Dawggone Wild
By John Helsley
What’s it worth to have your ailing quarterback quarantined, via airplane, yet available to play?
In the case of Georgia’s Joe Cox, $6,274.
Check it out here,where the Athens paper reveals the plan to deliver Cox to Stillwater for the OSU game separately from the team, so not to risk the spread of a virus he was battling.
That was the charge of a Georgia aviation company to fly Cox into Stillwater solo on the Friday night before kickoff. He had missed Thursday’s practice with a fever of more than 100 degrees.
Cox started the game and played the whole way, but was not all that impressive after an initial drive to a touchdown — the Dawgs’ lone TD drive.
So the return on the investment is questionable.
I guess it’s noble that Georgia didn’t just fly Cox commercial (at a far cheaper amount) and put other passengers at risk of getting sick. Still, this is another example of athletic departments run amok.
Employees at UGA — coaches included — are due to take forced work furloughs because of school-wide cuts. And over in athletics, the appearance is that they’re breaking out the checkbook with little regard for financial restraint.
This kind of free spending isn’t limited to Georgia. In the name of recruiting gains and competitive advantage, convenience is frequently the No. 1 factor in athletic travel among the powerhouse programs.
While the rest of us tighten our belts and skip trips to Starbuck’s, coaching salaries and the price of tickets and concessions and parking continue to soar.
I’m bothered and I’m a media freeloader, with free entry to games and privileged parking, except for the times when I pack up the car and the kids and head off to catch a Cardinals game in St. Louis.
Doesn’t it bother you, the fan, too?
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