Letters To The Editor
Purity lies in the Palouse
In response to P. Edward Walther’s letter (Nov. 23), please recognize that Chris Jackson’s comments are youthful competitiveness and nothing more.
On the other hand, many Cougar alums have similar dislikes mainly due to patronizing fans rather than any institutional envy. To hear the talk from a player is simply the work of a good interviewer bringing out true feelings (which every Husky player also possesses) in a very competitive sport.
It is Husky fans who, in such a nice way say, “we wish the Cougars well,” only to loathe them under their breath. They speak in a patronizing way that cannot be hidden. If the Cougs do too well, they suddenly turn to ugly humor and lose the postgame “good” humor.
Don’t pretend that you now have an “inspiration” to despise the Cougs. You simply possess a natural aversion to a team that competes very well against your Huskies. As for your list of institutional achievements, there is no denying the money resides West of the mountains. However, the guts and glory of college sports were originally founded on the purity of the game, perfectly placed in the Palouse Heartland. Take heed, Mr. Walther, of the inspired play of true athletes, where money and political power give way to pride in true sportsmanship. Scott K. Conley Spokane
Cougs have outgrown fans
How corrupting is success? We were all a big family of happy Cougs until our team made it to the Rose Bowl.
Rose Bowl tickets are not available to the mass of unwashed Cougars alumni. There is a corrupt spoils system at play that exposes modern college football as a big rip-off.
We loved the old Cougs. They needed us back then. Our team is too big for us now. Randy Starkey, WSU class of ‘72 Kingston Springs, Tenn.
Cougars now state’s team
First and foremost, my sincere congratulations to coach Mike Price and his 1997 Washington State University football team for their accomplishments.
As state universities go, ours is not terribly out of the ordinary. We tend to stress education first with athletics somewhere down the list. So, when WSU can achieve what it did, we all need to stand behind the school.
If the larger, mostly privately funded universities are traditionally superior in athletics, they are entitled to their bragging rights. But I do become a bit paranoid when I hear or read about those who are supposed to be well-educated berating our state university in behalf of theirs. This tells me these poor souls are nothing more than adolescent imbeciles.
From time to time I hear references to WSU as being Moo U from those of you who regard yourselves as being vastly superior. I have a degree from another state university in agriculture and, frankly, I consider that to be a left-handed compliment. If it were not for many Moo U alumni, most of you complacent people would have died of hunger or starvation a long time ago.
The Cougars can’t beat Michigan? Who says? We’re a too-small, little-known college in an out-of-the-way place? So what? I couldn’t care less where your loyalties may have been prior to Nov. 22, but on Jan. 1 we should stand together. On New Year’s Day it will not be Crimson and Gray in the Rose Bowl. It will be Pac-10 - and more specifically the state of Washington. Chuck Colville Moses Lake
Cougs, Huskies blasted
Bear with me while I blast everybody in relation to University of Washington and Washington State football: How hard (or easy) it is to ride with a so-called winner like the UW is supposed to be with all of its resources. The pompous, arrogant, disgusting attitude of these imbeciles is sickening. By the way, if you’re so much of a fan of Huskies football, stay over there, or is this the real reason you’re unemployable on that side of the state?
Now the WSU side of things. What level of intelligence is it where garage sales, NRA puppetized hunting or picking straw out of your teeth takes precedence over a winning football team! Get real. Ed Ellenz Spokane
Cougars earned their place
The 1997 Washington State Cougars, the “Rodney Dangerfield” of Division I college football.
The day after the Cougars won “the game” to earn their way to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 67 years, ESPN’s Dick Schapp predicts Michigan will easily win the national championship and Charles Woodson of Michigan will win the Heisman Trophy over Peyton Manning of Tennessee.
ESPN showed highlights of the Michigan-Ohio State game and Florida State getting bumped off by archrival Florida. The only mention of Washington State was that it would be Michigan’s opponent in the Rose Bowl and, exactly zero mention of Ryan Leaf in the same breath with Woodson and Manning.
Oh, but it’s been this way all year. The “predictors” and “pollsters” cannot bring themselves to believe Washington State is anything but a fluke, a “lucky” team winning when it was supposed to lose. The Cougars were predicted to finish seventh in the Pac-10 and placed in the national polls each week with the two- and three-loss teams. It must really aggravate the Bowl Alliance that there will be no No. 1 and No. 2 matchup for the national championship because Washington State refused to live up to someone else’s predictions. It is obvious the Alliance would have preferred a UCLA-Michigan matchup to the Cougars - the same UCLA the Cougars beat on a last-minute, fourth-and-1, goal-line stand that started the Cougars on their dream year.
During the next six weeks we are going to hear all the “experts” talk (to death) about who should be the national champion, who the best teams are (on paper), the best players, the best coaches, etc. But the fact of the matter, which the “experts” cannot verbally discount no matter how hard they try, is that void of a Division I playoff system there is only one team in the nation that will play against the top-ranked team - the Washington State Cougars. And they got there the old-fashioned way, they EARNED it.
Oh, and Ryan Leaf? We in the Pacific Northwest already have our vision - in the not-too-distant future we see a multi-millionaire Ryan Leaf facing off against a multi-millionaire Drew Bledsoe in an NFL championship game. David Keister Medical Lake
Fitz needs to come back
I am writing in support of Dan Fitzgerald, whom I have had the honor of calling my friend since 1973. For more than 20 years I have been proud of his endless dedication and work for Gonzaga University.
Dan’s greatest achievements weren’t seen Friday or Saturday nights on the basketball court. In my estimation, his strongest attribute to Gonzaga the past 20 years has been in nurturing both male and female student-athletes to aspire to goals and principles that would carry them soundly into their adult lives.
Dan’s athletics program has expanded through the years, on what I’m sure would be considered limited budgets, to produce graduation rates and grade points that can be favorably measured to any program in the country. The athletic department success in basketball, crew, soccer and many other sports is a testament that you can truly have student athletes and be competitive without compromising the higher goal.
I would hope the administration of Gonzaga would work to right what errors have been made, let Dan come back to a campus that is still a shining example of what is right in college athletics and continue to build on the sound moral program that is now in place. Mike Davey Spokane
xxxx S-R sports staff Sports editor: Jeff Jordan Assistant sports editor: Joe Palmquist Outdoors editor: Rich Landers Columnist: John Blanchette Reporters: Steve Bergum, Chris Derrick, Hilary Kraus, Greg Lee, Jim Meehan, Mike Sando, Dave Trimmer, Mike Vlahovich, Dan Weaver Copy desk: Gil Hulse, David Oriard, Geoff Pinnock, Rick House Stats desk: Kory Boatman, Brandon Loucks Contributors: Paul Delaney, Jim Price, Fenton Roskelley, Chuck Stewart