COLUMN: COLUMN: Letters from prison inmate and BYU fans
In this first edition of the Too Broke To Fold Mailbag, I’ll be replying to mail I’ve received over the course of the semester from USU students, BYU fans and inmates at the Utah State Prison. Due to the massive volume of responses my columns always provoke, I am unable to reply to every letter I receive. On to the adoring fan mail!
First up is Michael Bostwick, a traitor… er, a BYU fan attending USU who takes issue with some of the things I wrote about BYU’s Dave “Pig Nose” Rose.
He said, “USU fans suffer from an inferiority complex which causes an intense hatred towards BYU and prevents them from seeing things rationally… Do yourself a favor and remove your Aggie tinted glasses for a minute… only your ‘little brother’ syndrome keeps you from giving (Rose) some credit… I understand you are bitter about the drubbing you recieved in Provo… As far as USU is concerned, you have a good basketball program and happen to be from Utah, but you are not BYU’s rival, sorry.
“RaShaun Broadus made some mistakes but they pailed (sic) in comparisons with Andy Pack’s. It seems hypocritical that you can overlook Andy’s problems and point out RaShaun’s. You might have also looked over an important fact about short-term success and integrity. Rose kicked Broadus off the team while Morrill promoted Pack to starting point guard.
“In short, I’m sorry your ‘little brother’ attitude has blinded your logic and left you writing such an unprofessional article. I’m not a journaist, but I would think that in some of your classes they would have taught you to maintain some semblemce (sic) of objectivity, otherwise you lose all credibility.”
Well Michael, first of all I’d like to apologize for not printing your letter in its entirety. I tried to pick out the key points and represent your point of view fairly, but I am trying to answer as many letters as possible here and yours would have taken too much space.
As to your accusations of unprofessional conduct on my part, I suppose this is as good a time as any to explain the difference between an article and a column. An article is objective, unbiased reporting. If the piece you responded to had been an article, Mike, it would have been unprofessional and unworthy of being printed. But it was a column, and the rules for writing columns are quite different. When I am a columnist, I am allowed to use the word “I” and express my biased opinions. I hope the distinction is clear and my credibility is out of jeopardy.
I am mystified by Michael’s comments regarding “Andy Pack.” I have asked around at The Statesman sports desk, and no one has any clue who “Andy Pack” is. If he was a starting point guard for the Aggies during the Morrill era, I’m pretty sure I would remember him. If anyone has any idea who “Andy Pack” is, beyond a figment of Michael Bostwick’s imagination, please let me know.
Next we have Brad Schow, who responded to a column I wrote early in the year titled “Stop Throwing Stones.” Here’s Brad: “What a great article you wrote in Wednesday’s Statesman! I’m glad someone was willing to step up to the plate and defend our team! May your words inspire others to support the team. I have a feeling that with time Guy will produce big things. Well done!”
Thanks for the compliment, Brad. Other readers who want to get a submission printed in the TBTF Mailbag would do well to follow Brad’s example and err on the side of brevity, because then I will just print the whole thing. The column Brad is replying to was a righteous defense of Brent Guy and a scathing indictment of the “Let’s fire Guy and bring in a winning coach because it is just that simple” crowd. The USU job may well be the worst Division-I coaching position in the country. Aggie Athletics is going through a painful transition right now trying to catch up to the other WAC programs and upgrading the facilities. For my money, Guy has performed about as well as could be hoped for considering the less-than-ideal circumstances.
From Saron G. Carter, inmate #26271, comes this: “I am a USU student currently on hiatus. I attend USU via satellite at the prison. Is it at all possible for a man trying to turn a negative into a positive in good shape 6’1”, 240, 4.5-4.6 speed able to walk on and try out, and actually have a legitimate chance at making the football team? I had the pleasure of watching a story on (Kevin) Curtis who walked on and how the coaching staff allows a look at a few guys that have a strong love for football. I think this would be a cool goal for me and others like me that could actually help the Aggies’ football team.”
Well, Saron, as you said, there is a history of walk-ons having success at USU. You already mentioned the example of Kevin Curtis, NFL wide receiver, USU grad and former walk-on. Also, this upcoming year, USU will feature former walk-on Rob Myers at tight end. Coach Guy walked on at Oklahoma State and has said he believes in giving a few guys a semester a shot at making the team. Furthermore, there is a precedent for guys getting out of prison and wearing the Aggie blue: David Pak did eight years of hard time, got out, went to junior college, transferred to USU and became Stew Morrill’s starting point guard for two years. Also, tell all my homies on B block I said what up.
Finally, from J.K. Berry: “A while back I read an article on hockey and death metal. I truly believe this is the best idea to up the spirits of Aggie fans. But I was hoping that this could be carried over to football. Along with the Learfield Sports contract, bringing in new talent and the savior of the team’s offensive coordinator, Darrell Dickey. New talent, new coaching, new money, I think it’s time to introduce a new mentality with death metal music.”
J.K., I couldn’t agree more. Listening to “God Hates Us All” by Slayer while watching 300-pound men try to hurt each other real, real bad is my idea of a good time. But we have to be prudent here. In my column from 2006, “Pantera and hockey, a perfect combination,” I stated that I “don’t want them to start playing Pantera in Romney, because old people might die or little kids might start crying if they heard how pissed off singer Phil Anselmo is on ‘Primal Concrete Sledge.'”
Attendance at football games is bad enough without playing aggressive music calculated to offend the vast majority of people. In this case I have to say making me, J.K. Berry and a handful of weird guys who smell like smoke and have pierced faces happy takes a backseat to putting butts in seats.
G. Christopher Terry is a junior majoring in print journalism. Continue sending him your questions, comments and insults for use in a future TBTF mailbag. E-mail can be sent to him at graham@cc.usu.edu