* Local college football fans know that this is a critical year for the University of South Florida. Among other subplots, will USF be extended an invitation to join the Big 12 conference? It would be a major upgrade from the second-tier American Athletic Conference. Among the competition: fellow AAC member University of Houston.
And, BTW, Houston just drew the college football world’s attention last Saturday with its big win over No. 3-ranked University of Oklahoma. Even the universities’ presidents weighed in on the significance of the result. Oklahoma president David Boren: “Can they compete? How can you keep them out?” Houston president Renu Khator: “This was our showcase on the national stage, and we did it.”
Renu Khator? Yes, THAT Renu Khator. Until 2008, she had been at USF. By the end of her 22-year tenure, she was provost and senior vice president. Now she is president as well as chancellor of the University of Houston system. She is also the first Indian-American to lead a major research university in the U.S. and a classy person. Go, Cougars–except when you play the Bulls. If it happens this year, it would be in the AAC championship game with a lot riding on it.
* Say what you will about the right exercised by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick–who has been sitting out the National Anthem in protest against racism and police brutality–but the reaction of the Santa Clara, Calif., Police Department is worse. Its union sent a heat-seeking missive to the 49ers saying its officers might stop working team events unless the team takes action against Kaepernick. No, you don’t stop doing your job to protest a constitutionally-protected stand, however controversial, that you disagree with.