Erskine Bowles

Crossposted from Daily Kos.

I've been in Iowa for a week, doing whatever it takes to win Iowa and the Democratic Nomination for Senator Joe Biden. As everybody here at BlueNC knows, I believe in Joe.

I'm beyond talking about Chuck Grassley and Tom Carper's Bankruptcy Bill, or the Clarence Thomas hearings that were cut short by Anita Hill's team. I'm beyond pedantic enucleations of back-door bureaucratic negotiations. I'm way beyond Hillary bashing. I'm not even asking for money. Instead, I'm going to tell you a story that in some ways goes back to a young college student in his small town's only diner, and in other ways goes back to a young man growing up in Delaware. Hopefully, you will indulge me as I go back in to my past, our past, and Joe Biden's past with some of my recollections and a few quotes that help tell the story. To those enamored with brevity, I apologize for the commodious topics covered in this diary. I think it's a rewarding read, but it's not for the faint of heart. Perhaps it will tell you more about a great Democratic Senator and a little about ourselves. And so it begins ...

Beyond pure greed and something akin to blood-lust, it's never been clear to me how college sports became the monstrous machine they are today. Even 35 years ago at the US Naval Academy, when we had to march onto football fields for the annual orgy of the Army-Navy game, I felt a deep sense of misplaced priorities, heavily laden by the stench of too much testosterone.

That ugly tradition continues today at UNC, where in a stunning display of poor judgment, Dick Baddour has just granted a losing head football coach a raise of nearly $300,000 per year. The N&O properly takes issue with the decision.

One of my favorite topics is back in the news, this time because of the good judgment of Erskine Bowles, president of the UNC system. Bowles has personally decreed that advertisements for the lottery have no place in sports events held by public universities. The N&O editorializes today on the subject.

Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, has done well to say so. He's also taken a position unlikely to win him friends in the Governor's Office, where the lottery is viewed as a wonderful benefit to North Carolina. And it's true that the university system benefits from lottery money.

But Bowles got to the heart of the issue when he said, "While it is legal for our students who are 18 or older to participate in the lottery, the lottery is nonetheless a form of gambling, and I feel strongly that we should not encourage gambling by our students." Amen, Brother Bowles.