In the mayor’s speech he often asks people what is the one thing that Connecticut residents to expect to be excellent in. It’s amazing how often the first answer is – UConn Basketball. Its true – people in this state have become entirely complacent – we have truly become the land of steady habits – UConn basketball is the only thing we are truly passionate about.
As a UConn graduate – the daughter of a UConn alumni, niece of several UConn alumni and granddaughter of a UConn alumni I’m sensitive to the ups and downs of the basketball season and know March madness ends when the Huskies are out – UConn Basketball is Conneticut.
If our complacency wasn’t bad enough already Jodi Rell is out to ruin this too. Today the New Haven Register published a story about the pending ethics review of outside contracts for “celebrity” employees – including Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma. These coaches, like many around the nation have outside contracts – or endorsement deals – with companies such as Nike. These contracts have existed for years and have followed the rules and guidelines set forth by the state, the executive and the NCAA – whose rules and bilaws are extremely rigid.
Sure ethics is an issue in this state but I don’t see how Jim Calhoun only wearing a Nike shirt and shoes hurts anyone. In fact – the money that Calhoun has earned has no doubt allowed his continued generosity to the state including the donation of the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center at the UConn Health Care Center.
There are bigger problems in the state – the governor is complacent about job growth – loosing 33,000 jobs since the end of the recession, complacent about transportation settling for a transportation policy that won’t even meet current needs for four years. We should expect more – what will you do to make sure we don’t loose anything else in this state.
