Any Colorado grads and/or residents care to share their insights?

[Paragon]

I'm referring, of course, to the scandal(s) surrounding Gary Barnett and the University of Colorado. Would be nice to get some perspective from people who are/were there.

I was living in Chicago when Barnett was at Northwestern, and the guy was practically deified when they were competitive in the Big Ten. To hear his post-accusation comments about his female place kicker...I was surprised and disgusted -- he must've really got the soft touch from the Illinois sports media.

[SheilaT]

1. We lived in Boulder

in the late 80s, and at the time many football players were accused of crimes such as rape. It was something of a standing joke about recruiting from jails, or bailing out players right before a game.

It's been my observation over the years that athletes of the kind who play on big-name college teams often get away with behavior that is not tolerated elsewhere. They're often given much of a free ride academically starting very young. Brushes with the law for any reason are covered up, and the young man in question given no more than a slap on the wrist for criminal behavior.

Recruiting scandals have been constant in college sports for a century, at least. Winning coaches are often deified. Colleges and universities too often forget that their main mission is education. Personally, I have nothing but contempt for that attitude, and will not send my sons to schools like that. Oddly enough, I think college is about getting an education, not partying or playing sports. And worse yet, the player-athletes are often cheated of an education, and very few of them will play professionally, so they lose all around.