The Collegian ran an opinion piece of mine today. It is about the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings and is posted on their website.

View the article.

Recently the Collegian and one of its staff writers both had something to say regarding the athletics at Hillsdale College.

The Collegian argues that, unless HC moves down to Division III athletics the majority of the athletic department will remain mediocre at best. Sayers (a college athlete) counters that Hillsdale's athletic program is experiencing and will continue to experience a good deal of success, neglecting the recent "successes" of many of the athletic programs. Neither of the articles propose a solution to the current state of affairs.

The Collegian staff admittedly neglect the amount of success that has been had in Division II and the step backwards Division III would be. Because Division III does not allow for athletic scholarships the entire athletic department would experience a changeover; many of the qualified athletes currently at Hillsdale would have never come here. This is not a negative reflection upon those athletes, it's just a statement of fact; why play the game you love at a school playing Division III without any financial offsetting when you can play Division II at a school that offers scholarships? The Collegian also contends that Hillsdale in Division III "would be able to support a greater range of teams, thus providing more opportunities for students to play sports," citing Albion's 18 programs (1800 student body) as a prime example. Unfortunately the incentive for the school to create more athletic programs is lacking and thus the probability that these programs would be created and developed is questionable. Needless to say, Division III would create a decreasing quality of athletes and athletic competition for what the Collegian seems to see as a financial benefit for the college.

Painted in clear opposition to his fellow staff writers, Tim Sayers' column also does not provide a clear solution. He argues favorably for the Division II athletic department, citing the successes of the cross country and volleyball programs and the moderate successes of the basketball teams. Neglected, of course, are the mediocre "accomplishments" of the football team the past many seasons, the last place finish of last year's baseball squad as well as the below .500 finish of the softball program. Needless to say, none of the programs have been particularly successful (with the exception of the cross country team). Sayers suggests that nothing need be done to the athletic department, that it will continue this moderate-at-best success without any assistance. The problem therein is that the teams have not been particularly consistent. While teams have had bright spots over the past many years, no team has been consistently successful or dominant. Sayers argues that the recruitment at Hillsdale will improve along with the teams successes. Unfortunately that leaves teams such as the baseball, football and softball programs out in the cold.

To solve the current problem, I propose the following solutions to increase the competitiveness and success of the Hillsdale College athletic teams.

1. Improve existing facilities: The facilities that exist are undersized for the teams, the student body and the community to use. While the school hopes to have the intramural building completed within the next year or two, the Roche Sports Complex could still use an upgrade. The room available restricts access and creates some scheduling nightmares; another gymnasium-style room would provide much more indoor practice room for the winter months. A facelift to the existing facilities also helps during the recruiting process as many athletes are drawn to the facilities that will best provide for their needs.

2. Increase program visibility. The game at Ford Field in November gave the football team a helpful publicity boost. The invitational tournaments the basketball teams participate in over Christmas are also great opportunities (the women's program knocked off the #1 team in the country at an invitational). These will also increase revenue and generate a fan base outside of Hillsdale County and a portion of alumni.

Hillsdale needs to commit to its athletic program or close it down. The college has a fifty-percent stance towards athletics: they exist here at Hillsdale without a doubt but the school has yet to come behind them and support them 100%. If this means finances, if this means new facilities, then so be it. But Hillsdale's academic values often leave the athletics on the side of the road; not abandoned but not embraced either. It is time for Hillsdale to back up their programs 100% and give them every opportunity to succeed. Charger teams are good enough to compete in Division II athletics but the school needs to determine whether or not they want them to be a high-quality successful representation of the institution in the same vein of the academic departments.

Glad the last post and link made so many people laugh. I think I'll hang onto that one for a while just so I can look at it and laugh later on. For those who missed it, the overheard on campus in yesterday's Collegian had a quote from Matt Gaetano saying "If I had breast milk I'd sell it on Ebay." To be honest, that quote was so far out of context and misquoted that...well, it's really not even worth explaining the context. So just laugh at it and move on.

The week is over. Finally. This has been a ridiculously long week. I've been sick on and off. Lame. But that's the way the cookie crumbles. Or something like that.

For those of you at Hillsdale who read the Overheard on Campus in today's issue of the Collegian, this link will make you laugh (or perhaps offend you):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20406&item=4353209401&rd=1