The Richmond Situation is Getting Catty

You didn't actually think that this whole Richmond-adds-lacrosse-by-burying-soccer-and-track thing was going to end peacefully, right? If so, your body probably runs on sunshine and rainbows and, I hate to tell you this, you're probably going to be gunned down by a madman with a nail gun at some point in your life. Sorry.

In a piece contributed to The Collegian, Richmond University's student newspaper, a student decided to wade into the murky water surrounding the athletic department's decision to employ "Cut and Add" in order to bring men's varsity lacrosse into the fold. Instead of just testing the water with his toe, though, the student detonated an atomic bomb in the middle of the lake to make sure that the temperature was hot. The approach? "Daddy gets what Daddy wants," and it's just as petulant as you'd think:

The “Daddy Story” takes place in the Richmond “bubble,” an imaginary world where leaders are exempt from accountability and dollars trump the truth. Enjoy!

The Daddy Story: Once upon a time, The Daddy (a major donor, Robins School alumnus and trustee) secretly fundraised $3 million in order to bring lacrosse to the University of Richmond. He knew it would result in the termination of men’s soccer and track.

The Daddy’s son plays high school lacrosse and is slated to attend Richmond next year. Surprise!

A reliable source suggests that the primary reason why the university president expedited the decision to add lacrosse was that The Daddy pledged to also fund a new campus visitor center.

Look: I don't like how Richmond went about its business to add men's lacrosse, not only because it pulled opportunities away from other student athletes, but because the precedent it sets should lacrosse not generate the kind of permenance that school officials believe it will have at this point. However, the approach in this piece -- not in humor, but in bile -- is a blunderbuss of eyerolling bitterness. I said and wrote a lot of things I regret when I was in college over a decade ago, and I'm sure that this contributor is going to look back on this and regret it some day as well. Or not. I guess it doesn't really matter.

Despite this bullet-through-face approach to capturing the issue, the overall takeaway here is that folks at Richmond still aren't taking the "Cut and Add" decision lightly. I'm sure that Dan Chemotti is going to have plenty of support when the Spiders take the varsity field next season, but there is still a tidal wave of poop hovering over Richmond right now.