Column
Cappy Gagnon
Cappy's Corner
I guess my journalism degree must have expired, because I no longer understand what has become of the craft (in my day, journalists did not consider writing to be a profession).
One of our local sportscrafters recently wrote an entire column criticizing head football coach Bob Davie for saying he was looking for a defensive starter to play like a "thug." While every football fan, even my 87-year old mother, knows what Bob meant — and sportswriters often use words like "assassin," "hit man," "killer instinct," "tear his head off," etc., with impunity — apparently this local scribe didn't understand that Bob was using a metaphor. From now on, I guess Bob will have to "dry clean" his language, as Andy Sipowicz would say.
Local readers were treated to a diatribe about how rap music is full of "thug" imagery, and it is especially bad for young black males to hear this word spoken by the Notre Dame football coach. I know Bob Davie pretty well, and never once have I heard him hum the tune to any song by Tupac Shakur, or even Vanilla Ice. Doesn't Bob have enough to do, without some wannabe football expert lecturing him about the symbolism of his word usage?
The article also quoted from someone who calls himself "Brother Sage." I don't know this fellow (although he can't be a member of a religious order, or the local paper would call him merely "Sage"), but I'm puzzled why his first-ever newspaper comments about the evils of rap music are directed at one of the least likely rappers in town ... nobody calls him Puff Daddy Bob. If rap lyrics are poisonous to youth, let's air out the topic, but if a check of Bob's C.D. collection fails to turn up any rap tunes, let's give the man a break.
Ironically, all across the country, there are college athletes who really are thugs. These players have gone unnoticed on West Colfax Boulevard. (I have even heard of a basketball coach, who grabs his players by the larynx and peppers reporters with profane prose, if you can believe that. Our local reviewer of word appropriateness took that coach to task, not for being a cretin, but, only for jeopardizing another player's chance for a post-season honor.)
Our local sportswriter can never seem to spot these miscreants (even though he has written a maudlin story about one of his pals who committed an actual murder). One third of the roster of one Big East basketball team was recently arrested for assault. One Big East coach, who got some votes for Coach of the Year, and who is considered one of the hottest commodities around, used exclusively blue language during his sideline tirades.
During the week that one-sixth of another Big East team was arrested for theft, our local sportswriter criticized Notre Dame students because they indelicately pointed out that another player on that team had fathered a couple of children. No mention of the two thieves.
The other bad aspect of rap lyrics is their denigration of women. A huge problem in many big time athletic programs is the number of children fathered (and neglected) by star athletes. Apparently the "Sports Illustrated" expose of that problem (where Shawn Kemp leads the way with eight kids by seven women) served only as a challenge to emulate, for players on many campuses. According to former coach Larry DiNardo, his LSU players fathered 29 children in one season. No mention of this in the local press.
Most Notre Dame students are ardent football fans. Many are quite literate. Perhaps one of them can come up with some acceptable word usage to describe the aggressive type of defensive mentality Davie is looking for. These words must pass political correctness. No rappers need reply. What we're looking for is something macho, but tender; violent, but soothing; and which could be readily understood in a pre-game pep talk. Try to envision Alan Alda or Phil Donohue as Knute Rockne. If you've got something, please send along your ideas. I will be happy to relay them to Coach Davie, after I see if they pass muster with the local paper's wordmeister.
Cappy Gagnon, '66, points out that the editorial headline on the April 25th local paper was "America — not always `the good guy.'" This also seems to be their premise about Notre Dame.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, April 27, 2000
