Bolden: To Whine or To Work?

Rob Bolden will presumably hang around Penn State for spring semester so as not to disrupt his academic progress while allowing him to compete for the quarterback position. Although that will quench the debate for a while, I read a piece this morning that shed a whole new light on the whole charade and hit on some character issues I’ve harped on in the past.

“Remember, no team wants to start a true freshman quarterback.” –Frank Bodani, York Daily Record

Once in a while, a newspaperman will rise above the fray and hit on an angle that at once dignifies him and elucidates a subject in such a way that competing reporters are made to appear as mere hacks. Frank Bodani of the York Daily Record has written a piece that, in this Turkey’s humble opinion, reduces the Rob Bolden caper to a family matter that transcends mere football machinations.

So often these days, high school athletes develop inflated egos. They’re the BMOC in their small pond. The ego inflation process continues through the recruitment process, when they’re treated like kings and promised great things. Is it any wonder that not only these guys but also their families start believing in their greatness and infallibility, even though many of them are diamonds in the rough, and even more are complete duds?

No, they’re not finished products, and certainly Rob Bolden wasn’t. However, his (and his father’s) sense of entitlement was broadened by Penn State’s decision to start him at quarterback as a true freshman. As Bodani writes, “Remember, no team wants to start a true freshman quarterback.” It just worked out that he was the best option at the time, which changed when he got hurt. He lost his job because Matt McGloin appeared to generate some team spirit that was lacking, and did well on the field for a while. Nobody regarded McGloin as a long-term solution.

Meanwhile, Bolden pouts. McGloin throws five interceptions in the Outback Bowl and Bolden pouts some more. His father, instead of telling him to buck up and compete harder to get his job back, wants to take the easy way out and transfer his son in mid-academic year to another school that will play his son. No one knows where that might have been, but isn’t it absurd to believe that some program’s coach somewhere would guarantee Rob Sr. playing time for his coddled, downtrodden son? The football aspects of the story are beside the point in Bodani’s piece.

Think of what your father would do in this situation. That’s Bodani’s angle. Would your dad want to continue inflating your ego just to make you feel good and not make you understand that things like this happen in life and they build character? Would he tell you to quit pouting and work your ass off in practice to eventually win your job back instead of setting a piss poor example by telling you that if you don’t like it, you can take your ball and go elsewhere?

Read Bodani’s piece. It couches in a much more positive light what I’ve been clumsily trying to say about these spoiled prima dona brats for a long, long time.