Though it's my alma mater, I caught some flak over a blog post I wrote a while back, comparing Oakland to Duke and North Carolina in the sports world. Though my original intent was for it to be a spoof -- somewhere along the line it morphed into being serious. No doubt, much of that falls on me for generating the article in the first place.
Besides the on-line comments, I've heard much more through other means of communication. As a writer, that's all water on a duck's back. Some will like it and some won't. Most times, the dislikers are more apt to express their opinion than the people that may agree. That's just the way it is. I dare say that's especially true in my case because I'm not a "homer", like so many others. Any yahoo can write puff pieces about their local sports heroes, but it takes a little audacity to go against the grain, knowing full well you're going to catch some heat over it. Either that, or you have to be an idiot. I suppose I qualify for both, at times, but somebody's gotta do it.
A commenter named Corey S was kind enough to do some homework regarding the earlier post and enlightened me on a few facts of life. No, not THOSE kind of facts of life. Even yours truly understands THAT -- I think. Rather, Corey provided some very keen insight into the sports situation as it involves Oakland University, when compared to other higher profile schools, particularly Duke and North Carolina, specifically the financial realities.
Yet, unlike what I consider to be an objective, if sometimes non-sensical, mindset of a writer, Oakland U is still indeed my alma mater, and always will be. I'm happy and proud I had the opportunity to spend 4 years there, and will always be appreciative of the fine education they provided me, not to mention all the good times I had on campus. After all, it's not THEIR fault I turned out to be a whack-job. They did the best they could. Then again -- that degree I received in engineering? It was called a BS. Huh. Depending on how you want to interpret those initials, maybe that's where I started going wrong in the first place. Enablers, that gave me a subliminal suggestion, before I could even get out of my cap and gown, that has shaped me to this day. Just kidding.
Still, in hindsight, on a personal level, I somehow feel like I betrayed an old friend with the earlier post. As I've explained -- that was not my original intention, and no, it has nothing to do with the negative feedback -- but it gnaws at me for some reason.
There's only one thing to do. I've got to go back. It's been quite a while since I've set foot on that campus, and no doubt many things have changed in the interim. Perhaps spending an entire day walking around and checking things out will give me a whole new perspective on just how far OU has progressed.
So for any OU students and the like that may read this -- if you see an old dude on a black Harley roll up -- don't shoot him. I'm just passing through, like I did so many years ago.
I feel this unresistable calling to revisit my alma mater, so I can be better informed the next time I write about it. The first thing I want to find out is if they have signs posted that say "Welcome to Auburn Hills" on one side, and "Welcome to Rochester Hills" on the other, in the middle of the campus. In my day, it was all just Rochester. Seemed simple enough, and nobody cared anyway. Questions. Questions.
And who knows? Maybe I'll even bump into Corey S.
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