ESPN.com’s been running a series about college athletics boosters, what they do, and who they influence. They had a piece about Nike impresario Phil Knight and Oregon, suggesting that in return for his hundreds of millions, he got a little bit of say in how things went down.

The president of U of Oregon wrote into ESPN.com and called bullshit.

Your article implied that donors, especially generous donors such as Phil Knight, exercise undue influence over the governance of this university’s operations. That is simply not the case.

Oh, okay. I believe you. That sounds reasonable.

Come on now. I understand that the president of the university has to say what he has to say, but the fact of the matter is that if Phil Knight wanted the women’s basketball team to play topless, with only Nike swooshes covering their nipples, then that is precisely what they would do. If Phil Knight asked Brady Leaf to take his last name off of his jersey and replace it with the words, “MY BROTHER BLOWS FIREMEN,” then that is what he will do. And that would be awesome.

And I don’t say that as a criticism… very few university athletic departments are self-sustaining, and Oregon is one of them. Money controls everything else in the universe, so why not college sports? Do what you gotta do. As Ted DiBiase once said, everyone’s got a price. In fact, if Phil Knight sends me a small check, I will blog with only swooshes covering my nipples. In fact, I’d be thrilled just to get those “O’Reilly’s Auto Parts” stickers off of there.

I just don’t believe that Phil Knight gives up that kind of paper without expecting a little influence in return. I mean, those 9-year-old Vietnamese girls aren’t just busting their asses for nothing.