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Paul Conrad had Eisenhower: a Mr. Clean type with his eyes rolling around in his head. Herblock had Nixon: 5 o'clock shadow and glower. I could go on. Garry Trudeau skewered Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and W. However, Ben Sargent (Pulitzer Prize winner from Amarillo) goes after W, DeLay, Perry (Gov. Goodhair), and now AG Ashcroft. As William M. Tweed said of the Thomas Nast cartoons in the NYTimes: I don't care what they write about us, it's them damn pitchers!
It may be a stretch in SapperWorld (that strange and wonderful place where great ideas are born) to bring Kobe Bryant to Amarillo until he's 40-41 years old. He may not be able to leave CO until then. So, where can Amarillo turn for an equivalent to Pete Rose as a role model for its youth? I have a modest suggestion. Dave Bliss — former Baylor University men's basketball coach — will have plenty of time on his hands for a fund-raising speaking engagement. This article in Sports Illustrated really lets Bliss off the hook. He has left a trail of slime from Norman to Dallas to Albuquerque to Waco. Amarillo College dropped intercollegiate basketball (men's and women's) in the latter 1980s. It disappeared without leaving a ripple. However, before AC basketball was tossed in the trashcan (where it belonged), a succession of Dave Bliss equivalents left their own trails of slime through Amarillo. Gary Cardinal came to Amarillo College from the New Mexico Military Institute (alma mater of Roger Staubach). Cardinal brought a collection of outlaws that would cause Wyatt Earp to blanch. Cardinal left the College in an abrupt career change: selling church construction bonds to little old widows. Cardinal was succeeded by Jim Calvin. It was like Jesse James was followed by John Dillinger. Calvin arrived from a stint in Kentucky and he brought a half-dozen parolees from the Kentucky state prison system with him. The whole sorry affair made Sports Illustrated with a condemnation of the president of Amarillo College who came off as the heavy. Calvin, of course, characterized himself as a man on a mission to redeem misguided young men (who could also slam dunk). As it turned out, all but one of the ex-cons disappeared. The lone former convict who stayed and played was John Luster (sentenced to 50 years for armed robbery and manslaughter) at 6'9''. Luster set a single season rebounding record at Amarillo College. After one year, he sought to transfer (because he had spent his freshman year at the University of Cincinnati and the robbery business occurred in the offseason). Luster went on a campus visit to a smallish state university in Wichita Falls, TX. Midwestern University — where John Tower taught political science before his election to the U. S. Senate — invited Luster and put him up in a freshman dorm. After his workout with the Midwestern team, later that night, a coed reported an attempted rape in her room. The assailant was described as a tall, black male. The sole African-American in the dorm that night was John Luster. Suffice it to say that Luster did not matriculate in Wichita Falls. He transferred to Penn State-Erie (a branch of the real Pennsylvnia State University). A year later, I was in the office of the registrar at Amarillo College and he tossed a letter at me and said, Remember this guy? A judge in Pennsylvania was seeking John Luster's transcript. Luster had been convicted of rape and assault in Erie, PA. The judge was making a sentencing determination. However, he wrote that it was a fomality because Luster was a three-time loser (another earlier conviction) and was going to prison for life. Calvin left Amarillo College (and was coaching the Kuwaiti Men's Olympic Team at the time of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait) and his trail of slime was continued by Mark Nixon. Nixon likewise brought a parade of thugs and lowlifes to grace the Amarillo College campus. This stuff could go on and on. I am getting sick to my stomach thinking about it. So, Dave Bliss is part of a grand fraternity. Too much money. Too much power. Baylor sold its soul to win in Big 12 men's basketball. That is why Dave Bliss would be the logical choice to follow Peter Rose as an inspirational speaker in Amarillo. If this be (fair & balanced) treason, make the most of it.
[x Sports Illustrated]
Baylor coach Dave Bliss's reliance on juco transfers and troubled castoffs helped cost him his job
By George Dohrmann
Dave Bliss was always cast as a reformer. While coaching basketball at four universities over 28 years, he was known for improving teams and trying to improve the fortunes of wayward players. Often when one of his athletes got into trouble, Bliss spoke as if the young man were a soul that had drifted away from his congregation. "All of the preaching may not inhibit the action," he said, "but that doesn't keep us from preaching."
At a press conference last week at Baylor it was Bliss, 59, who appeared to need guidance. Worn from months of turmoil, he resigned the day after the funeral of slain player Patrick Dennehy. Athletic director Tom Stanton also quit. Their departures came after a school investigation found that Bliss had been involved in "serious or major" NCAA rules violations (including improper financial aid payments to two players) and that athletic department officials hadn't taken action after learning of drug use by athletes.
