Alright Already With The "Great Rochestie Sacrifice"

Can I just say that I'm really tired of reading about how, by giving up his scholarship, Taylor Rochestie made some amazing, inspiring sacrifice to the Wazzu basketball team. It's a nice story, and the recognition is certainly deserve to be recognized for it, but it's getting about 38 times the publicity that it's worth--and overshadowing the dedication of the rest of the Cougs.

First of all, Rochestie really didn't do a thing, it's his folks who absorbed the cost of the out-of-state tuition, and they can, apparently, well afford it. They live in Santa Barbara, where Rochestie's father runs a business that does "coaching for doctors," according to the Times' Bud Withers. (If there's one thing I've learned about rich people, it's that the more obscure way they make their money, the richer they are. True story: The richest people I've ever met--they owned a house on Laguna Beach next to a $500/night resort--made their family fortune selling toilets to prisons.)

Secondly, all this love to Rochestie denigrates the rest of the team. Don't you think Derrick Low or Kyle Weaver would've given up their scholarships if their daddies were wealthy? Ken Low (a mechanic) and LaMont Weaver (a college counselor) almost assuredly don't have $20K to throw around, but they both, from all accounts, supported their sons as well as they could.

Here's what Derrick told the Honolulu Advertiser in 2004 about his childhood: "We struggled a lot; we didn't grow up with nice things. But my dad always says, 'We may not be rich with money, but we're probably the richest with love, and that's what matters.' Money can come and go — some people have a lot of money, then lose it. But love will last a lot longer."

Low and Weaver are both getting full rides to Wazzu, but full rides don't pay for plane tickets back home for the holidays and the summer, for a car on campus. It's very possible that paying for that stuff--which they wouldn't have had to if Low and Weaver stayed home for college--is a greater economic hardship for those families than a $20K scholarship is to the Rochesties.

Maybe the $20K hit that the Rochestie family is taking is a pretty big deal (though from reading the articles about it, the sense I get is that it really isn't). And certainly it was a selfless act, they could just as easily have kept the money. I don't mean to say that the Rochesties have done anything to over-publicize the thing--it's been a giant media lovefest over something they never asked to be congratulated for.

Nevertheless, all members of the Wazzu team show selflessness--they all get up at half-past-god-knows-when for practice, they all fit in schoolwook between games and plane trips and interviews and everything that goes along with being a D1 athlete. Their dedication shouldn't be overshadowed just because it doesn't have a price tag.

And here's the downside of all that publicity--Rochestie is the Cougs' weak link today. He is a good on ball defender up to the point when a guard is just too fast for him. In the last UW/Wazzu game, Venoy Overton was blowing by Rochestie on practically every play. I shudder to think of what Ty Lawson is going to do.

That said, I'm all for the Cougs today. Hope they can slow down the game and keep UNC close and somehow pull out a win. I'm heading to the Village Pub in Magnolia--the Coug Bar to end all Coug bars--to watch the game, I'll have pics tomorrow.