> Smizik: Reality for Montour's board is one thing: Money
> Sunday, July 17, 2005By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
>
>
> ESPN wanted to buy a football team. The Montour school board to its
> everlasting discredit was only too glad to sell it one.
>
> The educational process took a giant step backward at Montour, a suburban
> Pittsburgh school district with a recent history of unsuccessful football
> and a longer history of politically motivated school boards.
>
>
> Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press
> Dick Butkus will move from his Malibu, Calif., home to live in Western
> Pennsylvania during the high school football season.
>
>
> The Montour board sold out its players, its coach and the community it
> represents by agreeing to allow its football program to be part of an ESPN
> reality show that will feature NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus.
>
> In agreeing to such an idea, the board badly undercut first-year coach Lou
> Cerro, who was fresh from an outstanding and exciting run of championship
> football at Seton-LaSalle, for 15 minutes of fame and a hefty chunk of ESPN
> largesse.
>
> It won't be just a case of cameras rolling while the team is practicing. By
> itself, that would be educationally sloppy and a monumental distraction. But
> it's much more.
>
> After attempting to put out the word that Butkus would be part of Cerro's
> staff, Montour came out with the truth. Butkus will be head coach; Cerro his
> assistant.
>
> The show will be called, "Bound for Glory -- The Montour Spartans." It will
> air for eight weeks for an hour on Tuesday at 10 p.m. beginning Sept. 20.
>
> Of course, Butkus, who has never coached, will be the star. What kind of TV
> show would it be if some Pittsburgh guy named Lou Cerro was the star?
>
> Montour made this decision for the oldest reason known to man: Money.
>
> All kinds of goodies await Montour. ESPN will be providing a new scoreboard,
> new uniforms for the football team and the cheerleaders and state-of-the-art
> field maintenance equipment. And that's just what has been revealed so far.
>
> Too bad there's not an educational Hall of Shame. The Montour school board,
> which just might be dressing in ESPN gear these days, and its complying high
> school principal and athletic director would be first-ballot inductees.
>
> The beauty of all this is that ESPN didn't get what it was looking for.
>
> In describing the show, R.J. Cutler, the executive producer, said, "It's a
> very simple idea about a school and town where football is in many ways the
> lifeblood of the community."
>
> Someone gave Cutler some bad information. If he wanted a community where
> football was the lifeblood, he should have looked at Aliquippa. If he wanted
> one where football was vital and there were a recent losing tradition, he
> should have looked at Butler.
>
> To suggest football is the lifeblood of Robinson and Kennedy townships,
> well, that's pretty funny.
>
> The man in the middle of all this is Cerro, a good guy who was 33-5 with two
> WPIAL titles the past three seasons at Seton-LaSalle. To lure Cerro from
> Seton-LaSalle, the school board created an administrative job to supplement
> his coaching salary. While coaching at Seton-LaSalle, his main source of
> income was as a truck driver for Breadworks.
>
> The board hired him by the narrowest of margins, 5-4, so Cerro understands
> he's in no position to make critical statements. Still, he's an honest guy.
>
> Contacted on vacation in South Carolina, Cerro acknowledged this was not the
> best possible situation.
>
> "I don't think it will be a distraction for me but definitely for the kids.
> Hopefully, after the novelty wears off we can get the work done that needs
> to be done."
>
> He described the situation as "a work in progress."
>
> In other words, the rebuilding of the Montour Spartans will be secondary to
> the filming of a television show.
>
> It's no secret that despite the lack of a title, Cerro will make most
> important decisions. Not only has Butkus never coached, but he also doesn't
> have an inkling of the talent of the Montour personnel, and he's nowhere
> near up to speed on the offensive and defensive schemes Cerro wants to run.
>
> But for the sake of the cameras, which will be at practice almost every day,
> Butkus will be making most of the major announcements, which will be
> confusing, to say the least, for the high school kids.
>
> Here's the worst part. A reality show can't be successful if everything runs
> smoothly. Football practice is exceedingly boring. Viewers will be changing
> channels in a hurry if the show offers the normal hum-drum routine of a
> practice day.
>
> There has to be conflict. There has to be tension. There has to be trouble.
>
> Here are just a few ideas the producers might be considering:
>
> Conflict between Butkus and the man -- it now can be revealed -- who lost
> his job to Butkus.
>
> Butkus, a legendary tough guy, deals in his own special way with meddling
> parents.
>
> Butkus deals in his own special way with meddling administrators.
>
> Butkus deals in his own special way with snotty senior quarterback.
>
> Oh, it should be a blast for Montour, where they think the rest of the world
> is envying them but which is actually laughing at them.
>
> Hang tough, Lou Cerro and good luck with the rebuilding process -- in 2006.
