Bobby Bowden, who may be old enough to have padded around the agora with Socrates and Plato, certainly sounds like he's channeling them these days. To wit:
''I can sure tell a difference,'' Bowden said in response to a question during the Atlantic Coast Conference coaches' weekly teleconference.
''You're dealing with children who are brought up different than they were when I started coaching,'' the 75-year-old coach said. ''Kids continually get more liberal ... maybe not as disciplined as they once were.''
Because that's what 18-year old pampered athletes are known for: discipline. The original source quote from Plato, the father of philosophy and a mean spinning fullback in his day:
"I mean such things as these: when the young are to
be silent before their elders; how they are to show respect to them by
standing and making them sit; what honour is due to parents; what
garments or shoes are to be worn; the mode of dressing the hair;
deportment and manners in general. You would agree with me? Yes."