By Adam Kilgore

First, in the spirit of full disclosure, I have some serious biases in this case. I was the sports editor of The Daily Orange during the 2003-2004 school year, and I consider Ethan Ramsey a good friend and a bright young talent.

Second, let's clear up a few inaccuracies that have been taken from this diatribe and bandied about as fact. One, the student paper didn't call McNamara overrated. Ramsey did. His column accompanied another column by Daily Orange assistant sports editor Zach Berman, who argued the counterpoint -- that Gerry is not overrated.

Second, many media outlets have reported that the column ran during the days leading up to the Big East Tournament. It actually ran on Feb. 8, a full month ago. Boeheim reacted yesterday to the latest McNamara-is-overrated media sighting -- an annual anonymous poll of assistant coaches in the Syracuse Post-Standard that declared McNamara the Big East's most overrated player.

During his rant, Boeheim referenced Ramsey's column, and made it seem -- intentionally or not -- that the column ran this week and sourced an anonymous assistant coach. It did neither.

In any case, as Boeheim spoke, he seemed to express the idea that it was wrong for the student newspaper to criticize his players, a notion that couldn't be less enlightened. The worst college papers act as house organs for the university. The Daily Orange is rare in that it operates independently, receiving no funding from SU, and its writers act as watchdogs, not cheerleaders. As one professor told me recently, "The only way to know what's going on in this university is to read The D.O."

Sportswriters there are trained (correctly) to put away the orange body paint and report objectively. It's one of the reasons why Daily Orange sports alumni write for The Washington Post and The New York Times and cover Notre Dame football, Penn State football, and the Boston Red Sox -- and those are just the ones under 30. They are where they are now because they wrote columns like Ramsey's in college.

There have been much more controversial columns than Ramsey's. When it came out, a sentiment of agreement resonated on campus. Even those who disagreed with Ramsey accepted the debate's worthiness. Last week, a players poll by SI showed that McNamara's peers had named him the most overrated player in the Big East.

Boeheim would likely respond to this point by saying he knows more about basketball than reporters. That is, after all, one of his favorite things to do, and he does it often. It's true, of course, but that doesn't mean that columnists march in lockstep with him. I'm certain George W. Bush knows more about foreign policy than I do, but that doesn't mean I should feel stupid for disapproving of the war in Iraq.

Around campus on Wednesday, people backed Boeheim. Fans loved seeing their coach stick up for their idol, and why not? But that certainly doesn't steal any validity from Ramsey's column.

"When the column came out, if you look at what everybody thought McNamara would do this season, than yes, he's so-called overrated," said Scott Kay, a senior finance and marketing major and die-hard Orange fan. "Everybody predicted his numbers would be better. As far as what Boeheim said yesterday, he's absolutely correct. If you look at his whole career, when a big play is needed, Gerry makes that play."

It's easy to see why a debate about McNamara would be worthwhile, but Boeheim wasn't even the first to lace into Ramsey with a profane tirade.That first happened the game after the column appeared -- a home loss to Cincinnati When the game ended, Ramsey filed into the locker room with the rest of the local media for interviews.

As Ramsey shuffled out, McNamara asked a Syracuse official who wrote the column. The official pointed at Ramsey. So did McNamara.

"Are the one who wrote that column?" McNamara asked. Ramsey nodded yes.

"Then get the f --- out of here."

Well, at least his retort was timely.