A total disconnect
Fig Jam
Sometimes I want to talk about serious stuff. Not usually, but sometimes. This is one of those times.
On June 5, 2008, University of Washington head football coach Tyrone Willingham skipped a scheduled alumni golf function to attend a charity golf tournament for wounded Marines. Apparently this is controversial. Let me preface the rest of this by saying it is not a condemnation on “crazy” UW alumni and boosters. I believe this would be the case at any University where fans are unhappy with their coach. However, UW just happens to be the University where this is happening.
The thread on containing a link to the story is here. (may need to be a scout.com member to view).
The fascinating controversy that has erupted over Willingham’s attendance at the Marine golf tournament is whether or not it constitutes a deriliction of his duties as the head football coach at Washington. The argument is, because Willingham has not fared particularly well at Washington over the past 3 seasons, he does not have the luxury of leaving his post and skipping alumni functions, even if for a good cause.
My first impression of this controversy: it is a excellent illustration of the disconnect of many Americans between their everyday lives and the Iraq war. Let’s face it, most of us go about our daily lives as if the Iraq war was not taking place. The military and their families are bearing the brunt of this conflict. This is true to such an extent, that some are conflicted and willing to weigh the importance of college football against those who are injured serving the country (I am not trying to couch that as an indictment of their line of thought).
For that reason, a relatively intelligent college graduate can objectively look at this situation and decide that Willingham’s commitment to the Marine Charity is actually a bad thing. Again, not because supporting the troops is bad, but because sometimes occupational duties should come first.
One fan writes, “That would be awesome if it didn’t conflict with the coaches tour to benefit the wounded football program.” Another writes, “There are other ways to support the troops. But he has yet to show a commitment to supporting the fans who support him.” There are also UW alumni who disagree with this and argue that supporting the troops should always win out. The two sides argue back and forth. A dawgman moderator writes that what the thread illustrates is, “There’s a lot of pissed off people out there. I hope somebody’s taking note of it.” (note: I interpret this as neither agreeing or disagreeing with either side. More of a very thinly veiled shot at the athletic department/ UW President).
In my opinion, when the United States is actively involved in a military conflict, college football should not even be in the conversation. However, there is a sufficient divide between the military and those involved in this conflict and the everyday American who is going about their daily life, that many people do not agree with me. They would probably say that supporting the troops is important yes, but not that important. Not important enough to miss work to play golf. Again from the thread, “I would have liked to go to our Memorial Day picnic and visit the cemetary with the family but I had to work all three days.”
This person is probably right. If they asked for a day off to “support the troops” it would not go well. There would not be an understanding. I wonder why that is. During WWII Joe DiMaggio left baseball to join the military and serve in combat. So did Ted Williams. Two icons, two of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game, actually stopped playing it professionally in order to serve their country. Because the country was so involved in the war, literally every man woman and child effected to some extent, I imagine this was totally without controversy. Today that is not true.
Today, a head football coach at a state run institution takes off a day to appear in a golf tournament to support wounded troops and it is a controversy. Oh yeah - a day off in June. He wasn’t missing practice for this. Golf is certainly more pleasant than combat, about that I won’t argue, but I think the idea behind Willingham’s appearance was a pure one. In the end, his contribution was positive for some wounded veterans and thus personally, I am willing to overlook the golfing aspect. The concept was to give back to those who have given much already.
Further, it is good publicity for the University and a follow up to trips that some coaches such as Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis and Georgia’s Mark Reicht have recently made to Iraq to support those currently serving over there. Notre Dame had a terrible season last year and Georgia is favored to win the national championship this coming season. Are their fans upset by these trips? I wonder. Some probably were. Not sure if they aired it publicly, but they probably were a little miffed that their coaches would dare take any time away from the all-important pursuit of pigskin immortality.
I also wonder what the effect of the ridiculous salaries coaches make is having on this debate. If Willingham made 100k a year instead of well over a million would this be a problem? Probably not. Doesn’t seem fair to me that he is beyond rich for the coaching performance he has given Washington thus far. UW was winning a lot of games at halftime this season and then got thoroughly outcoached in the second half resulting in a loss. I’ve noticed that.
However, I digress. The focus of this piece is my fascination with the fact that supporting our military in a time of combat can somehow create a controversy, and exploring why or how that is. Who or what is driving this? Thoughts?
June 11th, 2008 at 11:10 am
To answer your question: Crazy people.
The vast majority of Husky fans are normal people. Then you have this tiny minority of people who take Husky football waaaaay too seriously.
Like, take that whole emails to Turner controversy. About 100 people emailed him, threatening to cancel season tickets if Willingham wasn’t fired.
