STrib Editorial Board: Gophers football: Epilepsy doesn't define Jerry Kill era

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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The Editorial Board of the Star Tribune weighs in:

Kill is, in many ways, an inspirational and courageous figure. Far from concealing his condition, he has been active in the community helping to improve understanding of epilepsy and encourage those who live with it to not let it narrow their dreams. As Teague pointed out, there’s far more to Kill’s job than Saturday games. His task is as much about building character and fostering academic success as it is about diagraming plays. In all phases, Kill has been an exemplary coach. The loyalty of his longtime assistant coaches speaks volumes.

For their part, the team’s fans seem to understand that it may take the remainder of Kill’s contract (five more years) to build a competitive team. At this point, they seem willing to give him a chance. Epilepsy was not in the script they had hoped for. But it’s possible to imagine that Kill’s coping with his illness while building a successful team could be just the heroic narrative that college football needs right now. The game is swimming in scandal and hypocrisy. If Frank Capra were still alive, he’d be pitching Kill’s story all around Hollywood.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/223982551.html

Go Gophers!!
 


Here is my letter to Strib leadership.

"No one who buys a ticket to TCF Bank Stadium should be rewarded with the sight of a middle-aged man writhing on the ground."

I remember a girl having a seizure 25 years ago while sitting next to me in junior high english class. She would go on to have two to three seizures a year and "became the subject of pity and ridicule". I often wondered what it must have been like coming back to school. I'm sure she heard the jokes, but worse would have been the constant horror that she she could have another attack at any moment. I doubt she worried about the effects the seizures had on her health as much as disrupting the class and scaring away classmates and potential friends. I wish I would have told her it was no big deal. Instead I acted like the other kids and chose to avoid her, not wanting to be associated with the girl who may blank out and start drooling.

I like to think life got easier for her. Co-workers can't be as cruel as school kids. I am sure she followed Jerry Kill's career with interest. With that, she likely read the article you published. Do her co-workers feel the same way when she has an episode at work? Did watching a middle-aged woman writhe on the floor ruin their work day? Why should she even have a job? As Jim points out, the face of the team can’t belong to someone who may be rushed to the hospital at any moment of any meeting, or conference call, or presentation. After all, we can't assume people have matured beyond junior high.

Souhan makes fun of the disabled and his bosses chose to pretend nothing is wrong. Your tacit approval of his actions show just how much a few extra web clicks or papers sold mean to you all - disabled be damned. You even worry his disability is affecting recruiting (by your own published model, "fifty percent of a big-time college coach's job is recruiting") instead of lamenting what a sad commentary it would be if it did affect recruiting. I'm not sure how you all sleep at night knowing Souhan is still employed, but I am guessing it is better than any epileptic on your staff.

Looking forward to a response,
 

The strib is back-peddling faster than that rookie Vikings CB on the game winning TD yesterday.
 




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