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USF Fans Shouldn't Be 'Bull'-Headed

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

Two suggestions to the University of South Florida regarding its football program and fans:

•Rethink the reality implicit in the discontinuation of the USF-University of Central Florida series. With last Saturday's game in Orlando, the four-game series came to an end. UCF wants to continue; USF doesn't.

For USF, it's understandable that the Bulls, the more successful program, have more to lose than gain by playing a lesser, non-BCS conference opponent. But that overlooks key points.

UCF is the rivalry game that USF, hardly steeped in gridiron tradition, needs. The sort of event that annually energizes a student body and players, many of whom played with and against each other in high school. It also guarantees a sizable profit with big crowds and low overhead - a bus ride across Interstate 4.

And if USF would win most of the time? Well, call it a bonus.

•Memo to USF students: Should USF knock off nationally-ranked Kansas on Friday night, don't chant "Over-rated" After the game. Learn from last year's upset of West Virginia and confine the taunt to pregame high jinks.

Rap Claptrap

Just when you think you've heard it all in the name of curricular relevance and student-improvement strategies, we have SpringBoard.

That's the new Hillsborough County program that aims to teach language arts and math by playing down the traditional lecture role of teachers and playing up group problem-solving and role-playing. There's even a provision for rewriting some Shakespeare as text messages and hip-hop.

Three points.

First, after a year of pilot programs in four schools, SpringBoard is now district-wide. Not all teachers are comfortable - or on board with the student-centered dynamic. It appears that school busing wasn't the only school district area to be communication challenged.

Second, in the tightest of budget eras, the county plans to spend more than $30 million on SpringBoard over the next five years.

Third, in a recent Tribune story, a SpringBoard trainer, Joanne Patchin, explained the process. "Sometimes students learn more and faster from each other than the teacher," she told teachers at a county workshop. "It's noisy, but they have fun and they're learning."

That's a red flag.

As a former English teacher, I've heard that refrain before. Nobody wants bored students and unsatisfactory results. But there is a difference between creative and chaotic. The key factor: the quality of the teacher. The best combine lectures and discipline with real-world motivation and a sense of humor.

I'd invest that $30 million in trying to lure more of the best and brightest into teaching.

Cancel These

Here's a suggestion for all media covering presidential campaigns. Just say no to "rock star" (Barack Obama, Sarah Palin) similes and "gate" ("Troopergate") affixes.

Would that trafficking in cliches and further trivializing the political process were sufficient reasons.

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at moesez@aol.com or www .opinionstogoonline.com.

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