CTNewsJunkie Op-Ed: Who Should Replace Ollie, Nobody

[zls44]

Susan and I probably agree on 95% of things and reading this article made me want to drown myself

 

[CL82]

It was an stunningly ill informed column. But I'm sure that Mr. Fluffy thought it was great.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

I'm a cat person and I love UConn. Don't drag us into this madness. The problem is her brain, not her love of cats.

 

[ctchamps]

This thread is probably dumber than the article . I didn't read the article. I won't read the article. I printed it out and put it into my cats litter box. They both proceeded to take dumps on it. That's about the only two s#hatz I care about the article.

 

[nadav]

I'm a cat person and I love UConn. Don't drag us into this madness. The problem is her brain, not her love of cats.

I’m not so sure, Loop. You’re suspect now.

 

[Ewekon]

"Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats."
I think she won an award for Creepiest Cat Person.
View attachment 29434

Who have her an award?

 

[uconnbill]

Susan was a man before and is a transgender female. I think that's how you say it.

She goes off the rails at times and this is one of them

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Susan was a man before and is a transgender female. I think that's how you say it.

She goes off the rails at times and this is one of them

I liked the part where you associated being transgender with mental illness. Fun stuff.

 

[uconnbill]

I liked the part where you associated being transgender with mental illness. Fun stuff.

No, I said she says things at times are off the rails. But keep living in your little world. So glad I don't live there.

 

[jibsey]

Freedom of speech is one thing but can this be X’ed or locked?

 

[Ottomatic]

I don't think this article was meant to be taken seriously (I hope not). I think she was just trying to make the point that college athletics (especially D1) is not a self sustaining activity. The problem is that I don't think she understands the value add to the economy and the educational system that D1 athletics provides to the State. Although I have to say that at this point I'm starting to question what the value add is to UConn being in the AAC. I'm waxing nostalgic for the good old Big East days...

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

No, I said she says things at times are off the rails. But keep living in your little world. So glad I don't live there.

So what on Earth does her gender have to do with it?

It's as if you said, "She likes to sail boats. Sometimes she goes off the rails."

and I'm like "wtf do boat owners have to do with this" and you're like 'THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID"

And you're worried about my brain?

 

[Deadrody]

I liked the part where you associated being transgender with mental illness. Fun stuff.

I'd take that up with the psychiatry profession, not posters on the Boneyard.

 

[CardiacKemba]

This article killed modern journalism.

 

[CTPride]

Only accurate thing about this guys entire website is the junkie part. He has to be a junkie after writing that disaster of an article.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

This article killed modern journalism.

Whoa Nellie, that's a strong statement given the current declining state of journalism; especially in the States!

 

[UChusky916]

Please don't even bother clicking the article to drive traffic there. It's a clear troll job, not even worth the time/effort.

 

[crewbear742]

Typical "How dare athletics besmirch the sacred grounds of academia! It must be put in its place!" stuff. Except this time she can complain about money - which allows her to sound more credible.

Coaches get paid more than English Professors because it's a lot harder to find a good coach. Besides which, English Professors aren't all the valuable to a University in the first place. Doesn't matter how many awards they have. English Professors don't draw students. But a good athletic program will.

Like it or not, students rate the quality of a school by the quality of its athletic dept. A big time athletic dept equals a big time school. The athletic dept thus becomes something of a "front porch" for the universoty in its recruiting efforts.

Of course that will offend academics. But they will just have to live with it. Better to save money by cutting extraneous depts like "[insert identity group name] Studies" than cut athletics.

 

[zls44]

This article killed modern journalism.

This article is the day Trump became president

 

[80shusky]

So what on Earth does her gender have to do with it?

It's as if you said, "She likes to sail boats. Sometimes she goes off the rails."

and I'm like "wtf do boat owners have to do with this" and you're like 'THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID"

And you're worried about my brain?

If it was about sailing boats she'd sometimes be going off the sails. I'll just....yea....

 

[BlueDogs]

"Susan Bigelow is an award-winning columnist and the founder of CTLocalPolitics. She lives in Enfield with her wife and their cats."
I think she won an award for Creepiest Cat Person.
View attachment 29434

What a total loser at every level..

 

[ZachCT12]

she continues...

 

[champs99and04]

This individual is clearly uneducated on parts of the topic, but her perspective shouldn't be dismissed and if anything the over-the-top responses to the article validates her viewpoint that MAYBE some people distort the role of sports in society. I read posts here on a daily basis that are more lacking than this one, which is really just a reasonable premise lacking a well-rounded conclusion. The personal attacks are a bad look.

 

[cohenzone]

Thankfully, for her, there are 50 other states, the majority of which ALSO have state run universities with significant division I athletics. Have any of THEM attempted this idea, or even considered it ? I feel like the answer to that question is a resounding NO.

Maybe, just maybe, major college athletics has been a part of the "university experience" for a century or more. Maybe, if she looked into it a bit, she might find that the prestige of the UConn athletic programs actually PRE-DATED significant upgrades to the university and it's academic programs.

I mean, once you accept the premise that one of the goals of a state government is to further the education of the state's residents and others (which in itself is a mammoth expense) it's hard to make a cogent argument against D1 athletics, without making the same argument against all athletics, D3 or otherwise.

While I don’t agree with her conclusions for UConn, the U of Chicago which was an original B10 member, (but not a public university) dropped football for a few decades but did revive or start several sports at the D3 level. As good a university as exists.

At UConn, there is little doubt that the success of the basketball programs drew attention from a lot of applicants outside of CT, a large % with credentials above the average applicant and are still a big part of the schools improved academic reputation. It’s been a plus and helped bring in more grant money. The downside for state residents is it’s not all a plus. The % of non residents is about 30% up from what used to be typically about 10%. Obviously some state kids who might have gotten into UConn several years ago won’t now and are forced into one of the less prestigious state schools, or maybe financially worse, enter as non-residents at non CT state schools or much more expensive private schools.

One thing I think is true, is that when UConn was not so big time in the Yankee Conference, a lot of the rivalries were much more interesting than what we have now but certainly not at the Big East level The Yancon programs were probably much less expensive to run. Of course Title IX also has had an impact, which maybe combined with other factors, causing some schools to eliminate some sports. The point is, that school spirit was at least where it is now despite the main rivals being URI and UMass with regular beat downs of the northern state universities. I’m not sure that big time sports necessarily translates to more school spirit, but in UConns case definitely positively impacted academics.

 

[Travelman6]

she continues...

Well I mean, health care in the states.... Well, medical tourism is a thing in the US. Won't fault her for that. It is lacking to say the least.