If we can save Crew, what else can we do?

LJoe Blundo

et’s play what-if.

What if the same kind of grass-roots passion that might well save our professional soccer team could be applied to other issues?

Fan enthusiasm for Columbus Crew SC served as the fuel behind the effort to keep the team here even as its owner, Precourt Sports Ventures, pushed for a move to Austin, Texas.

To be sure, it didn’t hurt that Precourt has been comically ham-handed. Or that the Haslam family of Cleveland and the Edwards family of Columbus, the team's prospective new owners, have the wealth necessary to afford a Major League Soccer franchise.

Nevertheless, energy pulsing from the grass roots was crucial.

What if such passion could be replicated? Where could we apply it?

Here are three suggestions:

Columbus schools

Having earned an

"F" on its state report card, the Columbus City Schools are drifting toward a state takeover.

Does that sound like something a "Smart City" can tolerate?

Granted, the school situation isn't a simple problem. Big-city districts nationwide struggle to educate students already battling poverty and the social ills that accompany it.

But can you imagine what might happen were