must do the same to all organizations with a viewpoint."

If the Boy Scouts have paid to use the facility and they are engaging in a perfectly legal activity, then the state has no right to coerce the Scouts to change their beliefs as a condition of use any more than they have the right to coerce the Klan to give up racial prejudice as a precondition of walking down the street in sheets and carrying signs. A private meeting in a public building is no different than a private congregation on a public road. So long as all the actions of the participants are legal, the state has no right to interfere with their freedom of association.

This is going to turn into a great waste of taxpayer money with there either being no change in policy or a new policy in which we take away basic fundamental freedoms from all in order to protect the sensibilities of one person.

I Hate SoBig

Last night while I was watching the game and typing my post on personal responsibility and the Constitution, I got frustrated. Not only by the game and its effect on my ability to maintain a clear train of thought, but because in a ten minute span I got hammered by ten SoBig.F virus infected emails.

Now it doesn't really do anything, as my anti-virus software picks it up and erases it. But each time, it pops up a warning window on the computer telling me it caught another SoBig.

I think that the Blaster worm tried to hit me, maybe three times total. Klez, I think twice. But this SoBig is just constantly hammering me. Since I started getting them 4 days ago, I must have gotten hit with nearly 100 infected emails.

And some are theorizing that this is only a warm-up virus for the SoBig creator. They believe that whoever is creating SoBig will have a new version, SoBig.G out on 9/11. They basically point towards SoBig as being some great techno-terrorist plot that will use the memory of 9/11 to intensify the effects of their attack.

Now the article does contain some factual inaccuracies, such as the windowsupdate.com comment (Microsoft took it down voluntarily, not a denial of service attack), which probably makes it wise to take any 9/11 conspiracy theories with a grain of salt. But if the SoBig.F virus will expire on 9/10 that does lend some credence to the idea that 9/11 might in fact be the day for some new and devastating virus attack. I have no idea.

Is it possible to protect the internet against these kinds of attacks? I don't think so. There are too many people who use absolutely no common sense when it comes to suspicious email attachments. Too many people fail to use or to update their virus scanning software. They forget or choose not to update Windows to close the security loopholes. In short, there are too many weaknesses in the armor to truly inoculate the internet against these viruses.

So I guess I'll have to keep my anti-virus up to date and make sure that I have the email client off while I'm writing or doing anything even semi-important.

Heart Attack Time

I wrote that last post over the course of about 3 hours while alternately watching the Miami-Florida game on TV and being so ticked off that I had to do something else (so I wrote). You can catch my thoughts on the game over at SportsBlog.

I know my friend Joe, a Gator to his death (which may have happened tonight), reads this site regularly, so Joe: I take back every snarky comment I had about Ron Zook. The Gators came to play tonight. It was one of the best games in a long, long time - at least since the double overtime loss to OSU (okay, not that long ago, but it was a great game.)