"We've made mistakes," Bliss admitted only 11 days after he had declared that the Bears' program was clean, "but we own up to them from this point forth." The university imposed two years' probation on the program, but it would also be wise to reflect on why it hired Bliss, in 1999. There was abundant evidence that he ran his teams more like Jerry Tarkanian than like the man who gave him his first college coaching job, Bob Knight.
At Oklahoma ('75-80), SMU ('80-88) and New Mexico ('88-99), Bliss won by stocking his rosters with junior college transfers and players who had left four-year schools. At New Mexico, where he achieved his greatest success (246 victories and seven NCAA tournament appearances), Bliss coached about two dozen transfers. Some of those players, and others he recruited, caused the school embarrassment -- as did Bliss himself.
In 1994 after Lobos star Charles Smith and teammate Cornelius Ausborne were caught stealing $2,500 in property from a dorm, Bliss condoned a deal under which the players made restitution and campus police did not forward felony charges to the D.A.'s office. Only after the incident was reported and Bliss was criticized in the press did he suspend the players -- for one game.
In 1998 another Lobo, Clayton Shields, was detained by police after a gun belonging to a companion was fired in the air from a car they were riding in while Shields entertained a high school recruit. Shields was not charged with a crime, and Bliss did not suspend him. "If every basketball player ... that had a gun gave up his eligibility, we'd have fewer players," Bliss told TheAlbuquerque Tribune.
The NCAA investigated allegations of violations involving New Mexico players during Bliss's tenure, but the probe stalled because some players refused to cooperate. And the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Bliss left SMU months after the NCAA uncovered evidence of major violations, including booster payments to a player. (Bliss could not be reached for comment.)
Baylor, the nation's largest Baptist university, nearly doubled Bliss's salary (to a reported $600,000) to lure him to Waco, hoping he could turn around a team that had just gone 6-24 (0-16 in the Big 12). His five recruiting classes included 21 transfers, among them Dennehy (who had been kicked off the New Mexico team) and Carlton Dotson, who has been charged with Dennehy's murder. A few of the players Bliss brought to Waco carried guns, and marijuana use on the team was said to be rampant.
That Bliss could not turn Baylor into a winner (his record was 61-57 overall, 19-45 in the Big 12) underscores the school's athletic plight. University officials say they are committed to the conference, but this scandal -- the third at Baylor since 1986 to result in sanctions -- leaves them facing a hard question: At what point does the effort to succeed in big-time athletics derail the school's stated mission to promote "spiritual maturity, strength of character and moral virtue"?
Copyright © 2003 Sports Illustrated
Another chum — Kevin in Lubbock — sent along the most recent Rick Reilly column in Sports Illustrated: "All or Nothing for Kobe." Bryant unwittingly got involved in a sex offense case in the state (CO) where the sex-offense statutes are the harshest in the USA. In the words of a Denver trial attorney: There's no worse place to commit a sex crime. If Bryant is convicted, his life will become a living hell. There is no country club prison (as the rightwing is wont to proclaim) for sex offenders in Colorado. As Rick Reilly concludes, "If [I were Kobe]..., I'd stop buying $4 million diamond rings and start buying more $4 million lawyers."
I wonder if Kobe Bryant will be available to keynote the fund raiser for the youth basketball program in Amarillo? We're on a roll here. First, Pete Rose, then Kobe Bryant. If this be (fair & balanced) treason, make the most of it.
The Amarillo YMCA hit rock bottom in choosing Pete Rose as the fund raising lure for the youth baseball program. Why not John Poindexter? Why not Oliver North? Why not G. Gordon Liddy? Or, in a year or two: Kobe Bryant? Or, Dave Bliss? There is no end to the list of role models for Amarillo's youth. However, Pete Rose is special. He is a thug. He is a reprobate. He is a gambling addict. He is a liar. He bet on baseball. He bet on the Cincinnati Reds while he was the manager of that team. He trafficked in steroids. He continues to consort with known gamblers. When Joe (Shoeless Joe) Jackson — greater player than Pete Rose — is denied a place in baseball's Hall of Fame, let Pete Rose wander the countryside pleading his case. To avoid prosecution, Rose accepted lifetime banishment from Major League Baseball. Note: Rose accepted the penalty handed down by A. Bartlet Giamatti — Commissioner of Baseball (after retiring as the president of Yale University). And, the Amarillo YMCA wonders why only 100 Amarilloans were willing to cough up $100 to see this poor speciman of humanity? I am proud of Amarillo! I didn't think there was that much character left. I am certain that the misguided sponsors thought that gazillions would turn out to hear Pete Rose moan about the injustice done him. The shame is that the fools at the YMCA coughed up $25,000 to bring this bum to Amarillo. If only Amarilloans had as much sense about W. If this be (fair & balanced) treason, make the most of it.
