Blatantly stealing David Bernstein’s schtick, I am having an “ask me anything” post.
You ask, I will answer. (Maybe not right away, I gut a life you know. But sometime today.)
Feel free to e-mail your questions if you aren’t a BMger. I will post them here and answer.
Okay. Is everybody ready?
Aaaand….
Begin.
Please share widely!
david says
When will DeLeo step down, and who will replace him as Speaker?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Oh wait. I’m Ernie. I know. Even though Bobby doesn’t.
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p>I say after he does something to keep Suffolk Downs going for a long time. That’s all he has to do. To do it however, he believes he has to take care of Carney and Sarkis. That is preposterous.
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p>And everyone else believes slots at Suffolk are the only way to save it.
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p>Wrong! Slots at Social Clubs with a percentage going to the horsemen. Another going to local community stuff, and finally a percentage going to the club for the benefit of the increasing membership.
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p>Get those purses up and start promoting a racing season as part of the Boston experience. If not, then I want slot machines. Why should Joe O’Donnell get them?
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p>As for next speaker? Right now it’s whoever Ron Mariano decides it will be. Attn. Charley Murphy.
amberpaw says
And, why were the attorney fees THAT high for document review of legislative files? Inquiring minds want to know. Oh yeah, what was the REAL hourly rate.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
negligent in his duty if he did not hire competent counsel to review competent and necessary legal work performed by competent council because of a few loud, self-serving, obstructionist like, sore losers.
goldsteingonewild says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
he will lose in a re-election bid for Treasurer.
goldsteingonewild says
so does that mean DP wins re-election in 3 way race?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
to early to tell
gray-sky says
What will be the issue that sinks Tim Cahill?
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p>And will he need to change his slogan to Tim; 10 to 20?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
He will of course deny it and say he was making a call. This will result in demands for criminal investigations and subpoenas of telephone records and all sorts of stuff.
matt-frank says
What is your real name?
patricklong says
Matt, you just beat me to the punch.
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p>So, next question, why do our Senate Presidents never have fall as hard as our Speakers?
stomv says
for there to be an EB4 fka Ernie Boch IV?
huh says
1) Is calling a police office a “pussy” 22 times in post a personal best or do you have plans to out do yourself?
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p>2) Does David front paging this constitute a BMG endorsement of misogyny and homophobia or is it just an expression of David’s comfort with them?
sabutai says
Turning an antediluvian bigot into a cutesy poster boy, or saying that a pro-murder conspiracy nut adds “character” aren’t calls that I’d make. But as the editors say, it’s their blog.
huh says
It’s the editors blog and they’ve made it clear we’re free to go elsewhere if we don’t like it, but I still don’t get it.
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p>For those following at home, this is what I’m talking about:
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p>
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p>Also stuff like this.
davemb says
Ernie is trying to make a point about Officer Asher’s lack of a set of classical “manly virtues” that are really orthogonal to sexual preference or even sexuality — a real man should confront the strong and protect the weak as needed, for example. (In the case of a law officer, in particular, a real man should be as much like Constable Benton Fraser as possible.) Ernie’s vocabulary is outdated and unfortunate, in that it suggests that a man lacking these manly virtues is somehow womanly in possessing a vagina. This is ridiculous and offensive, of course, but I still think the post, expressed in what is likely Officer Asher’s own vocabulary, is really funny and makes a good point. Ernie is usually though not always worth reading, and for me is one of the main attractions of BMG.
huh says
Or if he used “spic” or “kike” instead of “pussy?”
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p>It would certainly be in character…
davemb says
Those are words, like “nigger”, which should be pretty much out of bounds all the time. I was commenting on the text you quoted only.
smadin says
that you apparently don’t think “pussy” as an insult (which necessarily constitutes a claim that women are weak and/or their genitalia are shameful and disgusting) or “fag” or “homo” as insults (which, again, necessarily constitute claims that it’s bad, wrong, dirty, shameful, disgusting and/or weak to be homosexual) should also be “pretty much out of bounds all the time.”
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p>On the other hand, it’s not like there’s ever been, let alone continues to be, any sort of institutionalized oppression against women and LGBTQI people, or like they ever have been, let alone continue to be, targets of discrimination, hatred, violence, sexual assault, rape and murder – condoned or ignored by the “mainstream” culture – just because of who they are, right? …oh wait.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
insults women the what does the word “prick” do? As in “he’s a prick.”
smadin says
Both words, as it happens, are arguably harmless when used in a neutral way to refer to genitalia (though certainly some find each of them distasteful), but when used as insults both serve to reinforce the existing, misogynistic structural biases in our culture.
