There's more to basketball players than `thug' uniforms
Letter to the Editor
I am writing to The Observer in response to the Inside Column "Bone Thugs and Basketball." After reading the column, I was thrilled to see that an editor of the paper finally showed some intelligence and wrote something worthwhile and open minded. I totally agree with the idea that certain uniforms worn by basketball players create less intelligent and more belligerent players. I don't think that The Observer has ever printed anything even remotely as grounded and clear as this column.
The associate sports editor, Mike Connolly, wrote this editorial and was looking beyond his immaturity and ignorance to come up his conclusions. In the second paragraph, he comes right out and states the obvious saying that, "all the teams that wear them [the certain type of uniforms] are a bunch of thugs." I could not agree with him more. The amount of violent crimes that college basketball players are involved in is alarmingly higher for players who wear the `thug' uniforms. Not only that, but the dumber players in college basketball thrive on teams with those uniforms. The low graduation rate for some schools, his example was the University of Cincinnati, has everything to do with the uniforms and nothing to do with the academic policies of the school or the recruiting practices of the coach. It is obvious that Mike Connolly knew all of these facts when he wrote his column because he did an outstanding job informing people of the effects these uniforms have on the players who wear them.
Lastly I would just like to share my feelings on the broader topic that the author addressed in the last paragraph of his column. Everyone knows that, the way you dress and the way you carry yourself says a lot about the kind of person you are. I am just glad that he had intelligence to figure it our. I do not know many people who have. Clothes and personality are good judges of the quality of a person. There is no need to meet the person and get to know them and find out what they are really like. An individual who is dressed in good clothes is a better person than someone who is dressed in bad clothes. The logic is so clear it is almost easy to overlook.
Placing your views in an editorial is no excuse for ignorance. I find it very hard to believe that a student who prides himself as the associate sports editor would actually write a column with as ignorant views as that. I can only hope that the whole inside column was just a big joke because there is no other good explanation for it.
Mark Conroy
Sophomore
Morrissey Manor
November 16, 1999
All Viewpoint Stories for Thursday, November 18, 1999
