Every OT topic in the history of gca.com wrapped up into one thread.......

[Mike Sweeney]

OT Topics in the following include:

1. PGA Tour Players who are not real architects.

2. College football.

3. Graduation rates - for Pat Mucci.

4. Cheap shots at Rich Goodale (because Stanford rejected me and I don't want to hear about the wife that I met at Cornell and produced two children with me   .

5. Tiger Woods behavior.

6. Hopefully Tiger will ride a cart to the center of the field and Melvyn will be included too  

From TigerWoods.com:

Tiger Woods, fresh off a victory at the JDWere Masters in Australia, will be inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame at halftime of Saturday's football game against rival California at Stanford Stadium.
A two-time first-team All-American, Woods won 10 intercollegiate events including the 1996 Pac-10 Conference and NCAA Championships. In 1996, he posted the lowest round in school history -- 61 -- at the Pac-10 Championships. Woods owns Stanford's lowest career stroke average at 71.1.

"It's a great honor to be included in the 2009 Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame class," said the 33-year-old Woods. "I want to congratulate the other honorees. I had a wonderful time competing at Stanford, was challenged in and out of the classroom, and developed many life-long friendships. The university helped me grow as a person and an athlete, and I will always be grateful."

Others members of the 2009 Hall of Fame class are: Patrick McEnroe (tennis); Mike Mussina (baseball); Tommy Vardell (football); Dick Horn (football); Lisa Sharpley-Vanacht (volleyball); Wade Flemons (swimming); Monal Chokshi (track and field); and Kathleen McCarthy-Scrivner (golf).

Woods, a winner of 14 major championships and 94 tournaments world-wide, will also serve as Stanford's honorary captain on Saturday. He will speak to Cardinal players before the game and accompany team captains to the center of the field for the pre-game coin toss.

"It will be an honor for Stanford football to share our sideline with the greatest competitor of our generation," head coach Jim Harbaugh said.

Woods is excited about watching the Cardinal play. In the last two weeks, Stanford has upset Top 10 teams Oregon and USC to climb to 14th in the Associated Press rankings.

"I'm really looking forward to being on the sideline Saturday to support coach Harbaugh and his players in one of college football's great rivalries," he said.

From the Boston College website:

To be considered for induction, nominees must have graduated at least five years previously. If a prospective inductee has gone on to professional athletics, he/she must have retired from active competition.

Now I know it is beat up Tiger Woods week, by why is Stanford University putting a non-graduate into their Sports Hall of Fame? I have a very good friend in the Boston College Hall of Fame and it took him 14 years to get a degree after retiring from the NBA and European basketball. Yes, we enjoy talking about him being on the fourteen year plan, but he went back and did the work.

I am not saying that Tiger should go back to school, but why is Stanford University lowering their extremely high bar?

[Jaeger Kovich]

The University of Texas retired Kevin Durant's #... He was only there for 1 year, and hasn't even done anything in the NBA yet, but it looks good when recruits come.

[Mike Benham]

I am not saying that Tiger should go back to school, but why is Stanford University lowering their extremely high bar?

Not to be flippant but a comment that my SCU and Cal Bear brethren would agree to, what high bar are you speaking of?

Stanford is extremely difficult to get into but by no means has anyone ever stated it was hard to graduate from ...

[Mike Sweeney]

I am not saying that Tiger should go back to school, but why is Stanford University lowering their extremely high bar?

Not to be flippant but a comment that my SCU and Cal Bear brethren would agree to, what high bar are you speaking of?

Stanford is extremely difficult to get into but by no means has anyone ever stated it was hard to graduate from ...

Mike,

Tiger is NOT a graduate of Stanford.

[Anthony Gray]

  You didn't mention trains,moma,prison or gettin drunk.

  Anthony

[Mike Benham]

I am not saying that Tiger should go back to school, but why is Stanford University lowering their extremely high bar?

Not to be flippant but a comment that my SCU and Cal Bear brethren would agree to, what high bar are you speaking of?

Stanford is extremely difficult to get into but by no means has anyone ever stated it was hard to graduate from ...

