On Random Thoughts BC

$10 million for each ACC team?  Wow that’s a lot of cash.  And I know exactly where that $10 million went.  A million bucks on a staircase and now $10 million on a building that’s already standing…  Hmmm…  All kidding aside, $10 million on restoration of Gasson Hall is a money well spent.  The building defines Boston College and the nearly century-year-old building exudes an aura appropriate for the school.  That said, the inside is a dump.

Once again, BC scores highly, if not the best, academically among all Division I programs.  I continue to mock BC’s futility in reaching a BCS bowl game, but the fact that BC consistently plays competitive football at the highest levels while actually educating (and graduating) the players year in and year out is an extraordinary achievement.  Yes, SEC schools may have a better football program, but at least no one laughs when our coach speaks about a “student”-athlete.  It’s worth noting that only FSU doesn’t fall into the top 100 schools in U.S. News and World Report, but that school produces a Rhodes Scholar this year.

(Incidentally, in the December 2007 issue of SI, which I just finished reading earlier this week, there was an article on Byron Rolle–and all other famous Rolle athletes, like Samari Rolle of the Arizona Cardinals.  Apparently they’re all distant relatives with certain attitude that was ingrained in their identity nearly a century and a half ago.  In the article, there’s a quote by Jeb Bush from 2006 in which he says Byron Rolle will be a Rhodes Scholar.  Amazing, not just that the governor of the state is aware of his athletic and academic prowess, but that he actually lives up to the hype in both).