Losing at any cost

I love a good game. I'd pay money to see a good game. However, I wouldn't pay money to support a team that continually loses and has no financial management skills.\nThursday, I had an epiphany. I realized the University has no clue how to budget its resources in a way that benefits the students.\nI picked up the Indiana Daily Student Thursday and saw two articles on the front page that, taken together, made me laugh. At the top, an article described the tuition hikes and the University's decision to keep the athletics fee. Directly below was an article titled "Wanted: fans to fill stands" that described a renewed campaign to fill the stands during football season. It all boils down to the wasting of student money by the Athletics Department, whether it's on debt or an ill-advised public relations campaign. \nAccording to the article, IU President Adam Herbert decided to support the fee, despite contrary recommendations by the Committee for Fee Review, Dean of Students Richard McKaig and IU-Bloomington Interim Chancellor Ken Gros Louis.\nHis reason? Well, he didn't have one, but trustee Sue Talbot did.\nShe said, "Students should consider the enhancements the campus receives because of sports." Another trustee, Stephen Ferguson, said though he was opposed to the fee in principle, he'll support it while waiting for Athletics Director Rick Greenspan to turn things around. \nWow! Looks like we can all thank the trustees for looking out for us!\nNobody is arguing the benefits of campus athletics, Ms. Talbot. However, to get those benefits, people have to actually go to games, and to get people to do that, teams have to win, occasionally. No one likes cheering for a losing team, and until ours start winning, I guarantee attendance problems will continue.\nAs for Mr. Ferguson, I'm sure he doesn't have a problem playing a waiting game with Greenspan. After all, he isn't the one whose money is being wasted year after year.\nSpeaking of wasting money... \nAccording to the IDS article, Associate Athletics Director Tim Fitzpatrick is mounting a promotional campaign of mailings featuring coach Terry Hoeppner, months before football season actually begins.\nHowever, the biggest part of this campaign has to be the roadtrip next month with Hoeppner, men's basketball coach Mike Davis and women's basketball coach Sharon Versyp. \nThey're golfing, lunching and participating in other staged events. The idea is that reconnecting with the fans will rekindle interest in athletics.\nAnd that reminded me of something California Sen. Barbara Boxer said during John Bolton's confirmation hearing.\n"You can dance around it," Boxer said. "You can run away from it. You can put perfume on it." \nThat is exactly what the Athletics Department is doing.\nIt's distracting people from the fact that our football and basketball programs are doing poorly. Rather than solving the problem of decreasing interest by paying down their debt or recruiting better players and improving practice facilities, the Athletics Department is dancing around the problem with a giant PR campaign.\nI hate to break it to you, Mr. Fitzpatrick, but a photo-op with a few VIPs won't get more fans in the stands if certain teams continue to lose.\nI'm all for college sports. I support the wonderful experiences athletics provide the University. What I do not support is the continual waste of student money on inefficient programs that won't solve the problem.\nWinning is everything. You can't dance around losing, you can't run away from it and you can't put perfume on it.