A University of Which the Football Team Could Be Proud

I thought the expression "a university the football team can be proud of" came from the Marx Brothers' movie Horsefeathers. I was wrong. The expression (which I didn't get quite right) did not come from screenwriters at a studio, but from a university president in a state senate hearing. ESPN gives a concise account:Movies are not real life, although they might have been in February 1951. University of Oklahoma president George Lynn Cross, frustrated that state senators didn't understand his plea for more money for the university, told state legislators, "I would like to build a university of which the football team could be proud." The sarcasm didn't translate to the page, and Cross's remark went the midcentury equivalent of viral. Several months later, Cross received a $10 check in the mail from Reader's Digest, which, presumably with mouth agape, republished the quip as if Cross had been serious. This came to mind with the news that Ohio State University (OSU) has just dismissed a…