Speaking of Abject Stupidity - Bill Simmons Speaks Out

Once again Bill Simmons speaks out about sports at Holy Cross and proves he has no clue. Here's the money paragraph:

This isn't a new thing, either. When I was attending school there from 1988-92, nobody understood what was happening with the Patriot League move and our curious decision to scale back sports when the football and basketball teams were such an enormous part of the Holy Cross experience. At the time, the direction was sweepingly unpopular. I even wrote a newspaper column or two for the Crusader about it -- they were crippling our football and basketball programs for reasons that didn't make sense to anyone. Nearly two decades later, the reasons STILL don't make sense. It's the equivalent of a triathlete intentionally amputating his left leg, then continuing to compete while telling you, "Look at me, look at me. I'm doing this with one leg!" Admittedly, it's impressive and takes a ton of heart and courage. At the same time, HE STILL CHOPPED OFF HIS LEFT LEG FOR NO REASON. There's a difference between courage and abject stupidity.

Let me point out three things:

1. The giant elephant in the middle of the room (which I bet Simmons doesn't even address in his touted magazine article) is Title IX. This was passed in 1972 but over the years it became more and more of a drag on the budgets of sports programs throughout the US. As it became a defacto quota program (one women's scholarship for every men's scholarship) - colleges who played Division 1 football were faced with a huge dilemma. Either they could add 60 odd scholarships for women and the associated costs or they could scale back. This wasn't a problem for big-time programs like Alabama whose football program generated tons of ready cash but Holy Cross was not one of those programs. So Holy Cross chose a middle-ground. They joined the Patriot League where football was a non-scholarship sport (and thus immune from Title IX). Since then the football program has come back and is one of the better programs in Division 1-A (and offering scholarships once again).

2. Hey Bill - does the name Doug Flutie ring a bell? Boston College football struck gold with Flutie and since 1984 - BC has tried to be part of big-time college football scene. But with that commitment comes the flip side of gambling scandals and players making news for what they do at Mary Anns (local dive bar near BC) and other off campus exploits. BC graduates have to suffer the jokes from people like you about the gambling and the fact that BC never wins the big football game. Has the big time football program really enhanced the academic reputation of Boston College or does the fact they graduated Bill Romanowski take away some of the academic shine?

3. Simmons wants to have his cake and eat it too. He says that when he was at the Cross "the football and basketball teams were such an enormous part of the Holy Cross experience." Hmmmm.. the basketball program never won an NCAA tournament game when you were in school. I think this is an example of someone getting old and thinking things were so much better back in his day. Do you really pine for the days when the Crusaders were in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference battling it out with the like of Iona and Marist? Also - you say that you want Holy Cross to be the Gonzaga of the East Coast but guess what Bill - Gonzaga doesn't have a football team. Is part of your plan to have students have tons of free time on Saturday afternoons on campus? Is that the plan? Students study extra on Saturday to make up for the drop in entrance requirments for the basketball players you want to admit to the school? I should also point out again that it costs almost $10,000 more per year to go to Holy Cross than Gonzaga. People are paying the premium because the college has an all-star academic program - not an all-star basketball team. Plus you seem to forget that last year Holy Cross' hockey team had the biggest upset in NCAA hockey history. The baseball stadium has been greatly upgraded (Fitton Field is now also home to a pro minor leaugue baseball team - the Worcester Tornados). Things are good sports-wise up on Mount Saint James these days. Maybe if you had a clue you'd realize that.