Consider that that’s 100 out of about 50,000 season ticket holders, and you’re talking about a tiny, tiny minority. Somehow it gets all blown out of proportion because they are so vocal, and because of the message boards or whatever.
June 11th, 2008 at 11:53 am
I tend to agree. There is a small portion of the alumni base that actually hates UW I’ve concluded. They are batshit crazy and have lost so much perspective that they would prefer UW loses so they will be proven correct on all their assertions regarding Willingham. They have made Dawgman unbearable.
That being said… I never thought that attending a function for wounded vets would create even the slightest controversy. But it has.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I’m done with dawgman. Honestly the best discussions and sources of news are on blogs like this and also Condotta’s from the times. He gets everything first.
June 11th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
That said the emails to turner I think were good because they landed us on the front page of espn.com
It showed that we are not a weak and uncaring fanbase, who had won one national title and wanted another. Maybe not the next Alabama crazy, but fans who care more than that of schools like Vanderbilt, Boston College, and Cal-Berkeley.
Perhaps it was overboard but it showed that yes, we do care about our team.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I think it is a good omen, if you are a liberal supporting Barack Obama. Nowadays, engaging in some activity to support Marines wounded while fighting “The War on Terror” when you could be playing golf with a bunch of rich alumni (who are not even your employer, technically) is not only a bad decision, but shows you don’t care about your job…as a football coach…at a university where they have alumni events all the time (but evidently not fancy golf functions).
But, five/six years ago, the Dixie Chicks are hammered for basically saying the President sucks, something the majority of Congress said throughout the ’90s. What, did you say there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? You are not supporting the troops. You are un-Patriotic.
If you haven’t got my drift, I think it is asinine that Willingham is catching shit for this. It is a complete product of the situation. Pete Carroll would be nominated for Man of the Year if it was him playing in North Carolina instead. Which is the point. Willingham is not winning enough football games. Regardless of what it is he does, whether it be bring stability and toughness to a program compromised and turned soft by the two coaches before him, or raising money for some kid who is missing half his skull due to a road side bomb in Basra, the bottom line for some people, who always seem to be the loudest, is winning games.
So piss off wounded veterans, I want to play golf with the coach I’ve constantly criticized for the past two seasons on crap message boards. Actually, I probably couldn’t have afforded to attend.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
The same alums probably would have ripped him at the alumni tournament for something. Maybe for being at a golf tournament instead of working. I’m glad we have die hard fans, but I fucking hate out of control boosterism.
June 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Not to be outdone, LSU’s fans (whose sports teams are doing just fine) are advocating for the re-institution of slavery… which is an interesting platform.
http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=6024
June 11th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Actually they weren’t. That sign was actually in reference to a smart-ass comment made by the UC-Irvine coach that LSU fans were still fighting the Civil War. LSU fans gave him shit for it, and when they won their series 2-1, they held up the sign briefly to make more fun of him.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/lsu/19627859.html
Slightly bad taste? Sure, but when put in context it’s no worse than anything we’ve put on this site.
OK, back to your regularly scheduled south-hating…
June 11th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
In the south we eat chicken sandwiches like this (eats chicken sandwich).
In the north you eat chicken sandwiches like this, “Oooh, this sauce is too hot it hurts my pussy”
June 11th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Great article FJ. I hope that TW is able to win early this year, because if he can’t, I expect things will get real ugly for Husky football real fast. People will be trampled attempting to escape the sinking ship. I don’t want this to happen mind you, but it is what I prophecies. I’m all about supporting the military, and it doesn’t hurt to work on your golf game - especially when you may be playing a great deal in the near future. Anyway, speaking of supporting the troops, the Sonics dance team was here on base yesterday - I was to busy to confront them, so I sent my scouts [they didn't report anything except that the chicks were 'shorter' and 'not as hot' as anticpated]- I suspect that it was an all Oklahoma crew. Maybe the H can confirm my hunch.
Also that Daniel clown is back on the message board; ya know the guy who fails to grasp some components of a blog post, but nevertheless finds the whole idea interesting? How do you get rid of him?
June 12th, 2008 at 10:35 am
This issue is not going away. There is a new posting on Dawgman about it. This time attacking a reporter, Molly Yanity, for calling out this debate. The attacks on her continue for a while (some fairly nasty namecalling), and then the issue goes right back to the debate.