[x Amarillo Globe-News]
Poor turnout for Rose event disappoints sponsors
By John Kaltefleiter
When 8 p.m. came, Kirk Crutcher's optimism turned to disappointment.
Crutcher, who was the point man for the YMCA's first annual All-Star Sports Festival fund-raiser, featuring Pete Rose as its special guest, was left searching for answers following the low turnout for Saturday night's event in the Civic Center Coliseum.
He wasn't the only one.
Fewer than 100 people - mostly YMCA volunteers - were in attendance for the two-hour spectacle that featured a Rose autograph session, two auctions and a 45-minute question-and-answer session.
"I don't know if I can attribute that to any one thing," said Crutcher, who confirmed that the YMCA paid Rose $25,000 for his appearance. "The Polk Street Block Party was going on (Saturday night), and the Dillas were in town. Like any event, we'll get all the numbers next week, evaluate them and go from there. We would like to make this an annual event."
Doug Scheve, who brought his young son Bret to Saturday night's proceedings, also was surprised by the poor attendance.
"When we were standing and waiting to get in, I looked at Bret and said, 'Where's everybody at?'," said Scheve, an avid Kansas City Royals fan who named his son after Bret Saberhagen and George Brett. "I would've expected a lot more people here than this."
Scheve said he has no regrets about bringing his son to meet Rose, getting an autograph and posing for a photo with the all-time hits leader.
"The only thing I have against Pete Rose is that his Phillies beat Kansas City in the (1980) World Series," quipped Scheve. "I don't consider him controversial, myself. There's a lot of things hanging around him, but to me he's the greatest player to play the game. With the opportunity to see him, I wasn't about to pass it up, especially for my son."
Scheve thinks Rose should be reinstated by Major League Baseball and elected to the Hall of Fame.
"It's a travesty that he's not," Scheve said. "There's guys in there now that have done much worse than he did. From a publicity standpoint, I don't see how they can't reinstate him. Sooner or later the pressure to do that is going to be too much."
Phyllis Payne, manager of Amarillo's Ambassador Hotel, among 15 primary sponsors of the event, said she was drawn to meet Rose because of his legendary status. She also was amazed at the small crowd.
"I'm a sports fan, and Pete Rose is such a legend," Payne said. "With all the controversy, it makes him even more alluring. His drive and the way he played with so much passion, I enjoyed that.
"He's just like many other sports figures," she said. "We always want to think that they're icons and indestructible and larger than life. But the fact is that they're human just like all of us. He's shown us that he's human. That's one of the reasons that I appreciate him. There's some sympathy there."
Actually, Rose had some trouble getting here. A private plane was sent from Amarillo to pick him up in Los Angeles, but the aircraft developed mechanical problems and was forced to land in Albuquerque, N.M. Rose then boarded a commercial flight and was eight minutes late to Saturday afternoon's scheduled news conference at Amarillo National Dilla Villa.
Rose fielded questions from a crowd of about 200 at the Villa, then conducted an hour-long skills clinic for about 60 area children.
Copyright © 2003 The Amarillo Globe-News Online
All right, I confess. I played hooky from the General Ass. at Amarillo College this a.m. I just couldn't bear the thought of listening to the blah, blah blah that I have heard for the last 30+ years. We are losing (?) one president from Bossa Nova University and gaining another (very likely). Is Amarillo College lucky, or what? Two presidents from the same diploma mill? Think of the odds. Bossa Nova ought to confer a doctorate, honoris causa on W. That would be the icing on the cake! Better news, though. One of my loyal readers (I think there are two of them.) — Tom Terrific — in Madison, WI shared an e-mail message he sent to a chum (in WI?) extolling this Blog. Thanks a bunch, Tom. I dunno about the sobriquet that I was a liberal ranter and raver. I prefer to think of myself as fair & balanced. I am a liberal on some matters and a conservative on others. However, I HATE ignorance. So, you know where I stand on W. Another chum — the Nedster — in Willoughby, OH sent along the hard copy of the attached piece from the Wall Street Journal. I hate to say it, but the Nedster must be a subscriber to the WSJ. Now, how could a liberal exchange e-mail jibes with a WSJ-subscriber from OH? Anyway, I feared that Dave Bliss was a Buckeye. No such misfortune. So, OH thus far has given us a Blackout that showed Osama bin Lauden where to hit us next. OH has given us Maurice Clarett (Dave Bliss might have recruited him for Baylor if things had worked out.) and his oral exams in African-American history at Ohio State University. And OH, has given us the sage of Willoughby: the Nedster. The Blog would seem to be the next Big Thing. I love the bit about the 6'7" Iowan who has his photo Blogged with the 9 Dwarves (I thought there were 7.) who are campaigning in Iowa for the Democrat primary vote in the Hawkeye State. This piece is an echo of Maureen Dowd's piece on the mundane and picayune Blogs of the 9 Dwarves. Nothing mundane or picayune here, just fair & balanced ranting and raving. If this be treason, make the most of it.
