john healy
Sports is not important?
Maybe every athletic depart
ment in the country ought to
have a copy of our state political
editor, William Kogut, airmailed
to them. You see, Bill is not what
one would call a “sports freak."
Give Bill a newspaper and he
would rather turn to the latest
primary results than check
whether or not Darryl Dawkins is
currently in his Chocolate
Thunder or Slumber stage. Bill’s
the type who saves his
‘‘l-can't-hold-it-any-longer"
break until the sports report
when he watches the evening
news.
vln Bill’s defense, he does
know does know that Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar isn’t the name of
a Middle Eastern revolutionary
leader, and if given the oppor
tunity, he can probably tell you
how the Knicks are doing.
Bill is part of that "minority” of
Americans who don’t turn to the
sports page as soon as they
open their newspaper. While
most of male — and a large part
of female — America hangs on
tt\e outcome of this year’s
Superbowl or National Basket
ball Association finals, Bill goes
on with daily life.
Or as he says, “Sports is not
important.”
Take that statement at its face
value, and you’re left wondering
how anyone could spout such a
blasphemous line. Gosh, sports
isn’t important? How can an
yone be so narrow-minded?
I don’t agree with that sta
tement, but contained within it is
an idea that needs to be brought
to the attention of everyone —
fans, coaches and athletes.
The idea that the world can go
on functioning without a single
athletic contest being contested
anywhere in the world. Think
about that for a minute. Roll that
idea around in your mind, along
with the winner of this year’s
NBA finals and the series MVP.
Admit it — the world wouldn’t
stop if every professional fran
chise folded, if every college
and high school dropped its
athletic program. Yes, there
would be a lot of boring wee
kends and a few thousand ath
letes in the unemployment line.
Yes, perhaps the “school spirit"
at a lot of high schools and col
leges would take a rapid turn for
the worse.
But there wouldn’t be mass
starvation, nor would anyone
have problems going to work
after their morning cup of cof
fee. War wouldn’t break out, the
divorce rate wouldn't go up (it
might actually go down) and the
networks wouldn’t go broke.
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Which brings me to the cur
rent financial problems of the
University’s athletic program.
Most everyone knows about the
current financial problems fac
ing the University’s Athletic
Department and the recent vote
on the propsed $20 per term
athletic fee.
Now the Athletic Department
has deemed it necessary to cut
the women’s field hockey pro
gram following the end of next
year. Of course, the players feel
short-changed and their coach,
Nancy Plantz, "feels a bit be
trayed. Which they have a right
to feel, since it’s not a great deal
of fun to have the proverbial run
pulled out form under you.
They, along with just about
every other athlete on campus,
backed the recent ASUO vote
on the proposed athletic fee.
After all, none of the athletes
wanted to see their respective
sports sliced from the Universi
ty s ruii-can.
I sympathize with their
feelings, being a former high
school athlete, but I think they
are missing the boat by voting to
institute a mandatory athletic
fee. What they are saying, in
effect, is that their sport is more
important than the personal
preferences — the freedom of
choice — of students who do not
want to support the University’s
athletic program.
The notion that one group of
students is more important than
another doesn’t sit well with me.
Neither does the idea that our
University's athletic program is
the “lifeblood” of this Universi
ty
If you're not interested in
football, you generally don't go
to Oregon’s home games at
Autzen Stadium and you don’t
join the Oregon boosters club. If
you do like the Ducks, then you
set aside every other Saturday
during the fall to watch Reggie
Ogburn and Co. in action. But
you decide — not someone else.
And you recognize that not
everyone thinks like your do.
Not everyone believes that
sports is the most important
single thing in the entire un
iverse. Your sun may rise and
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set with the Los Angeles
Dodgers, but not everyone else
follows the Dodgers — or even
cares about baseball or sports.
It’s a hard pill to swallow — the
taste was incredibly bitter for me
— but its medicine that any
sports enthusiast must take.
With that in mind, I think it
follows logically that if the
University’s athletic program
can’t support itself, then either
people who support the pro
gram had better start making
larger donations and attending
more games or the program has
to be cut somewhere.
If the Athletic Departement
has a $400,000 deficit, then its
quite obvious that the people of
Eugene and the students at the
University are unable or un
willing to provide monetary
support worth $400,000.
To try to artificially generate
that support — through any
means — leaves a foul taste in
my mouth.
And if the spectator and
booster support isn’t there, then
across-the-board cuts are in
order, in my estimation.
Let’s face it, something must
be done to shave the University
Athletic Departments’ $400,000
deficit. I think the best solution
would call for the reduction of
women’s field hockey and soft
ball down to the club sport level
(still being funded by the Athle
tic Department, but on a limited
basis); moving the men’s ba
seball team to Division II status
or limiting it to a regional level;
dropping the men’s wrestling
and gymnastics programs to
Division II status; and reducing
the funds available to the the
women’s cross country team.
If you don’t like those options,
then you can always try the
other method — attend
Oregon’s home games and
contribute to the Ducks’ booster
fund
But please, don’t shove your
likes down someone else’s
throat.
Because your likes may be
their dislikes.
Eugene |
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