Last week's column item about ESPN football analyst Mike Golic was met with a good deal of response — most, but not all, positive.
My personal favorite was an e-mail that began "Your (sic) and (sic) idiot," and continued ". . . you are a dumb (expletive) . . . you should stick to things you know about, which isn't (sic) football."
To review, a week ago I expressed my disgust with Golic's comments during the BYU-Utah football game. To quote from that column, he told viewers that " 'There's a place' for dirty play in football, but you have to be smart enough so that the officials don't catch you playing dirty." And I opined that, "Perhaps Golic forgot — perhaps it never even occurred to him — that a lot of youngsters were sitting at home watching the game. Youngsters who play football. Youngsters who heard someone who has been anointed a football expert by mighty ESPN telling them that it's OK to play dirty — it's OK to cause serious, perhaps permanent injury to another player — as long as you don't get caught."
I remain disgusted by his comments. Apparently, he told listeners of his ESPN Radio show that I had misrepresented what he had said. In a phone mail message, Golic said I had "obviously missed the point" of what he was saying, questioning where he had said "it was OK to cause serious, perhaps permanent injury to another player." And he pointed out, rightfully, that he took issue with one player's illegal hit (for which that player was penalized) during the game because it might have caused a knee injury.
Yes, I heard him say that. And I referred to statements like that in last week's column when I wrote that the there's-a-place-for-dirty-play comments came "after Golic and (fellow analyst Bill) Curry had discussed how some of the illegal plays could have caused serious injuries."
To my mind, his acknowledgment that illegal play could cause serious injury doesn't make his subsequent comments less damaging, it makes them more damaging.
Sorry, but you can't have it both ways. You can't decry dirty play at one point during the game and then joke about how "there's a place" for it later on and then — after the fact — insist that what you really meant was dirty play that doesn't hurt anybody. Even if we did accept that argument, the fact remains that Golic basically told viewers — including a lot of young players — that it's OK to cheat.
Another e-mail expresses those sentiments better than I can. This one comes from a St. George man who coaches seventh- and eighth-graders:
"I tell (kids) that a football game played as hard as you can, with heart and emotion and within the rules is a truly great and enjoyable thing, win or lose.
"And then there is this clown, not glib nor funny nor particularly articulate, on national TV saying dirty play is OK in certain situations. And then, after coach Curry dressed him down, Golic not only refused to let it go but lamely attempted to defend his views. I was so outraged, the rest of the game was ruined for me."
Golic can make fun of me on the radio as much as he wants (I'm told second-hand that happened), but that doesn't change the fact that he acted irresponsibly. Again, it might be nice if he remembered that there are a lot of young, impressionable football players out there.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com