Note to NCAA: Free Mike “Cannon Man” Lesko and his tradition-laden cannon

One of the travesties of UW-Whitewater playoff football is the NCAA’s ban on Mike “Cannon Man” Lesko’s tradition-laden cannon at the Perkins Stadium. Take a note NCAA – SHAME ON YOU!!!!

Over the past three year’s of watching NCAA playoff football on network TV I have personally witnessed four occasions where the host school shot off a cannon following a home team touchdown.

The NCAA, which blankets itself in college football’s close relationship with traditions, prohibits the use of “noisemakers” at its sanctioned events. Just wondering out loud here… if ESPN or ABC TV officials wanted those school’s that have that traditional cannon fire (ie: Army/Navy game) or West Virginia mascot gun fire (ie: West Virginia home football games) as part of its televised game package, would the NCAA say no?

In this day and age, my guess is the NCAA would say yes to Mike Lesko’s highly popular and highly traditional cannon adjacent to the south end zone IF AND ONLY IF it would hold the exclusive merchandising rights to the “tradition.”

This memo to the NCAA – how about allowing the Cannon Man to set up his cannon in its normal location during the Warhawks’ upcoming playoff games in Perkins Stadium? Instead of having the cannon go off, the Hawk fans will simply yell BOOM but not loud enough to be classified as a “noisemaker.” We promise, you can have the merchandising rights!