Hogwash

Terri Miller of Prairie Grove says today in a letter to the Northwest Arkansas Times, "To all of the so-called 'fans' who felt it appropriate to boo the Hogs after the loss to Kentucky — you should be ashamed of yourselves. Those young men on that field are playing a game and are not paid to do so. They came to play at the University of Arkansas because they had a dream of being a Hog and playing a sport they love. They should never have to hear ridicule from 'fans.' ...Do they deserve your derision? Many of you will say you were booing the coaches and not the players. But there isn’t a special 'boo' for coaches and another for players. It all sounds the same down on that field. Try to put aside your hatred of our coaching staff and give these guys the encouragement they need to hear. ...You have plenty of avenues to express your displeasure to the athletic administration."

Darren McFadden said something similar when a group of fans were wearing black shirts in protest of Nutt after the Razorbacks defeated North Texas State College for Women last weekend. He told the fans in black that if they don't support Nutt, they don't support the players. That's like saying if you don't support George Bush, you don't support the troops he continues to put in harm's way. Then, McFadden admitted his remark was spontaneous, somewhat like a text message I suppose, and confessed, "That was something I didn't know much about."

Pat Lynch's opinion piece in today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette takes a different view of McFadden's "disparaging comments about the folks wearing black shirts at Razorback games. Let’s not waste a heartbeat on free speech, or any other such high-minded, completely unworkable abstractions that so consume the academic elites. There shall be none of that high-octane hoo-ha about an unfettered exchange of ideas. We wouldn’t want that on a college campus, now, would we? Yes, Mr. McFadden, it is possible to support the Hogs and be completely against the coach....Many fans, while admiring your considerable talents, also have some serious concerns about the ability of key officials at the University of Arkansas to bring an acceptable level of success to 'the program.'" Lynch condedes, however, that "Players do not deserve any of the criticism so generously heaped on our highly paid professional staff."

A letter to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today has a proposal to help economic development in Arkansas. "The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is paying over $300,000 to schools such as Troy, North Texas State, Tennessee-Chattanooga and Florida International to come to Arkansas and play us in football. What happened to keeping the money within Arkansas? Why are we not saving some of this money and playing Arkansas State University in Little Rock? We would put Arkansas money into the Arkansas economy with food, lodging and travel....We have been stuck with our egos for so long that this has not been possible in the past. Now is the time for change. I urge the new UA athletic director to place Arkansas State on our future Razorback schedule."

Heck, the Razorbacks should also add Arkansas Tech, UCA, SAU, Henderson State, Ouachita, UA-Monticello, and UAPB, maybe even Hendrix, to the schedule for the same reason and quit playing those SEC teams. We are 3-0 against non-SEC cupcakes this year.