Lovie's news conference displays America's distorted priorities

Turned on the hopeless little screen yesterday to see former Bears coach Lovie Smith being introduced as the new University of Illinois football coach in a special live news event. The thought occurred to me if we’d see a live news event of the fabled Land of Lincoln flagship school introducing a great scholar or researcher. Nah. The United States doesn’t value scholarship or research. That’s why Lovie gets a $21 million deal (before incentives) while the professors who do the real work of the institution and society get the scraps. Maybe we should change Lovie’s job title to “Professor of Future Concussions.”