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Today's
Stories
December
2, 2004
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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December 2, 2004
Something Stinks
in South Bend
The
Firing of Tyrone Willingham
By
MICHAEL DONNELLY
First off, let me say that I attended
Michigan State and I regularly root for the Spartans and the
Michigan Wolverines. I can barely stand Notre Dame. They dodged
scheduling Michigan for 38 years. They famously "went for
the tie" against the Spartans in 1966's "Game of the
Century" and were rewarded with a national title. The only
time I root for Notre Dame is when they play Southern Cal. There's
a lot to not like. They have their own exclusive TV deal. There's
even a special BCS Notre Dame clause if ND wins ten games,
they're assured of a BCS berth. Tell that to Utah!
Maybe it's because Monsignor
Sheridan gave me grief for passing on the Irish and heading off
to East Lansing instead. He lamented, "We always have problems
when you boys go to secular universities. We seem to lose you."
On that front, he was correct. (Of course, he also asked me when
I was drafted and applied for Conscientious Objector status,
"Don't you know we're over there in Vietnam defending the
Catholics?")
Now, I really can't
stand the Irish. Something is very wrong when a coach wins 60+
percentage of games (65-41-1 overall; 21 15 at Notre Dame)
and while he's coach players graduate at a 77 percent rate (and
at an 85% rate at his previous post at Stanford, both schools
hardly academic lightweights) and that's not good enough!
Even though he was a Spartan,
I never liked Tyrone Willingham that much. I admired that he
walked on in football as a 5'7", 139 pounder. I couldn't
believe it when he won three of four games he started at quarterback
his freshman year. He also walked on in baseball and was All-Big
Ten. He earned three letters in each sport. But, he always seemed
cold and humorless to me. I played for coaches (very few, thankfully)
like that and it was awful as a player. His players however,
stand by him and admittedly I don't know how he is to play for.
At any rate, there's no way
he deserved to be fired. Before a bowl game, at that! In over
60 years, no Notre Dame coach has had a shorter tenure. ND even
kept the not-ready-for-prime-time Gary Faust for four years.
Somehow ND went from doing the right thing and dismissing George
O'Leary, their first choice three years ago for falsifying his
academic resume. They even got a better coach as a reward. And
you cannot tell me that if O'Leary had rung up Willingham's record
the last three years, that he would be out of the job. Therein
lays the rub.
Reverse Affirmative
Action?
Now some have said that it
is PC to raise the race issue here. But, how can it not be raised?
In ALL of Division 1-A football's 117 teams, there are now just
two African-American head coaches and not many assistant coaches.
According to the NCAA, just over 51% of all the Division 1-A
football players are African-American. Are you telling me that
just two blacks are good enough to coach when half the players
good enough to play are black? That's a statistical impossibility.
The current season began with
but five African-American coaches. Now, with Tony Samuel's firing
at New Mexico State, Fitz Hill resigning from San Jose State
and Willingham's firing, only Karl Dorrell at UCLA, and Sylvester
Croom at Mississippi State remain. That's deplorable.
Sports and
Character
I grew up in Flint. I played
on integrated teams as a teen. Like John Wooden I believe that
sports don't teach character so much as they reveal it. Like
my very athletic father, a longtime community college baseball
coach and president, I believe that sports are an antidote to
racism. I am a much better person because of my playing alongside
of and having friendships with black teammates. After all, on
a level playing field, talent trumps skin color anytime. And,
for me as an athlete, I wanted to play with good players and
good guys. The bonus was that I found out for certain that we're
all alike where it really matters. Monsignor Sheridan and his
legion of nuns may have taught us that all the time, but it was
the actual experience that verified it.
But this isn't about me. I
only bring up this history to show why I think I have a balanced
view on this. And it certainly isn't "white guilt"
that makes me outraged about Willingham's firing. (Nor do I think
it was "white guilt" that caused Michigan State to
keep Bobby Williams around as head coach longer than they probably
should have.) I would find Willingham's ouster completely unfair
no matter who it was with that record. I similarly feel Earl
Bruce was unfairly dumped by the hated Buckeyes back in 1987.
When one compares the mob mentality
of Notre Dame students and alums who were vicious in their Fire
Willingham efforts and the moral cowardice of the administration
with the players' firsthand reports of how much they liked playing
for Willingham and their own gracious taking blame for painful
losses, it's apparent who has character here and who is lacking.
Lots of coaches do get fired
for poor records. Just this week, we saw Gerry DiNardo of Indiana
(now there's a football powerhouse) get fired after going 8-27
over three years. The same school endured years of Bobby Knight's
antics. But, then again, Knight was a winner -- just like Ohio
State endured Woody Hayes' tantrums for years.
Gary Crowton was ousted at
BYU after going 14 21 the past three years after a first
season where he won 12 games.
And, yes white coaches like
Bruce still get the shaft. Just look at what's happened at Ole
Miss, where David Cutliffe was fired after going 3 5 in
the SEC this year, losing four games by a total of 19 points.
Appears one has to produce an Eli Manning every season to satisfy
Rebel fans.
It Is
broke. So, fix it.
Something has to change here.
I'm talking changing from the focus on National Titles and big
money, as Michigan's levelheaded, excellent coach Lloyd Carr
consistently points out. The huge coaching salaries, and big
money all around, is an affront, in and of itself. The mockery
it makes of "student-athlete," exemplified by the Maurice
Clarett debacle at Ohio State, is very sad, if not hopelessly
corrupt.
And it had to be tough for
a guy like Carr to see all the abuse heaped by Wolverine "fans"
on his players, like 2001 - 2003 quarterback John Navarre, Michigan's
all-time leading passer who merely passed for over 9200 yards
and 72 touchdown, leading Michigan to a 28-10 record as a starter
with one title and two second place finishes in one of the toughest
conferences. Somehow that wasn't good enough for the Michigan
fans! Alas, no National Title. (I was at last year's UM/Oregon
game and at half-time was amazed at all the Michigan fans slamming
Navarre. Michigan lost a game they probably should have won.
So what? It's hard to beat the Ducks at Autzen Stadium, as anyone
will tell you.)
This points to the one race-neutral
part of it all. Rumor has it that Carr is sick of it all and
may retire. Some think that ND's move was a preemptive strike
in the efforts to woo Urban Meyer away from Utah, given rival
Michigan might also join the hunt. Meyer has a specific no buy-out
clause in his contract should he go to ND, Michigan or Ohio State.
Given this out-of-control belief in Meyer as savior, only an
Ara Parseghian might have avoided the ax.
One good thing recently? The
grace shown Joe Paterno by Penn Sate -- a coach I would have
loved to have played for. Perhaps it marks the passing of more
than one era. I'm not asking for some sort of Norman Rockwell
myth. Just a little fair play and decency.
And, oh yeah, I'm also talking
Affirmative Action. Just as the NCAA rightly kept publishing
Student Body and Athlete Graduation Rates despite the Department
of Education calling for a ban, the NCAA must show the same initiative
and courage and push a program designed to graduate more African-American
head and assistant coaches and coaches from other ethnic groups,
as well.
I'm not saying it has to perfectly reflect the ethnic make-up
of the players or even the entire student body, but 2 out of
117 is a record that should get anyone's attention.
Go Trojans!
MICHAEL DONNELLY played the "Big Three" sports
in high school and Cross Country and Basketball in community
college. A number of his superior teammates and opponents went
on to play Division 1-A ball. He can be reached at: pahtoo@aol.com
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|