Mike,

Tiger is NOT a graduate of Stanford.

Mike -

I'm fully aware of that but you are placing the bar too high if you thinking that GRADUATING from Stanford IS the accomplishment ... it's getting INTO Stanford ...

Mike

[Mark Bourgeois]

Mike,

Good troll post and to rise to the bait, the answer is simple:

Because Stanford is not and never will be a legitimate candidate for inclusion in the IV League as long as they continue to offer scholarships to participate in the venal and hypocritical world of big-time college athletics.

Honoring a college dropout -- way to show your true values, Cardinal!

Yes, Harvard awarded an honorary degree to Gates in 2007 and, no, the two actions are not remotely comparable.

[David Stamm]

I am not saying that Tiger should go back to school, but why is Stanford University lowering their extremely high bar?

Not to be flippant but a comment that my SCU and Cal Bear brethren would agree to, what high bar are you speaking of?

Stanford is extremely difficult to get into but by no means has anyone ever stated it was hard to graduate from ...

Mike,

Tiger is NOT a graduate of Stanford.

Mike -

I'm fully aware of that but you are placing the bar too high if you thinking that GRADUATING from Stanford IS the accomplishment ... it's getting INTO Stanford ...

Mike

Not if your good at golf it seems.....

[Jeff_Brauer]

Tiger may not be a graduate of Stanford.....but he does have 4 Masters!

[John Moore II]

  You didn't mention trains,moma,prison or gettin drunk.

  Anthony

Forgot to mention Trucks.  "You don't have to call me darlin,' darlin,' You never even called me by my name."

[Kevin_Reilly]

Following on the example of John McEnroe, who if I recall correctly was "one and done" on the Farm, they will undoubtedly put a "year" of participation next to Tiger's name, disguised as a graduation year, so the unsuspecting will not know that Tiger was on campus about as long as that future member of the Stanford HoF, Michelle Wie. 

Here's the format:  http://www.gostanford.com/trads/stan-trads-hof.html

[Rich Goodale]

Just to get this back on topic.

CB Macdonald didn't graduate from St. Andrews.........

[Ulrich Mayring]

Steve Jobs dropped out of Stanford as well, he did even less than Tiger - just took a few courses part-time. Look how he explains the importance of graduating in his acceptance speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Ulrich

[Mark Bourgeois]

But Ulrich, at least Jobs and Gates went out and created things that produced huge benefits to society.  Tiger is little more than an entertainer.

Rich, Jess Sweetser ripped Ben Crenshaw for being a bogus student at UT.

[PThomas]

not sure how relevant this is to this topic, but i think it conveys an important thought:

my oldest daughter will be going to college next year, and she is extrememly bright: she got a 34 (out of 36) on her ACT test

and she's a go getter too, applying for all sorts of scholarships...

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

some of society's priorities are WAY out of wack

[Rich Goodale]

Mark

Thanks for bring this thread back to GCA.  I bet if Crenshaw studied more in whatever major he had at Austin he would never have had time to read Hutchinson and Darwin and Sand Hills would still be a cow pasture....

And, as Paul says rightly below, the Intravenous League has a long and proud history of letting in underqualified students if they also happen to be able to run the 40 in 4.5 or less or whatever.

Getting back off tpoic.....

Ulrich

I don't think that Jobs went to Stanford in his brief visit to Academia, but I could be wrong

[Bill_McBride]

not sure how relevant this is to this topic, but i think it conveys an important thought:

my oldest daughter will be going to college next year, and she is extrememly bright: she got a 34 (out of 36) on her ACT test

and she's a go getter too, applying for all sorts of scholarships...

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

some of society's priorities are WAY out of wack

What is her yards per carry average?

[PThomas]

not sure how relevant this is to this topic, but i think it conveys an important thought:

my oldest daughter will be going to college next year, and she is extrememly bright: she got a 34 (out of 36) on her ACT test

and she's a go getter too, applying for all sorts of scholarships...

