A Hoover High Reprise

As most regular readers know, Ocular Fusion 2.0 tends to be a non-controversial blog. Eyegal tells me that I need more “edge,” and that she would like to see me post on more “hot topics.” Well, she of all people should know that when you get down to my core, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

Still, I’m up for a good scrap now and then, especially if one comes knocking at my door. My recent post on the MTV reality show “Two-a-Days” featuring Hoover High School’s football team didn’t stir up much trouble when I originally posted it, aside from the interesting discussion that Jon and I had on the pros and cons of allowing cuss words to be heard in one’s house.

But low and behold, weeks later another discussion breaks out as PIttster, a self-described “educational activist,” happens along and posts his opinion that Hoover High football is a microcosm of all that is bad about the emphasis on sports in the nation’s high schools and representative of the cancer lying at the root of America’s education woes. If you scroll down a bit and watch the repartee unfold, you’ll learn a couple of scandalous tidbits about me: a) I can get a little cussed and sarcastic when someone takes a swipe at my beloved Southland, and b) Unlike most Christians in Alabama, I am not reflexively anti-lottery.

We went back and forth a little, and while PIttster and I disagree about the significance of MTV’s show and whether it truly represents “reality,” I think at the end of the day we both realized that we’re pretty much on the same team when it comes to valuing education. I appreciated his stopping by and stirring the pot. In fact, as yet another fine Game Day approaches in the Southland, it has stimulated my thoughts on the Church of Football and the role it plays, for better or worse, in Southern culture.

More on that tomorrow. And I promise that I’ll reveal at least one more scandalous tidbit.

9 Comments

  1. Brady

    I was surprised on my recent visit to the USA to see the number of kids playing sports on Sunday mornings.

    Another article in the Fresno Bee talked about certain kids, 10 to 12 years old, playing 150 baseball games a year. Doesn’t seem possible.

  2. Mike the Eyeguy

    I bet you were. When we moved to Huntsville 13+ years ago, there were no youth sports during “church and family time.” In other words, Sunday morning and Wednesday nights were sacrosanct and off limits.

    Well, no more. We don’t like it, but we are “not without sin” either.

  3. Hal

    I enjoyed reading your repartee with PIttster.

    You live in an unusually white collar area compared to the rest of Alabama. I would guess that your experience with Alabama public education is quite above average. Both of my children were preschoolers when I lived there, so I have no experience.

    PIttster makes some very good points, but it sounds like he is condemning all extracurricular activities in favor of pure academics. If he wants to criticize a gross misappropriation of funds how about cutting back on the Federal Department of Education? We have a lot of “educators” at the Federal level who are not contributing to our childrens’ education at all. I’ll bet they get paid a whole lot more than that football coach at Hoover, and they don’t instill an ounce of teamwork in the hearts and heads of any students. Although they might cuss less.

  4. Mike the Eyeguy

    I will concede the point that our experience may be somewhat skewed by location. If you get much outside the Huntsville/Madison city limits, things start to, well, change.

    Ah, but what news is this (click here) hot off the press from Hoover High?!

    So, is this proof that Hoover High has more going than just football, or does this confirm PIttster’s hypothesis that Asians work harder and care more about education than other Americans?

    Hal, I’m not at all convinced that federal bureaucrats cuss less than football coaches.

  5. Mike the Eyeguy

    And yet more rumbling that all in Hoover are not pleased with what they’re seeing (click here).

    I believe that a certain John George from San Jose, California mentioned on page 1 may even be PIttster himself.

  6. Tarwater

    Want me to suggest a few ‘hot topics’?

  7. Mike the Eyeguy

    Heh, why don’t we talk at lunch tomorrow? 🙂

  8. Hal

    I’d say you’re right. John George’s words sound very familiar to PIttster.

    Lucky thing for Meng that PIttster wasn’t his Dad, or he may not have been able to participate in orchestra or fencing.

    OK, I’ll concede that my cussing hypothesis may be entirely wrong.

  9. Mike the Eyeguy

    Yeah, the XCs are important, and they add life to not only the individual, but the academic community as well.

    Balance in all things–the key to good living.

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