Academic talk missing in Greene’s resurgence

I was looking at a photo in the Des Moines Register the other day. It was with a feature on Iowa running back Shonn Greene. In the image, Greene is leaving the field after Iowa’s 22-17 victory over Purdue at Kinnick Stadium. He had just been interviewed by a sideline television reporter, and was being escorted to the Hawkeye dressing room by Phil Haddy, Iowa’s sports information director, and my internship supervisor, about 100 years ago. Greene has his helmet off, and he’s being mobbed by a group of young boys, patting him on the shoulder pads, with another offering him a “high five” with the requisite Tiger Hawk gloved hand on a cold, wind-swept afternoon. Greene is their hero at this moment. But you know what I’d like to see? I’d love it if Greene would say something on TV, or even in a newspaper or radio interview, about his academic “recovery” after being forced to sit out a year of football and attend Kirkwood Community College. He worked in a furniture store to make ends meet instead of attending the university on scholarship. At age 23, it would be great if he came out and said he’d had his wake-up call, and that he was now making progress toward earning his degree at UI. That would go a lot farther toward fulfilling his role model status than carrying the pigskin for another 200 yards on a Saturday afternoon. After all, how many of those kids will ever get a chance to play college football, let alone sign a professional contract? I hope the reason Greene isn’t saying much about his second chance to receive a UI education isn’t because things aren’t going a whole lot better this time around. There is some of that speculation circulating. All this talk about hoping he’ll stay for another year could be a waste of time, if he would find himself in a situation of not being eligible again. Heck, I’m just crossing my fingers that some of that talk is exaggeration, and he’ll still be eligible for a January bowl after the conclusion of the first semester. Stranger things have happened. So, pardon me if I don’t join the legions of Iowans losing sleep on the matter of “will he stay, or will he go?” I’d love to see him line up behind Rick Stanzi again next fall, but I’m not holding my breath.