Sloan forwarded this to me. Doesn't seem real, does it?
>
>
> ESPN wanted to buy a football team. The Montour school board to its
> everlasting discredit was only too glad to sell it one.
>
> The educational process took a giant step backward at Montour, a suburban
> Pittsburgh school district with a recent history of unsuccessful football
> and a longer history of politically motivated school boards.
>
>
> Mark J. Terrill, Associated Press
> Dick Butkus will move from his Malibu, Calif., home to live in Western
> Pennsylvania during the high school football season.
>
>
> The Montour board sold out its players, its coach and the community it
> represents by agreeing to allow its football program to be part of an ESPN
> reality show that will feature NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus.
>
> In agreeing to such an idea, the board badly undercut first-year coach Lou
> Cerro, who was fresh from an outstanding and exciting run of championship
> football at Seton-LaSalle, for 15 minutes of fame and a hefty chunk of ESPN
> largesse.
>
> It won't be just a case of cameras rolling while the team is practicing. By
> itself, that would be educationally sloppy and a monumental distraction. But
> it's much more.
>
> After attempting to put out the word that Butkus would be part of Cerro's
> staff, Montour came out with the truth. Butkus will be head coach; Cerro his
> assistant.
>
> The show will be called, "Bound for Glory -- The Montour Spartans." It will
> air for eight weeks for an hour on Tuesday at 10 p.m. beginning Sept. 20.
>
> Of course, Butkus, who has never coached, will be the star. What kind of TV
> show would it be if some Pittsburgh guy named Lou Cerro was the star?
>
> Montour made this decision for the oldest reason known to man: Money.
>
> All kinds of goodies await Montour. ESPN will be providing a new scoreboard,
> new uniforms for the football team and the cheerleaders and state-of-the-art
> field maintenance equipment. And that's just what has been revealed so far.
>
> Too bad there's not an educational Hall of Shame. The Montour school board,
> which just might be dressing in ESPN gear these days, and its complying high
> school principal and athletic director would be first-ballot inductees.
>
> The beauty of all this is that ESPN didn't get what it was looking for.
>
> In describing the show, R.J. Cutler, the executive producer, said, "It's a
> very simple idea about a school and town where football is in many ways the
> lifeblood of the community."
>
> Someone gave Cutler some bad information. If he wanted a community where
> football was the lifeblood, he should have looked at Aliquippa. If he wanted
> one where football was vital and there were a recent losing tradition, he
> should have looked at Butler.
>
> To suggest football is the lifeblood of Robinson and Kennedy townships,
> well, that's pretty funny.
>
> The man in the middle of all this is Cerro, a good guy who was 33-5 with two
> WPIAL titles the past three seasons at Seton-LaSalle. To lure Cerro from
> Seton-LaSalle, the school board created an administrative job to supplement
> his coaching salary. While coaching at Seton-LaSalle, his main source of
> income was as a truck driver for Breadworks.
>
> The board hired him by the narrowest of margins, 5-4, so Cerro understands
> he's in no position to make critical statements. Still, he's an honest guy.
>
> Contacted on vacation in South Carolina, Cerro acknowledged this was not the
> best possible situation.
>
> "I don't think it will be a distraction for me but definitely for the kids.
> Hopefully, after the novelty wears off we can get the work done that needs
> to be done."
>
> He described the situation as "a work in progress."
>
> In other words, the rebuilding of the Montour Spartans will be secondary to
> the filming of a television show.
>
> It's no secret that despite the lack of a title, Cerro will make most
> important decisions. Not only has Butkus never coached, but he also doesn't
> have an inkling of the talent of the Montour personnel, and he's nowhere
> near up to speed on the offensive and defensive schemes Cerro wants to run.
>
> But for the sake of the cameras, which will be at practice almost every day,
> Butkus will be making most of the major announcements, which will be
> confusing, to say the least, for the high school kids.
>
> Here's the worst part. A reality show can't be successful if everything runs
> smoothly. Football practice is exceedingly boring. Viewers will be changing
> channels in a hurry if the show offers the normal hum-drum routine of a
> practice day.
>
> There has to be conflict. There has to be tension. There has to be trouble.
>
> Here are just a few ideas the producers might be considering:
>
> Conflict between Butkus and the man -- it now can be revealed -- who lost
> his job to Butkus.
>
> Butkus, a legendary tough guy, deals in his own special way with meddling
> parents.
>
> Butkus deals in his own special way with meddling administrators.
>
> Butkus deals in his own special way with snotty senior quarterback.
>
> Oh, it should be a blast for Montour, where they think the rest of the world
> is envying them but which is actually laughing at them.
>
> Hang tough, Lou Cerro and good luck with the rebuilding process -- in 2006.
Sloan forwarded this to me. Doesn't seem real, does it?