Some people are just flat out convinced that because it caused Ty to miss a “work function” that the Charity Golf Tournament was a bad idea for him. Even when posters who represent that they were former marines say that in their opinion it was a good thing, the tide is not turned.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Dude, like I said, the man’s on the scaffold. None of this will go away until he delivers. It sucks that we open at Oregon; nothing would irk the so called ‘extremist’ faction of Husky alumni more than a first game loss to the Ducks. Ty or Anti-Ty? As for myself, I’m like Cicero before Pharsalus trying to decide which camp to join; and while I think Willingham’s actions in this case were commendable, the truth of the matter is that this probably isn’t helping his cause.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I’m not sure if anything would help his cause at this point. People have already developed their opinions of W based on his record on the field, and unfortunately for Ty, the expectations are unrealistically high for him at this point. Those same people would jump on his bandwagon after one good season. The American public is impatient, and want immediate results. They also quickly forget quickly (see 9/11).
There is nothing wrong with his actions, and I find it especially sad that people would attack his support of the troops. At the same time, I’m really not surprised. It is Seattle, after all.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Well said Hose.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
I’m basing this assumption on very little, but I feel like the fire in this particular case is being fueled by the younger generation of Husky fans… who fucking suck. These fans provide no home field/court advantage what-so-ever. If they even show up to home games, they cheer for shit and do nothing to rally the 80-year-old millionaire boosters. They just sit there and wait for us to Coug every game, so they have something to bitch about. Ty has made many screw-ups over the years (ie abandoning the Beefense against WSU and Hawaii), but this was not one of them. Young fans and Dawgman suck.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I thought this was a scoccer blog.
This is actually a fairly simple analysis, which doesn’t even involve the current war.
Which does more to enhance the character and reputation of the UW and its football program, playing golf with some alums in B’ham or playing in the Marine Celebrity Classic?
If you want to have a big-time program, you have to play the part. Alternatively, you can continue to keep a few alums happy by using Bellevue High School as your primary feeder program, in which case we will beat the Cougars once every three years.
Frankly, the more distance we can put betwen the atheltic department and the donors, the better opportuniy we will have for success in all UW sports.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:36 am
now… c’mon Beef’s Dad. We have to offer “fair and balanced” coverage of all sports. Your hatred of soccer is unwarranted.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:10 am
The beef’s “leave for 5 or 6 years and hope the team is better when I get back” approach is appearing wiser by the day
June 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
No, my hatred of soccer is warranted. However, it may well be that my continued display of that hatred on this blog is what is unwarranted.
June 13th, 2008 at 11:24 am
You are free to display your displeasure with soccer in any manner you see fit.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Who had Tim Russert in the pool?
June 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
This disconnect seems to be readily apparent across the US as well, and not just for college football. I’m sure any of you who watched the NFL Draft this year heard the stories about Caleb Campbell from West Point. How could you not? They kept going on and on about his “plight” where he would have to serve his 5 years if he didn’t get drafted. Well, he was drafted, so in a similar situation to David Robinson, he will serve in a recruiting role while he plays professional football.
Throughout that whole story, there was never any discussion about public sentiment, whether or not he should be allowed to go pro. Well, a story about a kid from the Naval Academy surfaced this week, and you can find the story at this website: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Navy-nixes-midshipman-s-Major-League-aspirations?urn=mlb,87867
As the story mentions, the Naval Academy doesn’t have any sort of deal for guys to pursue their professional dream like West Point does. What was interesting (and shocking) to me was that when people voted on whether he should be able to pursue a career in the majors and forego his commitment, an astounding 53% (out of 21000) said yes.
I have some bias in this story, for those that know me. I’m not sure what everyone else thinks about this, but my opinion is that if you’ve attended a service academy (or taken an ROTC scholarship), you are contractually obligated to fulfill your commitment by serving. The public taxpayers (via the government) have paid an estimated $200,000+ for his education. What’s more, for every kid that gets into one of the service academies, there’s 10-12 kids who would have happily taken their place and gone on to serve.
Frankly, I don’t even know why West Point has the deal they do, except that they are unable to compete with Air Force and Navy otherwise (sorry Beef, but it’s true). The “recruiting” benefit they will garner from Campbell is negligible.
I actually had a roommate who was also a pitcher in the exact same situation, and he too was drafted in the 13th round. What happened to him? He had to serve, although he ended up flunking out of his pipeline training and getting out anyways. I think he’s in the minors somewhere.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/baseball/2003-03-06-navy-foster_x.htm
What does everyone else think of this?
June 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Just for the record that golf tournament he skipped was at my home course the Yakima Country Club. I think it’s pretty clear Ty didn’t come not because he cares about Marines or doesn’t care about alumni, but for the simple fact he HATES Mexicans.
Who among us can blame him for that?