Time to go Back to School

Lynn University in Florida has a course called “The Final Four Experience”. That’s right, the Final Four. Twelve students majoring in Sports Management plus a couple professors arrived in Atlanta last Wednesday to take in a Georgia Tech baseball game, an Atlanta Thrashers hockey game, and of course attendance at both NCAA National Semifinal games Saturday and the National Championship tonight. The students also toured the pro and college sports stadiums, and networked with team executives and sponsors, according to the AP report.

In exchange for the privilege and bounty bestowed upon the students, they’re required to do some work during the event- keep a diary/journal during their travels and make presentations regarding major sports facility and event operations. How about this: “Day One: Dear Diary, I am the luckiest mother f***er on the planet.” Day Two: “I can’t believe I’m actually getting three credits to attend the Final Four in person. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Tom Cruise.”

The AP article is filled with nauseating comments from the participating students about how the trip offers them insight into their major and the opportunity to network with like-minded professionals. It should instead have been filled with quotes like “I’m just living the dream” and “Lynn and his/her University is the greatest person-university combo on the planet”. My professors couldn’t even hook me up with a decent job interview in college; the profs at Lynn are scoring Final Four tickets for their students. If had any of my student loans left to pay, I’d stop.

Better still, one of the professors who organized the trip has his eye on some other great sporting events. Professor Theodore Curtis mentioned the football BCS championship game in New Orleans next year and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. What’s next for the ‘ol course catalog- “The VP Hunting Experience” for Poly Sci majors? “The Strip Club Experience” for Pole Management majors? Or maybe “The Jimi Hendrix Experience” for Pharmacy majors?

Well, call me Rodney Dangerfield but I’m brushing up my transcripts and going back to school at lovely L.U. I’ll be the one with the grin plastered permanently on my face and the diary under my arm. See you in the classroom.