[x OpinionJournal.com]
CAMPAIGN 2004
Politicians Go Online
They can run, but can they blog?
BY JAMES TARANTO
Wednesday, August 6, 2003 12:01 a.m.
South Dakota no doubt has its charms, but imagine spending a whole month driving through the state, making sure to visit every last one of its 66 counties. Now imagine doing the same thing vicariously, and you begin to understand why Tom Daschle's new blog is likely to generate about as much traffic as--well, as a rural South Dakota highway.
The Senate minority leader is writing an online diary ("blog" is short for "Web log") during his annual trek through his home state this month. "My staff told me a while back about a blog," Mr. Daschle tells the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. "This new blog concept appealed to me." He is asking voters to tell him their concerns about health care, and filing online reports at daschle.senate.gov/travels_with_tom.htm.
He's not the only pol to discover the joys of blogging. Howard Dean, who's Internet-savvy enough to make Al Gore look like a Flat Earther, has made BlogforAmerica.com a centerpiece of his campaign. Dr. Dean himself posts only occasionally--his supporters write most of the entries--but he was more prolific when he showed up last month as a "guest blogger" filling in for a vacationing Stanford law professor. Gary Hart, erstwhile senator and presidential candidate, is also blogging (garyhartnews.com/hart/blog), and others are sure to follow.
But do politicians have what it takes to succeed in the cutthroat world of blogging? Not likely. The best political bloggers--Mickey Kaus (Kausfiles.com), Glenn Reynolds (InstaPundit.com) and Andrew Sullivan (AndrewSullivan.com)--all have a contrarian outlook and irreverent humor. Best of the Web Today, my own bloglike daily column on OpinionJournal.com, is filled with snarky references to such favorite targets as Our Friends the Saudis, former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, and Sen. John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam.
Blogging, in short, thrives on sarcasm. Politics doesn't. So it's hardly surprising that Dr. Dean's blog is earnest to the point of sanctimony, all we-can-make-a-difference and let's-build-a-better-America. Last week it featured one Erica Derr of Greensboro, N.C., who was so appalled to get a tax rebate that she donated it to the Dean campaign. "I could have spent this money on material things," she wrote. "What would those things mean 15 or 20 years from now when my daughter is paying for the debt we accrued?"
Stop, mom, this is embarrassing!
Then again, at least Bob Graham hasn't started blogging. Sen. Graham, one of the more eccentric candidates in the field, keeps a diary on paper in which he records the most mundane details of his life. ("Awake . . . Apply scalp medication . . . Kitchen brew coffee prepare and drink breakfast.") The effect is similar to that of The Dullest Blog in the World (www.wibsite.com/wiblog/dull), which features entries like this: "As I was sitting down I became aware that the temperature was neither too hot nor too cold. This being the case I made no adjustments to the temperature control on the central heating."
Still, give Mr. Daschle, Dr. Dean and Mr. Hart credit for having the guts to try something new. The same can't be said of Sen. Kerry, whose staff "blacklisted" Iowa blogger Kevin Schmidt at a late-July event. Mr. Schmidt runs a blog called NineDwarfs.com, and he hopes to collect photos of himself with each of the Democratic candidates; he has six so far. (The joke is that at 6-foot-7, he dwarfs them all.)
Mr. Schmidt writes that a Kerry staffer told him the campaign had distributed a "Wanted poster" with his photo on it the night before the event. Although he was permitted in and got to shake the senator's hand, staffers were "shadowing me just about everywhere I went" lest he take a shot at the senator with his camera. In lieu of the usual photo, Mr. Schmidt now has on his site a picture of Mr. Kerry's head superimposed on the cartoon body of un poulet.