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p>You might as well be arguing that it’s just as bad to call a white person in the US a “honkey” as it is to call a black person a “nigger.”
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
I missed it.
smadin says
lasthorseman says
When mainstream media does everything to enforce the 14 characteristics of fascism, forcing police into the role of Stormtrooper that is what you get.
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p>In this “post 911 world”.
Really. Well are we going to be able to navigate life locally when the US becomes Prof. Panarins seven regions.
Timeline is right on schedule.
huh says
To be specific : saying that a pro-murder conspiracy nut adds “character”.
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p>I personally would have gone with “deranged incoherence” but that’s just me.
lasthorseman says
to look up antedeluvian. I am from the Slave Species of God worldview which makes Mr Bedell merely a news patsy used to advance false propaganda into the minds of the generationally misled.
peter-porcupine says
huh says
next question?
billxi says
Like YOUR reliability is unquestionable.
smadin says
First of all, it’s entirely possible not everyone has seen them. Second, this isn’t about being “offended,” and it’s disingenuous of you to pretend that it is just a matter of “hurt feelings” or discomfort with crude language. There’s a difference between saying “fuck” a lot and saying “fag” a lot, and I don’t believe for a second that you aren’t smart enough to understand what that difference is.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
They’re part of my marketing and distribution team.
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p>They just don’t know it.
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p>The perfect patsies.
centralmassdad says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Perhaps you should read some George Elliott stoRmv
huh says
here:
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p>Emphasis mine.
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p>BMG: the best cro-magnon quality commentary on women and gay men in massachusetts and around the nation.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
ya really creeping me out.
huh says
It’s your words and this blog has a search function. Ashamed? You should be.
billxi says
It keeps a file cabinet of all my musings. But huh, you missed the one post where I promoted violence. You’re not doing a very good job.
huh says
So, if someone says something memorable, like say “closet homo” or, in your case, “COME AND GET ME ASSHOLE!” huh knows how to type it into the Google custom search box in the upper left hand corner.
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p>See how useful being able to process and retain information can be?
kbusch says
Perhaps, if you’re likely, you’ll be allowed to go to Huh World Headquarters somewhere out near Millbury and visit the vast underground files containing everything you’ve ever written, everything that’s every been written about what you’ve written, and everything that’s been written about that.
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p>It’s strange.
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p>It’s creepy.
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p>You might not get out alive.
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p>Don’t worry, there’s an excellent selection of flowers to choose from.
stomv says
But I revise:
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p>Has a fertile person of the opposite gender been able to tolerate you long enough for there to be an EB4 fka Ernie Boch IV?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
opposite gender? Why only straight people?
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p>I can’t tolerate your attitude stomv.
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p>Me and huh are going to work like ants to stop you from blogging on BMG.
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p>right huh?
huh says
It’s a valid point.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
smadin says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Noooo. Never.
stomv says
people of the same gender can’t reproduce sexually. Them’s the breaks.
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p>Oh crud — where’s the creepy egg and sperm crazygonuts guy?
smadin says
but maybe if we say his name two more times? (Also, wasn’t he the one who started up Purple Mass Group?)
huh says
I love the latest entry on PMG:
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p>Um yeah. Sure.
smadin says
Someone better notify Glenn Reynolds!
dcsurfer says
So he doesn’t call himself a “conservative” at all. It’s apparently other people that consistently confuse libertarians with conservatives. From the wiki for Instapundit: “A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described him as one of the five “best-read national conservative bloggers,” though Reynolds self-identifies not as a conservative, but as a libertarian.”
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p>He’s just pro-Iraq war and against being taxed, like the RedMassGroup bloggers. Not conservative, or even conservative-libertarian, simply libertarian. This blog is also more libertarian than liberal or Democratic.
billxi says
Wow! You really don’t have a life.
huh says
Here, let me Google “Purple Mass Group” for you
smadin says
it only encourages them.
petr says
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p>Um… your sig, which attaches to each and every comment…sayeth;
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p>
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
I have a history of those.
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p>I’ll correct it immediately.
