All Now Mysterious...

Thursday, May 27, 2004

A Question of Management

In the aftermath of a scandal that drew the attention of Congress, the NCAA, the governor, and the national press, suspended Colorado University football coach Gary Barnett has been reinstated.

Some people see this as vindication for the coach and the program. Many others are disturbed, perplexed, and/or outraged.

As for me, this incident brings to mind another (admittedly unrelated) case of organizational misbehavior.

Consider: Soldiers in Iraq abuse, humiliate, and even rape prisoners. Finger pointing begins, investigations arise, and soldiers go on trial. Meanwhile, a cry goes up for accountability. If public opinion is to be believed, everyone in the chain of command - up to and including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush - should be fired.

Meanwhile, Colorado football players arrange for potential recruits to have access to alcohol, strippers, sex, and drugs in an effort to entice them to join the Golden Buffalo football program. Allegations of rape surface, including one from a former player. Barnett promptly dismisses that player (and by implication, her accusation), saying she was a "terrible" player. He also says that he would "back up" another player accused of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, after several months of investigation, the president of the university announces that nobody is going to lose their jobs. She says that keeping Barnett and his staff at Colorado is "the right thing to do".

One of CU president Betsy Hoffman’s main defenses for the decision was that she "[did] not believe that coaches and administrators at this university knowingly used sex, alcohol and drugs as recruiting tools".

That may be true, and it may not. But even if it is true, the fact remains that when all is said and done, Barnett is responsible for the presence of every one of the involved personnel at the University of Colorado. Every player, every recruit, and every staff member who was supposed to have been a chaperone was brought to Boulder by Barnett and ultimately reports to Barnett.

On the other hand, how many of the soldiers now accused in Iraq were brought into the Army personally by Rumsfeld or Bush? How many have even met Rumsfeld or Bush, or have even seen them in person? Do they report to either of these men? How then can Bush and Rumsfeld be held responsible for their actions?

As I stated above, I know that these are two completely different situations. But a similar principle is involved in both cases, and there is one question in common:

When members of an organization misbehave, how high up the managerial ladder does (or should) the accountability go?

I don't know. But I do know that I won't be watching CU football next season.

Quote of the Day

"[Rupert] Grint said he was still hoping to stay in the series although it would mean giving up his childhood dream of being an ice-cream man."

Harry Potter Stars Predict Gruesome End to Series, Yahoo! News, 27 May 2004

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Magic and Such

Again taking a lead from Derek's blog, I took the Which Magical Order are You In? Quiz. Here are the results.


You are a Spiritualist. Your magic flows from the
primal forces of the cosmos. You could be a
gentle Healer, a miraculous Prophet or a
spirit-summoning War-mage with the strong link
your soul provides to the realms beyond
reality. You have preternatural abilities,
intutively sensing the personality of people
you meet and discerning events yet to happen.
You enhance your aura with meditative pursuits.
You are a good judge of character but your
idealism or morality can confuse others.


Which Magical Order Are You In?
brought to you by Quizilla

Interesting, yes, but a bit on the useless side.

Magickal systems, horoscopes, lucky numbers, I Ching, Feng Shui, Tarot cards, fortune tellers, psychic hotlines, et cetera, ad infinitum . . . whatever.

We Tauruses don't buy into any of that crap.

The Beginning

So, now I have a blog. Who'da thunk it?

I suppose I should thank Derek for this . . . I was actually just trying to post a response to one of the comments on his blog, and I was led ultimately to create one of my own. One can never be certain where one's choices will lead, I suppose.

I have a personal web page as well. If any of you reader(s) are interested, you can find my New and Improved Web Site here. (Although now I have to update that site to cross-reference it to this one. Bother.)

One final word, gentle reader(s). I don't promise to make this a place for ground-breaking dialogue or earth-changing exposition. I don't have any particular axe to grind with this site. I'm not trying to bring about an end to war, hunger, or the use of the designated hitter (although all of those things certainly need to be done). I don't even promise to contribute regularly. Heck, I hardly even know what I'm doing here.

But when I do write, I will try to make the contributions worth reading, even if they're shallow and superficial. I'll try to make you think . . . or at least chuckle. And I'll try to keep spelling errors, grammatical errors, and ytpos to a minimum.

It's the least I can do.