No, it's not Michigan State. It's Newsday's Arthur Staple, and he's calling out the pandering locals and cheesy carpetbaggers.
Detroit is suffering. But the Spartans run to the final four will not save the motor city from the army of hybrid Toyotas and incompetent CEOs that have besieged the region's economy.
Take it away, Arthur:
It makes for a nice story that Michigan State is winning in this tournament for the downtrodden state of Michigan, which had the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 12 percent, in February.General Motors has the tallest building in town, and it probably isn't filled with happy employees these days.
But let's not get too sentimental. Izzo makes more than $1.8 million a year -- more than UConn's Jim Calhoun who famously got into it with a muckraker earlier this season regarding his $1.6-million salary, with Connecticut hit hard by the recession. No one's railing against Izzo's salary in the current climate, only praising the Spartans for lifting the spirits, if not the incomes, of the jobless and homeless here.
It's a dangerous story, and a disingenuous one.
I don't know why people write this stuff. Does it make for too good a story? Are they too lazy to find something better? Or worst of all, can they actually believe this nonsense?
Maybe it's a mix of all three. In the meantime, I'll just make sure to wait until 9:21 p.m. to tune into tonight's championship game.
Lord knows what kind of poignant poppycock CBS will pull out for a pre-game puff piece.
No comments:
Post a Comment