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p>Thanks for pointing it out.
petr says
… we should start calling you Ernestina?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
That doesn’t make sense. My name is Ernie. I corrected a typo. Where is there any evidence in this thread to make that query?
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p>Man, why can’t people think?
farnkoff says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
the god and goddess of the seventh planet in the constellation Z74 is Sal.
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p>But I prefer ernie.
scout says
…and only could save one and only one of the following items, which would it be? 1. incriminating video of Jay Kaufman, Wendy Murphy, and Barbara Anderson eating puppies on the taxpayers dime 2. Tom Finneran’s law license 3. “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Picking Up Leggy Dames” 4. “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Blogging” 5. complete collection of State House parking passes, 1980-2005 6. your favorite mirror
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Second, I only want to see the complete transcript of Finneran’s testimony from which they indicted him. I would love to read it then make the case for or against him.
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p>If anyone could get me that i would much appreciate it.
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p>Parking passes from has beens? puleeeze.
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p>”dames”? I don’t talk like that.
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p>blogging guide? You mean they right books about this shit?
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p>The mirror of course. By default.
scout says
leggy dolls would be more your style. I stand corrected. But, you will never make a case against the disgraced former King, I mean Speaker- no matter how shamelessly he lied under oath during a civil rights trial. That much I know for sure.
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p>Separate question, if it wasn’t for BMG, who would you have for an audience? A homeless guy you wake up in an ally to lecture about the inadequacies of the committee system? EB3’s pet goldfish, Automile?
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p>
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Why is it hidden? Let me read the testimony and see where the perjury is. From what i understand it is very questionable.
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p>As for my audience being a homeless guy, goldfish or an automobile. well, I’m not sure. Which one is you?
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p>Bada Bing!
scout says
What are you talking about?
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p>I’m BMG. The question is…If there were no BMG, who would your audience be?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
The Boston Globe should provide a link to it so people can judge for themselves.
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p>The facts are simple. All one has to do is read the transcript. The entire transcript. Under the law the testimony must be considered in its entirety when determining perjury. The subject of the perjury must be material. And there must be intent. I’m not sure of any of those exist in this case.
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p>Remember, this was prosecuted by a Bush U.S. Attorney who did what he was told and later became head of ATF.
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p>Remember the many Bush U.S. Attorneys quitting because of unethical pressure to indict Democratic pols? How about Harvey Silverglate recent op-ed in the Globe saying Finneran got screwed?
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p>I’m sorry scout. If you hate Finneran, fine. But that doesn’t mean a heavy handed prosecutor targeted a controversial yet by all accounts ethical politician which resulted in a specious yet sexy indictment allowing said prosecutor professional advancement and attention.
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p>Do you know how much it costs in money to defend a case in U.S. Court? Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then the chance are you can get convicted and go away for awhile, leaving your family bankrupt. Don’t forget another few hundred grand for the appeals. Jury loves to do what federal prosecutors tell them to do?
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p>So what do you do? You plead guilty and get on with your life. But you have to take the consequences. That means not saying you didn’t do it but plead guilty when arguing for your law license. Why? Because you told a federal judge you did it. That’s what pleading guilty is. So of course your law license will be suspended. How long? Not sure, but I bet he gets it back next go around. And don’t be surprised if you see a presidential pardon somewhere down the line.
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p>I have never seen the transcript.
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p>Answer to your second question.
If there were no BMG my audience would still be the 57 cats I live with.
farnkoff says
For the transcript? Or is that stuff off-limits for some reason?
scout says
He doesn’t really want the transcript online…if he did, he clearly is knowledgeable enough and has enough time on his hands to have done it. After all, he’s been spouting this line of bs for a long time now in an effort to create a revisionist history where Finneran was “targeted” partisan feds…the truth is the judge in the civil rights trial of redistricting was so appalled by Finneran’s shameless & obvious lying that he virtually begged for a perjury investigation…and King Tom fell.
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p>Plus, EB3 is not exactly shy about making judgments about other pols and people based on infinitely less proof than is available online regarding Finneran’s perjury.
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
put it on line like a half decent media outlet should?
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p>Why are you afraid of evidence Scout? The whole case is in the transcript. I guess if someone wants to look into facts they are in an “effort to creatre revisionist history”.
