It's Midnight Madness.
For those who aren't college basketball fans, Midnight Madness takes place in October and kicks off the upcoming season. Schools around the country fill their gyms at 12:01 a.m. of opening day with students to introduce the team and coaches and then run through their first practice. The band is in full swing, cheerleaders whip the crowd into a frenzy and boosters sit courtside, inspecting their stable of athletes. Lefty Driesell, the coach at the University of Maryland, started it in 1970 as a way of attracting attention to his program. It was an instant success and has become a national tradition. ESPN covers it with nearly the same enthusiasm they show towards the Final Four at season's end.
The only manner in which it differs from the regular season is that there is no real competition. Everyone is on the same team. Oh, the shirts might scrimmage against the skins, but they'll all be showering together when the festivities end.
That's the Hardball College Tour. They pick a college venue guaranteed to be sympathetic to the candidate -- West Chester University for Obama, University at Albany for Hillary in '02 and Villanova, especially Villanova, for McCain -- fill up an auditorium with the March Madness crowd and Matthews proceeds to set balls on a tee for the candidate to knock out of the park.
There are no "hardball" questions. Matthews warning McCain that a question is going to be tough doesn't make it so. He led off with, "How will you be different than President Bush?" A real body blow. When McCain could only refer specifically to his approach towards climate change, Matthews gently prompted, "You also disagree with him on torture."
Well played, sir.
As for Villanova, McCain hasn't entertained a group of that many enthusiastic WASPs since his last press corps barbecue at his Sedona ranch. I'm not saying it's a white school, but their own alumnae refer to it as "Vanillanova." Suffice it to say that none of the student questioners were lining up to challenge him on his 1983 vote against the MLK holiday.
They did, however, display their true colors proudly. The first student to pose a question was Matthew Brady, editor emeritus of the Villanova Times. He chose to spend his fifteen seconds of fame asking McCain if, "you would characterize yourself, as Barack Obama would phrase, as a typical white person." The next boy, a hint of mischief twinkling in his eye, wanted to know if McCain thought Hillary has, "finally resorted to hitting the sauce," and, "if you would care to join me for a shot after this?" Ah, the precociousness of youth. The little dears. The second kid happened to be Peter Doocy, son of Fox & Friends' anchor, Steve Doocy. The resemblance is striking.
Even Matthews was struck by the lack of intellectual heft in the room. He
good-naturedly complained, "We came here hoping for the best and we got two of the most wise-ass questions. It's such a tribute to the academic rigors of this school." It had more the feel of a fraternity kegger than a meeting of academia and politics. Brady and Doocy came off as Eddie Haskells with money, real-life versions of Omega House's Doug Neidermyer and Greg Marmalard of "Animal House" fame. To so gracefully employ race-baiting and political condescension at such a tender age was really quite impressive. The Villanova Times heralded their performances today, labeling Brady "hilarious," and declaring the "show was off to a solid start quickly with student interaction."
At least they have an excuse for their attitudes -- they're Republican rich kids. Matthews, on the other hand, is supposed to know better. Rather than vamping shamelessly to the audience, it's his job to ask tough questions and demand direct answers. When he scores a one-on-one, 60-minute interview with a presidential nominee, it would behoove him to cover as many relevant issues as possible: foreign and domestic policy, traditional values as well as future visions. Roughly speaking, I'd say they spent 15 minutes yukking it up and pandering to the crowd, 5 minutes on abortion and elitism, and the remaining 40 minutes on Iraq and national security.
Not one question on the economy. We're on the front edge of a recession, 28 million Americans will soon be on food stamps, and millions are losing their homes while the rest of the country watches their home values plummet. It's costing about $17 million per hour to keep the war without end chugging along. As of March, 4.2 million Americans have lost their jobs and the unemployment rate is 5.1%.
McCain finally gave an economic speech this week. He has seen the light at the end of the tunnel leading to the presidency and now strongly favors the Bush tax cuts. He seems to have misplaced his pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term. He wants to suspend the federal gasoline tax for the summer, thereby saving consumers a couple of bucks each time they fill up. McCain has famously admitted that the economy is not his strong point. The speech did nothing to refute his position.
Mightn't there be something here worth talking about, face-to-face, in front of a national television audience? Certainly, if the college tour was a serious political event. But it's not -- it's Midnight Madness.
There is talk that Matthews will be leaving MSNBC soon. Maybe to take over "Face the Nation" at CBS or possibly even to run for office. It wouldn't have to mean the end of the College Tour, though. I think ESPN's Dick Vitale is free all summer long.
1 comment:
Yo Kaul. How are you doing? I bet you're surprised to see that someone actually read your blog.
I just wanted to firstly complement you on being concerned enough to do some research on my background.
Secondly, I wanted to let you know that it's refreshing that you are always available to play 18 (wait isn't that typically a rich white man's sport?) and writing rather paltry drivel, while I am, quite contrarily to "rich white" tag you tossed out there, working hard to pay off the $80,000 in loans for tuition that grants and scholarships didn't account for. My decision there, and no complaints.
It's nice to know though that the truly ignorant and devoid of substantial thought are the ones playing that blogging fiddle in front of audiences much smaller than those that I have reached in my lifetime.
BTW, I think you are a little mistaken in your understanding of the term WASP. The Catholic Villanova University is filled with students lucky enough to benefit from their parents' self-made success, or those yearning to create their own.
No, you won't find too many people always available for 18. We're off doing something with our lives. That's a lesson that could understandably be tough to learn up in Big Blue country.
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