Tarzan and O.J.
E. Boyer
What is going on in Piedmont?!? At this stage of my life there are few things that I can still enjoy with full gusto and local sports is one of them. Imagine my dismay reading the last few issues of The Post and learning that some of our star athletes are leaving!! Say it aint so! Do you have any idea the joy that springs to an old gals heart seeing all those exciting football shots in the Post of Piedmont’s Quarterback, taking her back to the days of Joe Nameth, and the Runningback, taking her back to the days of O.J Simpson….aww, c’mom! The glove didn’t fit!! And then there are the kids we saw every week during water polo season in less than 3 inches of fabric making Tarzan look like second fiddle and making the sport look like the best thing in the world. The two co-captains of that team are gone! Gone! Why?!? To those of us who live vicariously through the glorious moves and glorious physiques of our local talent, the recent news of all these exceptional athletes going elsewhere is troubling. Never mind my loss. Why are they leaving and what does it mean for Piedmont? In addition to what might be a really boring Sports Section in The Post, it might also mean that our district is coming up short. Oh, sure. Let me guess. Boo, Grrr, Hiss. But, before you jump on your pro-PUSD bandwagon, maybe you should ask yourselves if your naive and predictable support of the PUSD is really helping. There is more to a good and competitive school district than the obnoxiously vocal fan club that insist it’s perfect. If it’s perfect, students wouldn’t leave. So, to those of you who cry “Traitor!” to anyone who challenges the status quo, how ‘bout if you surprise us for a change and take an objective look at why any student decides to leave and see if maybe there is something we could do to improve. Tough love, cupcakes! Piedmont is a great, little town. But, what do we have if we don’t have our schools? Oh sure, we have Mulberrys and we like Laura and the new gal in the Deli, and we have the new Havens and we like it’s fancy organic turf. But, it’s not enough to make a town. We need our schools and we need them to be great. If students are leaving, athletes or not, it means something isn’t quite right. So, instead of just the same ‘ole boring lip service, why not try something a little more innovative..like acknowledging that the reason students are leaving is because there might be a problem and then setting out to fix it. And yes, I know that there are tremendous athletes who still compete for Piedmont but that doesn’t make right the reasons that others are choosing to leave. I don’t know about you but, I’m gonna miss seeing Jungle-Boy dominate the pool and god know what I’ll do if the football program goes away! 
