The Lantern, the student newspaper (im sure everyone knows that), ran this article a few weeks ago, and it got me thinking. as much as everyone loves football wins, i don't think anyone wants this school to become a school where ethics are secondary to wins on the field. the lantern makes it seem like many students feel that urban will be turning osu into that.
at first, I agreed. but i looked into it a little more, and I think that urban is a fine, upstanding, individual who is more than worthy of being a role model and leader of the football team and beyond. for one, he is very religious. that can be a contentious issue for many, but i think he really practices his faith, and because of that, is very charitable, and really cares about these kids. sorry for mentioning religion, i hate to pretend that it makes him automatically a moral person, but i think its an important part of his character (please dont violate comment policy/i hope this isnt violating it....). I think that just because he's from the SEC, that myself, and maybe others, automatically stereotyped him and thought that he really was all about football. I have shifted my views slightly and i really think that i only thought that because of a preconceived bias.
my only complaint with urban may not even be valid. i think he focuses a little too much on the nfl/draft picks. this is really based on this video (see "urban meyer one on one from 9:50-9:10). he really talks alot about how important the nfl is, and while this is important for recruiting, im sure, I'd prefer if he talked more about how awesome it is to play for osu/florida/whoever. in my sheltered little world, urban is showing recruits things like this awesome video. maybe i live in a fantasy world, but id love to imagine high school kids loving things like that and wanting to come to osu for things like that, as opposed to as a stepping stone for the nfl.
that being said, I think urban will end up being that role model, and i really hope that he does. hope everyone's looking forward to spring ball!
The problem here is that The Lantern is garbage. I mean no offense to the writers or editors but every time I pick up The Lantern, I cannot believe their lack of ability or creativity when it comes to writing. The sports reporting is bland, the main stories are rarely intriguing and the op-ed pieces are rubbish.
@william, unfortunately, I agree. I hate to agree, because I was a sports reporter in hs, and i understand how hard it is to balance school, interesting articles, and the deadline. I was actually very dissapointed when I got here, because in high school, our newspaper came out weekly (which is rare on that level), and I was impressed (albeit biased) with the quality we put out for a small staff putting out weekly. unfortunately, if I had to guess, I'd say that Pat Brennan (the sports editor) tries to do too much; editing all the articles himself and not delegating enough. given how many students study journalism, its unfortunate that the lantern isnt of a higher quality. though they have broken a number of huge stories (including tat-gate).
I agree. I find it very unfortunate that the quality of The Lantern is so poor. I wish and believe that it could be exponentially better, yet it just isn't. I know not of the inner workings of The Lantern or its editors and writers, but I do wish that they would put out a higher quality paper. Instead I'm stuck to reading the Wall Street Journal, NY Times,(reading those two really balances out the spectrum) and USA Today; which is nice and all, but I would rather read a paper produced by OSU students.
As long as kids graduate and a good percentage recieve degrees of quality. I have no problem going 13 and 0 every year, except for the one bad year going 12 and 1.
sarcasm font applies here.....
LCB
yea, truthfully the reason that i read 11w so religiously is because the lantern just doesn't cut it most times. that said, I've always been a big fan of pat brennan's articles, but when its not him, its largely fluff. though their article about intanglibles on the bball team was pretty good today
Lantern - Bad. Urban - so far so good. As to tOSU becoming a football factory, I don't want to be the bad guy - but it is a football factory already IMO. Not in the way that football trumps all things educational - it doesn't, but in the way that it is a perenial powerhouse and many of the kids that come to be Buckeyes, do so with the intention of moving on to the NFL. That said - I personally think Urban will be placing a huge emphasis on graduating kids. Although we have been putting more players in the NFL than almost any other school for a long time, there has also always been a emphasis on education. So I think we are a football factory already, but not in a bad way at all. Just that it's a very successful program and hope it always is...
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.
yea thats a valid point poison nuts, i suppose i should have acknowledged that. osu is, compared to most schools in the country, a football factory. I was more thinking along the lines of kentucky basketball, where kids go there for the sole reason of playing for a year and leaving for the nba. I love seeing guys like john simon, who couldve gone on to the nfl, stay for their senior season. to me, that is what makes college sports great. where in pro sports, any perceived sense of loyalty is gone as soon as the next contract negotiations comes along, where in college, someone like john simon will pass up a huge contract to play pro football, just to spend one more year in buckeye nation (of course thats not the only reason, but in my naivety, i like to think that its a big part of it)
We're on the same page there.
The world is full of kings & queens who'll blind your eyes & steal your dreams - it's heaven & hell - Ronnie James Dio.