Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Ignorance is Bliss
We were in Ohio when the story unfolded. Baylor University basketball player, Patrick Dennehy, had been missing for nearly two weeks when the press finally got ahold of the news. In the end, Patrick Dennehy was dead, a teammate (Carlton Dotson) was charged with his murder, and Baylor's basketball coach (Dave Bliss) tried to cover up the mess by asking other players to claim Dennehy was a drug user and dealer. What a tangled web we weave...
Last week, I dropped my daughter off at Baylor. She's a freshman. She's naive. She's my baby. We struggled to find a parking place amongst all the other freshmen who were moving into the dorm. We joked that there were most likely plenty of spaces outside the athletics dorm. Plenty of rooms, too, I would imagine. All players were offered a release from their scholarships and the NCAA waived its rule that the players sit out a year after a transfer. Several players (all top scorers, of course) took that option.
Dave Bliss, along with much of his staff, looked the other way while rules were being broken left and right. Heck, he was breaking plenty himself. The buck got passed round and round, but it finally landed in Bliss' lap. He resigned. Baylor quickly got another coach. The rest of the school is still playing the ignorance card.
Lisa wasn't given the opportunity to transfer when we became aware of the scandal. She wasn't released from her scholarship. She didn't have another school waiting in the wings. She did, however, give up a scholarship at another fabulous school when she decided on Baylor, but it was far too late to make the change. Perhaps we were too ignorant and naive in believing that Baylor was the better choice because it was a Baptist (translation=Christian) university. Hindsight is 20/20.
Lisa has managed to overlook all of this mess and has jumped in with both feet. Classes started on Monday and she's already saying "it's gonna kick my butt." She'll get a great education. She'll make lots of friends. She'll come out shining. Ignorance is bliss :o)
