Correction
The photo cutline in last week’s LEO story about the Louisville Orchestra was incorrect. Pictured were Louisville businessman Dann C. Byck and Mayor Charlie Farnsley, who were both ardent supporters of the orchestra. LEO regrets the error.
Pope Petrino
Along with the achievements of Tom Jurich during his tenure at U of L, there are blemishes that should not be forgotten. To the growing list of mistakes that includes Steve Kragthorpe, former assistant athletic director Julie Hermann, women’s lacrosse coach Kellie Young, and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt, we must now add the rehiring of habitual liar Bobby Petrino. Jurich has said that Kragthorpe had to clean up the mess Petrino left, but then rewards him with a hefty pay increase of $3.5 million a year to help create another mess. Even if you approve of the hiring, Petrino was damaged goods and could have been signed at a significantly lower salary. Jurich also agrees to pay both the new offensive and defensive coordinators $1 million annually. The local sports media, President Ramsey and the community should quit acting like Jurich possesses the infallibility of the pope.
The money for these outrageous salaries does not come from Jurich’s pocket. The people who pay inflated ticket prices with their hard-earned dollars are the source of the salaries for the coaches and Jurich. They are going to reach a point where they will no longer allow the fruits of their labor to be squandered. The fan base is in a no-win position when it comes to the hiring of coaches. They lose if an unsuccessful coach is hired, when a good coach moves to greener pastures and when a successful coach gets a significant pay increase to their already obscene salary in order to stay.
There is no difference between the excessive compensation given to the CEOs and other top executives of American corporations with the pay given to football and basketball coaches as well as athletic directors. In his Jan. 15 column supporting the Petrino hire, Ricky L. Jones not only fails to see this connection but encourages us to wave the flag of surrender to the American business model regardless of where it is practiced — Wall Street, college athletics and academic departments. The refusal by Jones to speak truth to power is an inexcusable copout.
Being a self-described sports junkie is no excuse to turn in your social conscience when entering the sports kingdom. If you oppose economic injustice, I am sure you do not lead cheers and follow with religious fervor the destiny of greedy corporations. Why would you give that same level of support to corporations doing business as college athletics that follow the same business model?
Tom Ridge, Camp Taylor
Too Smart For Nostalgia?
I am writing to express my concern, outrage and amusement over the recent resurgence of the record shoppe in this little city. For the sake of fuck! Why not just take that next step and open a cassette emporium? A T-shirt museum? Mawkish is the nicest word I can find to hurl at you.
Warning to the next citizen who attempts to convince me that technology invented, and predominately unchanged, over a century ago is superior. I will take time out to embarrass you where you stand. I realize most of human lives are devoid of logic. You have what passes for my sympathies. You do not, however, have my tolerance. These endeavors are pure vanity projects, returning nothing to the community at large, siphoning monies back to a dying industry. Well done.
You, like so many others, work to hinder progress in pursuit of your own selfishness. It is just a matter of time before you wash the dye from your hair and shave those ridiculous beards — yet I wager flesh that you will continue to drag about (and perpetuate) these misconceptions and cling to worthless tech. And really, what will you do when you turn 40 and find yourself facing a proper existential crisis? Will these relics offer the needed comfort since they have never been allowed to fade? Fuck, you are going to be proper drags to encounter on the street, crates of plastic in tow.
Disillusionment is maturity, citizens.
Luc Diamond, Crescent Hill