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

some of society's priorities are WAY out of wack

What is her yards per carry average?

none Bill...she's just extremely bright and mature and focused and has the potential to do a lot for society with her talents..

too bad chasing around a piece of pigskin isnt one of them

[Michael Whitaker]

Michael Sweeney - You of all people should understand that it's ALWAYS about the MONEY.

[Jud_T]

So what is the GCA equivalent of going for a 2-point conversion at the end of a game that you have an insurmountable lead in? 

[Kevin_Reilly]

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

That would be a need-based scholarship, not an athletic one.  No athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

[Kalen Braley]

First off, I'd like to thank Mike S for creating what appears to be on the surface the mother of all OT threads by bringing together such a wide array of topics and weaving them together so seamlessly.  Truly inspiring....you must be a Stanford grad right?   

Secondly, if anyone feels Tiger has brought nothing to the table you are crazy.  Other than making a small village of people around him filthy rich he has indeed done a lot of charity work for under-priveleged kids and so forth.  Throw in his marketing ability to get people to buy products and he hasn't done too bad despite his oft-noted bad behavoir on the course.

Thirdly, I would agree Stanford is brutally tough to get into....hell even Cal was out of my league but only because of certain policies that were in place at the time.  Lets just say I had some friends who got into Cal with less than a 3.0 GPA because thier heritage was different than mine, and even though I had far better credentials I didn't even bother wasting my time with the application.

Lastly, put me in the camp of those who think its a joke to put Tiger in the Stanford HOF....a complete and utter joke...but then again I'm not surprised as my general opinion towards "higher education" in general is more than slightly jaded.

[PThomas]

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

That would be a need-based scholarship, not an athletic one.  No athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

but because my daughter doesnt play football she cant get a free ride, even though her ACT score blows his away?  i've always taught my kids that life isnt fair

[jeffwarne]

..then one day she came home saying how she doesnt understnad how a member of her schools fottball team can get  TOTALLY FREE ride to Yale if he gets his ACT score up to 23

That would be a need-based scholarship, not an athletic one.  No athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

First off, I'd like to thank Mike S for creating what appears to be on the surface the mother of all OT threads by bringing together such a wide array of topics and weaving them together so seamlessly.  Truly inspiring....you must be a Stanford grad right?  

Secondly, if anyone feels Tiger has brought nothing to the table you are crazy.  Other than making a small village of people around him filthy rich he has indeed done a lot of charity work for under-priveleged kids and so forth.  Throw in his marketing ability to get people to buy products and he hasn't done too bad despite his oft-noted bad behavoir on the course.

Thirdly, I would agree Stanford is brutally tough to get into....hell even Cal was out of my league but only because of certain policies that were in place at the time.  Lets just say I had some friends who got into Cal with less than a 3.0 GPA because thier heritage was different than mine, and even though I had far better credentials I didn't even bother wasting my time with the application.

Lastly, put me in the camp of those who think its a joke to put Tiger in the Stanford HOF....a complete and utter joke...but then again I'm not surprised as my general opinion towards "higher education" in general is more than slightly jaded.

Paul,
 Would you feel better if  he was given a need based scholarship and didn't play football?
What was the paid attendance at the most recent Yale quiz bowl?

Stanford already lowered (in fact dropped) the bar by giving McEnroe HOF status.

[Brent Hutto]

It's supply and demand. There are a certain number of ACT-score-curve-busting-geeks in the world and a certain number of pigskin carrying freaks of nature. Apparently it takes an offer of a full ride to get a good pigskin carrier whereas ACT-acers will show up even if asked to pay tuition. Market equilibrium, I guess.

As a certified test-acer from way back myself, I assure you that test taking prowess is no more assurance of ones worth to humanity than the ability to run fast with a football and take hits from linebackers.

P.S. It is a mistake to assume that the purpose of modern "higher education" establishments is entirely the provision of educational services to students of outstanding potential. I believe a wise man pointed out earlier in this thread that it's always about the money.

P.P.S. And as far as a Hall Of Fame is concerned, the criteria is presumably fameousness in which case McEnroe and Woods would seem no-brainer choices for inclusion. They're pretty darned famous.