The Nose: Hot In Hartford & Bullying For Power In College Football
Our pop culture roundtable talks bad polls and UConn politics.
Twenty or 30 years ago there was a Doonesbury strip featuring the president of Walden College and a rich uncle pennybags donor who wanted to give the college a new gym or fieldhouse. And the president tried, gently and awkwardly, to nudge the rich man toward the idea of a new African American Studies Center which the college actually needed. The last frame was the rich guy in full tantrum mode, fists clenched, screaming "I WANNA DONATE A GYM!"
This week, in more or less real life, we got to see what one of those tantrums looks like when Robert G. Burton Sr.'s wild bullying tantrum at the UConn athletic department spilled into the press.
It does direct our attention to the elephant in the room. How unusual is this? It's a little extreme, but my sense is that wealthy donors to sports programs, even at state universities, expect a lot for their money.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
Send to friend
Printer-friendly version
Comments
Okay, I have to ask...
What's up with Rand? With each appearance, he looks a little more bedraggled.
E-mail from Scott
<3 Al Franken and his fight for net neutrality.
E-mail from W.M.
It isn't in Hartford, but my alma mater, Middlesex Comm College, offers WONDERFUL opportunities for emerging filmmakers of all ages... Not to mention the state training program hosted there in summer.
E-mail from Karl
Colin,
You know enough about theater, and have interviewed enough stage actors, to recognize that theater makeup is nothing like television or movie makeup.
Well, channel 61 has an anchor, a young brunette woman, whose eyes and mouth are made up to appear large to the point of distraction. I don't care about TV hawtness, but cannot form an opinion about how attractive or unattractive she is in typical terms; I can't get past that makeup. I am not saying "Her attractiveness makes me trust her more." Or "less". or "Her attractiveness gets in the way of her delivery so I don't know how much I trust her". I am saying it seems to overwhelm the camera, and not in a good way, to where I'd much rather see her from the 20th row at the Bushnell.
I don't expect to have someone stay in a market forever, but does everyone on TV now see their output as merely a compilation of clips tailored to escalate them to Fox News, and finagle their appearance as such? And if we notice this about their appearance, is it working in other less surfaced ways we don't recognize?
Cordially,
Karl in Bloomfield
E-mail from Sara
I completely empathize with Burton whose donations to UConn football were not put to the use he had intended. Being a contributor to WNPR certainly taught me that even with my $25.00 donation I have had no say in programming as evidenced by the continuation of The Colin McEnroe Show despite my protests. I have demanded that Jon Dankowski return my money immediately only to be offered a stylish NPR beverage cozy. Oh well since I must accept be treated like the rest of NPR listeners I will wrap my cozy around a cup containing something strong and get to my question. Have you guys seen The Onion News Network on IFC Friday nights at 10:00 PM? I like it alot. -sara
ps my apologize to Mr Dankowski for any misspellings of his name. After the Spelling Show I have been really self conscience of my poor spelling skills.
Post new comment