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p>Boy Scout, you really are anti-intellectual anti-free thinking. And scared of facts.
peter-porcupine says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Boy, do I have stories from back in my case officer days.
hubspoke says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
We Don’t Know!
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p>Off of Route 128.
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p>In Braintree
judy-meredith says
makes me read this?
hubspoke says
smadin says
paulsimmons says
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
has stumped the Great and Powerful Ernie.
paulsimmons says
judy-meredith says
paulsimmons says
judy-meredith says
looked great an powerful too. As long as he stayed behind the curtain. So you stay there, and I’ll keep my shoes.
paulsimmons says
…set up her aunt, uncle and the Wizard in style; and ended up as right-hand advisor to Queen Ozma.
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p>I read the whole series.
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p>See, you can have your shoes and wear them too, so to speak.
bigmike says
Do you think I have any chance as an Independent running for United States Congress in the 4th Congressional District?
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p>Like so many of my friends and neighbors, I am terribly disappointed by the lack of change and the absence of progress coming out of Washington right now.
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p>I grew up in a public housing project in Norwood, MA and attended Duke University on a full football scholarship. Last year, I graduated from Boston College Law School, and then I spent the fall working in the communications field and organizing and advocating for the public health insurance option.
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p>But at this point, I have concluded that it’s useless to try and work with elected officials in the Democratic party — because the party is basically a big fundraising machine that is more or less beholden to the same people who brought us this great financial crisis, our failing health care system, and the Bush-era foreign policy.
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p>So, I am considering a do-it-yourself run for Congress on a strict budget of $0.00. My goal is to help set a new moral norm in American politics — whereby people begin to see the entire practice of political fundraising (a.k.a. bribes) as absolutely unacceptable.
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p>Especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, I think voters might appreciate having an alternative to the “pay-to-play” two-party system.
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p>Would do you think?
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p>Mike Connolly
Newton, MA
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p>
paulsimmons says
Appoint Ernie as the Treasurer of your no-contribution campaign.
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p>At the very least, you’ll get free media.
sabutai says
And it will be worth what you paid for it.
paulsimmons says
Have you no shame?
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
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p>You gotta get off your ass little man. Think big. You can set a new moral norm for the Universe. Don’t deprive those less fortunate of the benefit of your powers.
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p>p.s. i’m tired of every freakin kid who didn’t come from a trust fund and got a degree thinking he deserves a parade. WTF?
paulsimmons says
Do you want to register the Committee as Democratic or Cosmic Healing Party?
bigmike says
It was probably lame of me to throw that little detail of my disadvantaged upbringing into my post, and I will keep your feedback in mind when I discuss this project with people in the future. Thank you for the response!
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
Who Is Your state rep?
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p>Who is your state senator?
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p>Lets think about this.
bigmike says
…that it would be better to try the “No-Money” approach at the state-level first?
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p>I’ve thought about that myself…
eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says
And I’ll be an unofficial consultant
stomv says
Homie was 6’8″, 310 lbs as a 19(?) year old freshman.
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p>I remember watching my college beat Duke on the gridiron in 1999. And 2000. And 2001, 2002, and 2003 (though I don’t know if you were at Duke for 4 or 5 years… and I’m too lazy to look up the rosters).
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p>Big Mike played for some terrible Duke teams. But look, that’s not his fault — he was on offense and the defense was giving up 30-45 points a game depending on the season.
bigmike says
we were not very successful at all!
stomv says
I love big time college athletics, but I’m an academic by nature. Winning today’s game matters today. Performing well off the field — in the classroom and in one’s interactions with others — matters every day for the rest of one’s life.
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p>It sounds like you understood that then, and I’m sure you do now. I only wish more college athletes, coaches, trainers, athletic directors, boosters, and fans understood that.
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p>
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p>Duke’s football team has had a graduation rate of around 90% for the better part of the last 15 years. Sure, they’re not all majoring in Biomedical Engineering, and some of them are just skating through without really trying to better their heads, but Duke football is doing an awful lot of things right. I only wish other NCAA institutions would take more cues from places like Duke and Vandy, the Ivies, and even Pac-10 schools (which work really hard to not schedule games M-Th night, despite the loss of television revenue).
bigmike says
i think we won a total of 7 games during my 4 years on the team — but i wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything! and i also managed to earn a computer science degree and make some lifelong friends so i can’t complain! đŸ˜‰