Anyone planning to travel to or through Norman, Okla., (home of the University Of Oklahoma) should be advised that something is in the water or air there that can cause serious thought disorder, perhaps brain damage and certainly delusional thinking.
I offer as proof of these allegations at least three different incidents where these conditions were clearly manifested.The first occurred in 1984 when the then-head football coach, Barry Schwitzer, complained about BYU winning the national championship. The reasons he offered were, as I recall, less than rational or well thought out.
The second incident was when the law professor from the university's law school testified at Justice Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Third incident was when the head basketball coach at the university, Tubbs I believe his name is, stated that BYU has a distinct advantage in its basketball program by sending their players on two-year LDS missions.
The pluses or minuses of a two-year missionary layoff have been empirically addressed in several doctrinal dissertations on the subject. Those studies, coupled with Shawn Bradley's experience, put the issue to rest.
Tubbs went on to suggest that other schools should send their players into the CBA for two years to get the same advantage. I have a better suggestion for the coach to test his hypothesis. Since he has no LDS players, have several of his 19-year-old players go into the Peace Corps as volunteers for two years.
Send them to a village somewhere in the world where the food is vastly different than they are used to, the water is not up to U.S. standards and where the personal and collective hygiene may be something less than desirable.
Add to that a workday that begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 10 p.m. and little or no social life or recreational opportunities. Tubbs would quickly find out that such a life does little to prepare an individual for athletics but produces very fine individuals well-equipped to deal with life.
Albert G. Smith
Pleasant Grove