My Second Column

DOG DAYS FOR UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOOTBALL; BRIGHT ONES FOR REMSEN-UNION GIRLS BASKETBALL

I know no one wants to hear any more about the inept Division I football teams in my home state.

But since Bethany continues to pontificate about the Packers ad nauseam on her blog, I will allow myself one final diatribe about the Washington Huskies.

As an alumnus of cross-state rival Washington State, I normally take every possible opportunity to malign the Huskies, the only winless Division I football team and current occupant of the No. 1 slot on espn.com's "Bottom 10."

However, this column is more about the ever-increasing business that major college athletics has become, of which the UW football team is merely an awful microcosm.

Husky head coach Tyrone Willingham was sacked a month ago, but was allowed to finish the season. Barring a miracle at Cal on Dec. 6, he will end his UW tenure with an 11-37 record and a winless 2008 campaign.

Willingham was hired in 2004 to restore honor and integrity to a Husky program that was still reeling from the carnage Rick Neuheisel left in his wake upon his firing in 2003.

(If you need a Neuheisel visual, pull out Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" from wherever you keep your VHS tapes. Fast-forward to the end where the Beast becomes a human and that's pretty much what he looks like).

Under Neuheisel, the UW program had more than a dozen players arrested on allegations of rape, robbery and domestic violence, among other crimes. They also went to four consecutive bowl games highlighted by a 2001 Rose Bowl victory and No. 3 national ranking.

Neuheisel was finally fired in 2003 for betting on March Madness games and Keith Gilbertson had two miserable seasons at the helm before Willingham was hired.

"Paint Dry Ty" -- as he was dubbed by fellow WSU alum and Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Jim Moore -- emphasized character and academics among his players and the program has seen its legal problems diminish under his regime.

Unfortunately, an 11-37 record just isn't good enough and in a way, that makes me sad. I'm not na*ve enough to think that Division I football isn't a business. Husky quarterback Jake Locker (the west coast's answer to Tim Tebow, only not as talented and far more injury-prone) said as much the day after Willingham was fired.

But the UW boosters have spoken and it is a grim reality that wins are ultimately more important than character and academics -- the very attributes Willingham was hired to foster -- in Pac-10 football.

Willingham's players rallied around him, many citing the coach as the reason they chose to attend Washington (and here I thought the prospect of going 11-37 over a four-year career would be enticing enough). They claimed not to have given up on the season, though their play would indicate otherwise.

I would expect such a team to play with reckless abandon and accidentally win a game, not get outscored 138-39 over the next four games.

I'd expect an effort like the Remsen-Union girls basketball team put forth on Tuesday night.

The Lady Rockets went 0-19 last season and 1-18 two years ago. But they defeated River Valley 65-29 in their season-opener to give second-year head coach Nick Fynaardt his first win on Tuesday.

"We're really excited considering the goose egg we threw up there last year," Fynaardt told me.

Yeah, I would think so.

I can only imagine the courage it took for those players to turn out again this season after going 1-37 the past two. But on second thought, maybe it's not that surprising. Maybe they realized going 1-37 and quitting is no way to live their high school years.

So thank-you R-U girls for reminding me of the purity and sanctity of high school athletics. Shame on you, UW football team, for just mailing it in even though you claim you aren't. And finally, shame on you, University of Washington, for allowing Neu-weasel to destroy your program's character and canning the man who restored it.

Neuheisel, of course, resurfaced this season at UCLA, where the Bruins were able to overlook his transgressions and focus on his 66-30 career record entering the 2008 season.

"In the end, it was all about 66 collegiate wins," said UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, according to a January 30, 2008 Seattle Times article.

If anyone has a pool on how long it will take Neuheisel to burn the UCLA program down, I'd like to get in on it.

Rick probably would too.