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A Full Pint
BU wrestling program grapples with the realities of extinction
"The Richmond Method" is a powerful tool: It can create and extinguish in one swipe of the pen. The methodology shows a lack of ingenuity, but its results are defined. This is a dangerous precedent to set: While lacrosse has benefitted from this in the recent past, lacrosse could get whipsawed in the future if the game doesn't entrench itself. Zero-sum athletic department administration is a dangerous approach to creating a roster of athletic offerings (especially if done at the whim of athletic directors that don't anticipate long tenures at universities), and its full consequences are unwieldy and unclear.
Following the lead of fellow 2014 newbie Richmond, it appears as if Boston University went about putting lacrosse on the payroll by eliminating a sport that held a long history at the school -- wrestling:
Joe McGinley, a former wrestler at Bucknell whose son Bubba is a senior on the BU wrestling team, says that New Balance, a large supplier of lacrosse equipment, bought that sport’s way into the BU program.
“We believe the truth is that the board members arranged for New Balance to donate $3 million, that New Balance donated the $3 million, and [BU] brought in men’s lacrosse and they got rid of men’s wrestling,” said McGinley. “Why they couldn’t just be honest and say that is beyond me.”
The university denies that claim.
The residue of one Olympic-style sport being dropped in favor of another is bad in the overall, even if it is a net gain for lacrosse. These sports are lacrosse's peers (not football and basketball), and if those non-lacrosse sports are seen as fungible with lacrosse, the impact on lacrosse's long-term viability remains less than undeniably solid.
The Worst New Year's Eve Event in the History of History
I can think of no worse way to celebrate 2014's onset:
- You're in Times Square, the worst place on the planet to be for New Year's Eve. Shoulder to shoulder with people that should be jettisoned into space in a time capsule to be studied -- and then burned -- by aliens, Times Square remains the focal point for useless existence on the most anticipated night of the year.
- Not only are you in Times Square, you're in the worst restaurant in Times Square -- which is impressive given the functional toilets that sell mozzarella sticks made in an Easy Bake Oven for $75 -- helmed by arguably the worst currently-breathing human on the planet: Guy Fieri. It's not just that The New York Times exploded the best word-bomb on the dump last year; it's that Fieri has likely done absolutely nothing to warrant a better review over a year later. I hate Guy Fieri. I hate, hate, hate him. And anyone that goes to his landfill of a restaurant -- on purpose! -- on New Year's Eve deserves the tapeworms they are destined to get.
Flights
2013's Biggest Stories: 4 - Cornell's Offseason
You can make a decent argument that Cornell -- both its offseason and its regular season -- was the biggest story in lacrosse in 2013.
2013's Biggest Stories: 3 - Final Four Declines Again
I know what can solve this: Beer (probably).
Recruiting: 2017's to Hopkins, UVA; 2016's and 2015's to Syracuse, Notre Dame, Lehigh, Loyola, more
How many 2017's put a scholarship offer on their Christmas lists to Santa?
Stories of the Year: Albany's Thompson Trio
The anti-Guy Fieris.