University of Virginia Library

Dave Sparks.

He said it himself after the Vanderbilt
game. "Virginia has always had plenty of
brilliant students in uniform. What Lawrence
needs is a few more of those students that he
can spell the word
'students' without the
'ent' when they put on
the cleats... If brainpower
was the key ingredient to
win football games,
Virginia and Vandy would
be unstoppable."

We want a winning
football team too, Mr.
Sparks, but not at the price
you are asking us to pay.
If you want to impose
your one-dimensional
philosophy on a
university, go elsewhere
because no one here is
going to listen to you.

Even more damaging to
Mr. Sparks' credibility is
the way he insists on judging the entire
athletic program here by one sport. The
football team may still be floundering, but
what about our nationally-ranked basketball
team, or our NCAA champion lacrosse team,
or our ACC champion baseball team, or our
state champion golf team? Surely these
accomplishments warrant praise for Mr.
Corrigan and his staff, rather than the harsh
chastisements which Mr. Sparks continually
serves up. That Mr. Corrigan is developing the
athletic program here in what Mr. Sparks
terms the "Virginia Way" as opposed to "the
glamor way" is something for which we are
thankful. Mr. Sparks would have only to look
at the records to see that, in the main, the
"Virginia Way," under Mr. Corrigan's
leadership, is working.

But perhaps the trouble is that it takes
brainpower to look at all the facts and
interpret them as they relate to the overall
situation...and if brainpower were the key
ingredient to writing sports columns, Dave
Sparks would be unemployable.