The other night we traveled three hours one way to watch the Southern California Trojans ‘school’ the puppies from San Luis Obispo. To be honest, Cal Poly did put up a valiant fight for as long as it lasted… but the end was never in doubt.
Some small schools like to crow about how they really are as good as the major universities (believe me I have listened to folks from Cal Poly for years), but there are too many systemic differences to make any serious comparisons. Many who traveled down from San Luis Obispo for the game left wide eyed and bewildered.
First, I am not here to talk badly about Cal Poly… my Laura teaches there now and I did for a time as well. However, I really believe that accurate comparisons start with accurate perceptions and I think the Cal Poly Basketball team learned part of that hard lesson the other night.
The truth is that every university has a few academic and athletic ‘gems’ that they are justifiably proud … in my less than humble opinion, Cal Poly’s Professor Laura is certainly one of them… unfortunately, there just aren’t very many like her. By contrast, the academic community of Southern Cal vibrates with talent.
So, you can’t compare schools that have doctoral programs and well respected masters and professional degrees and real athletic programs with schools that have… well… much less.
Fight on!
Roger Freberg
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