Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James R. Conner.

 

24 September 2013

Memo to the U of M: drop intercollegiate athletics
instead of building a $3 million study hall for jocks

When I was in high school, the team members of the sport in season ate in their own special dining room, which was slightly elevated above the main cafeteria floor. Some argued it was a necessity, that it ensured a balanced diet and enough food for athletes, and contributed to the esprit de corps required for victory on the fields and floors of competition. Perhaps. But no thinking person disputed that the training table told the athletes they were special; they knew it, and they made sure, damned sure, that the lesser mortals known as their fellow students knew it, too, and paid proper respect.

The jocks did suffer one insult to their exalted status. The school wasn’t wealthy enough for a private study room for the gladiators, so they were condemned to the same study hall as the rest of us. Thus, I know from personal experience how much some of those gridiron gods needed to study, and how little they actually did study.

In the future, jocks at the University of Montana won't be condemned to studying in the presence of mere mortals. Construction starts next spring on a $3 million, sweet smelling student athlete academic center equipped with wireless internet, printers, and the proper atmosphere for athletes to study basket weaving, pushups, the history of the forward pass, dousing coaches with iced Gatorade, and how to ask for a date without getting arrested for rape.

According the University’s student newspaper, the Kaimin, the student center has two transcendent purposes:

[U.M. Athletic Director Kent] Haslam said the new facility will help student-athletes maintain the grades they need to remain eligible for competition.

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Haslam said the new center will also help in recruiting efforts, showing prospective athletes that Montana is serious about academics as well as athletics.

Yeah. Right. Spoken like an AD who knows how to pay lip service to academics while scheming to keep his combatants in action.

Will the university ever face up to reality? Football wrecks knees, rattles brains, and tells students who should be hitting the books instead of the guy across the line of scrimmage that might makes right, that they’re special because they’re bigger and stronger. If the university were truly serious about academics, it would close down its intercollegiate athletics programs, tear down the football stadium, convert the basketball gymnasium to classrooms, and declare the athletic boosters persona non grata on campus.