[Vision2020] Banquet Barbs Fire Up Boston College

[Tim Lohrmann]

Tom,
       Just one more shining example of BSU's total lack of class.
   
       Kiwanuka is an awesome player who will soon be playing on Sunday afternoons. 
       I understand that his family is revered by freedom-loving Ugandans because of the humanitarian work of their grandfather. 
      Mathias plans to use a considerable share of his NFL earnings to address the needs of the poverty-stricken in Uganda. To make fun of this man's family name just displays pure ignorance.
   
      BSU and the City of Boise really turned an opportunity for positive publicity into a complete negative for the city, the Universty and the bowl itself. 
      
       Also, the BC team Christmas dinner wasn't too wonderful either---they apparently ran out of mashed potatoes. 
      In Southern IDAHO??? 
      The mind boggles!
            TL
       

Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
        st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }                From today’s (December 29, 2005) Idaho Statesman –
   
  Mathias Kiwanuka, if you remember, is the Boston College foreign exchange student who, after surviving his freshman year at BC as a walk-on, earned a scholarship and a starting position on the BC football team.  He is now attempting to extract his mother (and family) from Africa where their lives are threatened daily.
   
  So, naturally, the Boise mayor and the Beyond the Game Dinner at the Boise Centre on The Grove decide to make light humor of his name.
   
  Way to go, boise.
     

   
  Banquet Barbs Fire Up Boston College
   
  By Nick Jezierny
   
  It turns out that all the motivation Boston College needed for Wednesday's MPC Computers Bowl came from right here in Boise.
   
  Eagles coach Tom O'Brien and several BC players said after they beat Boise State 27-21 that they were offended by comments made by several speakers — including Boise mayor Dave Bieter — at Monday night's Beyond the Game Dinner at the Boise Centre on The Grove.
   
  What irked the BC party was the number of speakers who ended their speech by saying "Go Broncos."
   
  What infuriated the Eagles was when Bieter and MPC Computers CEO Mike Adkins mispronounced the name of star defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka.
   
  "I've been to 19 bowl games and have never seen anything like that in my life," O'Brien said. "The pep rally was the next night. You don't disrespect the best player on the other team by making fun of his name and have everyone in the audience laugh at him. There wasn't anything I had to do to get this team ready to play. I ought to thank the mayor and people of Boise."
   
  Kiwanuka said he felt "disrespected" by Bieter's comments and even worse by Adkins'.
   
  "As far as Mike Adkins goes, he took my name and made it a punchline," 
  Kiwanuka said. "I felt he purposely mispronounced my name and then went off to crack a joke on my family name, which is something I hold very dear to me."
   
  Kiwanuka is the grandson of Uganda's first prime minister.
  Elissa Reid, the director of public relations for Nampa-based MPC Computers, said Adkins' comments weren't meant to be defamatory.
   
  "We were very happy to have Boston College here," Reid said. "We apologize for any misunderstanding."
  Bieter's spokesman could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
   
  Gary Beck, the executive director of the bowl game, said some speakers were out of line because the Beyond the Game Dinner is a bowl event that is meant to be neutral.
   
  "Obviously there were some speakers who probably should have been more neutral," Beck said. "As a director, I'm going to correct that situation. We have to work on making sure what happened doesn't happen again."
  Beck said he apologized to BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo after the banquet.
   
  Ryan Glasper, a strong safety who made two interceptions in the game, said the team was angry after the banquet.
   
  "Our captain is a tremendous leader," Glasper said of Kiwanuka. "If you offend our leader, you're offending the whole team. When you offend our leader and our role model, you basically target our family and that's what Boston College football is about."
     

   
  Take care, Moscow.
   
  Tom Hansen
  Moscow, Idaho
   
  "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"
   

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