Condoleezza Rice et le football de la NCAA

J'ai toujours été fasciné par l'ancienne secrétaire d'État de George W. Bush Condoleezza Rice. Je me souviens particulièrement d'n de ses passages en France alors qu'elle avait discuté de l'importance du siècle des Lumières dans la relation France-États-Unis avant de prendre place au piano et de charmer les convives en improvisant un petit concert. Depuis quelques jours, Mme Rice montre une nouvelle facette de ses multiples talents en joignant le comité de sélection de la ligue universitaire de football américain (NCAA). Sa nomination a soulevé la controverse, plusieurs se demandant quelles étaient les qualifications de Mme Rice pour siéger au sein de ce comité. Il se trouve que "Condie" (son surnom) est une passionnée de football, fille d'entraîneur et elle jouit d'une solide expérience en administration. Depuis une trentaine d'années elle est liée à l'Université Stanford (elle y enseigne présentement)où elle a occupé différentes fonctions, l'une d'elles lui permettant d'intervenir dans le programme de Football. Le Sports Illustrated réalisé une entrevue intéressante avec Mme Rice après sa nomination.

 Un extrait:

SI.com: When you were approached and offered this position, did you anticipate there would be controversy?

 Rice: I’m no stranger to controversy (laughs). Of course, I knew there would be people that said, ‘Well, you didn’t play football.’ That would be true, but not everybody that’s been associated with this game played football. With all due respect to my good friend Roger Goodell, and Paul Tagliabue, I think the most influential commissioner in the history of the NFL was Pete Rozelle. He never played football. And so you can be a student of the game, you can love the game and never have experienced playing the game. You also want people with a diversity of experiences, people that have had to make decisions and assess information from a wide variety of perspectives. That’s why the different experiences and backgrounds people will bring on this committee are also important.

 SI.com: You’re also no stranger to being the first or only woman in a room. What is your reaction when a prominent analyst goes on a show like College GameDay and suggests women should not serve on the committee?

 Rice: Look, people are entitled to their opinions. I’m not going to deny anyone the possibility of being entitled to an opinion with which I don’t happen to agree. I don’t see myself as a standard bearer for women in this — though I will note an awful lot of fans of football in general and college football in particular are women. But people are entitled to their opinion. I don’t happen to think it’s right.