A big Lou to-do

John Wooden.

Pat Summitt.

Dean Smith.

Bear Bryant.

Lou Holtz.

Which of these things is not like the others?

Which sticks out, not like a sore thumb, exactly, but like a mildly owie thumb?

If you're an impartial observer you'd have to say Lou, on account of everyone else on the list is a Rushmore giant. Lou, who was honored by Our Only Available Outgoing President yesterday with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, is not. Lou was a Notre Dame giant -- there's a statue of him outside Notre Dame Stadium and everything -- and he's revered there because he brought home Notre Dame's last football national title 32 years ago. Plus he was hella entertaining with his corny jokes, and all that University of Navy and I'm-scared-to-death-of-Rice business.

Everyone loved Lou. Heck, I loved Lou, having covered pretty much the entirety of his term at Notre Dame. He was funny and quotable and he loved Zagnut bars. Plus he had a sketchy side,  which only made him more interesting.

And yet ...

And yet, all the others on the aforementioned list had the Presidential Medal of Freedom draped around their necks because, like almost every one of the 37 coaches or athletes upon whom the honor's been bestowed, they meant something beyond just Ws and Ls. 

Wooden was college basketball in the '60s and '70s, just like the Bear was college football. Pat Summitt, through the sheer force her success and her example, put the women's game on America's radar. Dean Smith was the greatest college basketball coach in history whose name wasn't Wooden or Bob Knight.

Lou?

Lou was a hell of a football coach who won a bunch of games. Most notably at America's most iconic football school.

Also, he's a famously staunch supporter of OOAOP -- which might have had more than anything to do with why OOAOP was hanging the medal around his neck yesterday.

Look. Presidents have been giving out the Medal of Freedom since JFK came up with the idea, and there is no criteria for it. So it's entirely OK for OOAOP to award it to whomever he likes, even if he's Rush Limbaugh.

Or, you know, Lou. What the hell, why not?

The distinction here is that while the Medal of Freedom has always reflected a sitting president's sensibilities, it's never been as blatantly political as OOAOP occasionally has made it. Previously, if an athlete or coach was awarded the medal, it was not only because of the political leanings of whoever was bestowing it, but because that athlete or coach had merit that transcended those leanings.

See: Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Willie Mays, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, etc., etc.

This is not to say OOAOP hasn't gotten it right on occasion. You can't argue with Roger Penske, for instance. Or Alan Page. Or Jim Ryun.

Lou Holtz?

Maybe politics had nothing to do with it. But it sure looks like they did.

And appearances matter.