I can’t help but write a response to Tim Kearns’ commentary (Oct. 29, “Iowa’s Correctional Facility All-Stars”). Your gracious attempt at humor strikes a bit of a nerve with me! Having worked and interacted with Chauncey Leslie, Omar Bynum and Chris Alexander at Indian Hills Community College for as much as two years, I can tell you that they are all good kids. They are no different than almost all other college kids. They are simply put under a microscope by people like you, because of their status as college athletes.

I can assure you that had you researched and supported your opinion a bit better, you would have found this to be a nationwide situation. I would also assure you that you would find an equal or lesser percentage of student athletes to have brushes with the law as regular students do.

Another thing that you may not understand is the situations that a lot of these kids come from. Quite often they come from the inner city, where law sometimes was nonexistent and the education received was some of the worst there is. I know that they have much more to learn about acceptable behavior and classroom practices at this point in their life than I do having grown up in rural Iowa.

Your solution to this is “no college basketball for us of the University of Iowa.” That is a great solution; give these kids less structured time to go get in more trouble. That will really help the situation. I find your speculation of the upcoming season to be a little unfair. After all, how was the Cyclone football team picked to fare the past couple of years, and what were the results? If you are any kind of sports fan you would know that the preseason picks rarely have much to do with what happens in the regular season.

Lastly, I would like to address your attack on the attire of Larry Eustachy. You must be the fella that I see in the bar on Saturday night that is dressed to kill that all the ladies flock to! I don’t think that coach is too worried about picking up women on the sidelines. Don’t be so materialistic!

Maybe less time researching the latest fashion trends and more time researching supporting evidence for your opinions is in order.

Jim Osborne

Junior

Horticulture