Imagine that: a man who served valiantly in Vietnam but is cowed by a humble online diarist. Maybe we bloggers are more powerful than we know.
Mr. Taranto is editor of OpinionJournal.com.
Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
I am playing hooky from a required General Ass (the annual kickoff meeting from the fall term at Amarillo College: General Assembly). I think General Ass is more apt. All of our leaders get up and blah, blah, blah. This year, it will be a description of adversity. We're going to have to tighten our belts as never before. Blah, blah, blah. Instead, here is a tribute (?) from a student in the recently completed summer term.
Message no. 177
Sent by Teresa Schrock on Thursday, August 14, 2003 5:19pm
Oh, History 1302. I can't believe I am finally through.
No more Web CT, pet peeves, or the long glossary.
But oh, History 1302, I am not yet through with you.
From day one, I knew this class wouldn't be any fun.
Especially with the shared thought that students would one day kill him with a gun.
And as he asked us our majors, one by one, dreaded thoughts begun.
As the children began to moan,
"This is not grade 13!" he would nag.
And I personally wanted to put up my surrender flag.
"You're going to hell!" still echos in my dreams.
And my option to "not do a damn thing" will always be.
I will never forget how important Web CT will be
to the old geezer who teaches history 1302
By Teresa Schrock History 1302-4
The Nedster — Ohio's Native Son and Electrical Wizard — sent along a tip about the Wall Street Journal's defense of Al Franken (?)! The Nedster reported a 4-hour loss of power. It sounds as if the local electric utility was managed by the Cleveland Browns management. (The guys who defended the fans near-riot with beer bottle throwing over a controversial refereeing call against the Browns.) It has not been a good month for Ohio: blackout source, Ohio State football hijinks, and Dennis Kucinich's Blog. The only thing worse would be if Dave Bliss was an Ohio native. Perhaps Dave Bliss can get a job in Bush administration? Homeland Security? Well, I'm back from a Colorado sojourn and I am more fair & balanced than ever. If this be treason, make the most of it.
[x Wall Street Journal/OpinionJournal]
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Out Foxed
A lawsuit against Al Franken isn't very fair and balanced.
It's not easy siding with Al Franken. After all, the "Saturday Night Live" comic turned political commentator has always accorded this newspaper a prominent spot in his pantheon of villains, and we fully expect that honor to continue in his soon-to-be-released book. So it will likely come as a surprise to Mr. Franken that we think Fox is doing itself no favors by suing him for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
That's right. In papers filed with the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Fox News alleges that Mr. Franken's book--"Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right"--unlawfully appropriates the words "fair and balanced" (which Fox trademarked in 1997) as well as a photograph of "The O'Reilly Factor's" Bill O'Reilly on the cover, in a format similar to Mr. O'Reilly's own books. The stated worry behind Fox v. Franken is that the combination of the network's "signature slogan" plus Mr. O'Reilly's picture will confuse readers into believing that Fox has somehow associated itself with or endorsed the work.
It gets even better. The suit devotes considerable space to calling Mr. Franken names ("shrill," "unstable," "deranged") and making the case that his reputation as a political commentator "is not of the same caliber as the stellar reputations of FNC's on-air talent." Mr. Franken's efforts to bamboozle the unsuspecting apparently extend to appearing on the cover of his own book in a "conservative business suit" and a "patriotic red and blue striped tie."
Goodness knows that U.S. courts are capable of almost any mischief these days. Yet we have a hard time believing that this court is going to buy the argument that Mr. Franken's parody really will have people so confused they can't tell it from the Real McCoy. To the contrary, as countless blogs are now gleefully reporting, the Fox suit has given Mr. Franken the kind of publicity boost writers dream of, propelling his book to Amazon.com's No. 1 spot.
Now, it's true that Mr. Franken does seem to have a thing for Fox. He had a heated (and televised) confrontation with Mr. O'Reilly at a recent book fair in Los Angeles and before that an encounter with Alan Colmes of Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April. Sean Hannity once had to call security after Mr. Franken continued to pester him after a show. And if his books are any clue, the "vast right wing conspiracy" appears to have provided Mr. Franken with a lucrative new line of work.
Still, the First Amendment does not distinguish between the boorish and the brilliant, and even if Mr. Franken is all the things that the Fox suit accuses him of being, he remains as entitled as any other American to its protections. Fox may well insist on its day in court. But in so doing it risks leaving the public with a caricature of itself far more ridiculous than anything Mr. Franken ever could have come up with on his own.
Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
