Halls Of Ivy Not The Right Shade Of Green For Athletes?

The glow of a Rose Bowl season had not faded when Washington State University fans heard the not-surprising news that star quarterback Ryan Leaf will turn pro rather than return to WSU for his senior year.

Leaf’s announcement, coming after the Rose Bowl game, merely confirmed speculation that had been building for months.

A more surprising jolt was in store for the Cougar basketball team.

Leading scorer Rodrigo de la Fuente has left the team, just as the conference season begins, to return to Spain, his home, to play pro basketball.

Neither athlete’s decision could be considered remarkable. Team loyalty in big-time sports is declining as fast as pro athletes’ salaries are rising.

Still, do college athletes who get scholarship help from universities, then bail out for the pros, owe something back to the schools that gave them a break?

So change the (expletive) channel

You want evidence of evolution (linguistic evolution, that is)? Just listen to the dirty words on prime-time television.

“Bad language,” says Robert Thompson, head of the Center for the Study of Popular Television, “is like a fossil fuel. It takes centuries and centuries to build up impact, but once you start using it, it goes pretty quickly.”

How much longer will the trend continue? How far will it go? And when it’s gone as long and as far as it can, what then?

Recuperating from a cut

Budget cut victim Art Keinath, formerly in charge of parking lots and the program to reduce employee commuting for Spokane County, called Bagpipes to say the operation he once headed was self-supporting.

Keinath’s $28,000-a-year position was eliminated as part of county budget trimming.

“The funds that I was using for my programs - for commute-trip reduction and the parking - none of that was out of the general fund,” Keinath said.

Ben Duncan, head of the Human Resources Department, had said Keinath’s duties could be transferred to other employees and the savings applied to the $63,000 his department had to cut.

“Basically, what he’s using is the moneys from the county employees’ parking and from the meters, and from the fines that people get for tickets around the county, to offset his program,” said Keinath.

, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.