More on new AFA restrictions
July 8th, 2009, 2:04 pm · 1 Comment · posted by david ramsey
Let’s be more specific about the pitfalls of overly restricting student-athletes.
It’s Sept. 28, 2004, and Navy football coach Paul Johnson is engaged in a propaganda campaign against the Air Force Academy.
He tells the Washington Post that when AFA quarterback Shaun Carney visited Navy, he rudely dismissed the Midshipmen’s football future.
“He told me he didn’t think we could beat Air Force,” Johnson said. “He told the same thing to our players.”
True?
I don’t know Carney well, but I know him well enough to state he almost certainly did not speak the words attributed to him by Johnson.
Next day - the day before Navy was to meet AFA at Falcon Stadium - Johnson repeats the words to me in a phone conversation from his Colorado Springs hotel room.
I call AFA to request a brief - two-or-three minute - phone conversation with Carney.
No. Carney doesn’t talk on Wednesdays. No exceptions.
Carney doesn’t get the chance to respond to Johnson’s recollections. Johnson wins the propaganda campaign. Navy fans - and Navy writers - still consider Johnson’s story the gospel truth.
AFA’s policy didn’t serve Carney. AFA’s policy did, however, serve Paul Johnson.
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Dave,
Your column on DU lacrosse - and lacrosse in general lacks depth and facts.
Your assertion that lacrosse is an elitist sport is hogwash. At the college level the sport may be played at many fine eastern schools, but it is played at the club level at far more schools than make up the NCAA Division 1 roster of teams. In fact, CSU has won the collegiate club championship on at least one occasion. There are club teams all over the western US and youth lacrosse is booming as well.
You’ve covered the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four…….congratulations. But have you attended any of the large tournements and camps held throughout Colorado each year? The parking lots and sidelines are hardly filled with Buff’’s, Skip’s, and Scooter’s or Benzes and BMW’s. There are working people driving GM cars who recognize that kids love playing this simple game (it really isn’t complex at all…..throw, catch, stay on-sides, check, body check, try to get ball into net, score more goals than other team, win).
And there are some very good youth players, teams, and coaches in this state……trust me on this one! Go see some of this growing lacrosse activity rather than relating DU’s efforts to the heretofore elite eastern programs. DU (no offense to Air Force) is far more likely to develop a top-tier program…….and much sooner.
So, why would you use your column to downgrade a sport you apparently know very little about? Stick to bashing DU when hockey season starts.