Julien Lounis, CU student, wants refund for $401 he spent to see Buffs get destroyed by Cal

What's Dan Hawkins owe?

Most CU fans suffered the Buffs 52-7 defeat to the University of California at Berkeley in agonized silence. But not Julien Lounis. As the Boulder Daily Camera reports, the CU student sent athletic department folks an invoice for the $401.40 he spent traveling to Cali for the game. Will he ever see the money? Fat chance.

According to the Camera, CU athletic department spokesman Dave Plati wrote via e-mail, "That does not even deserve a response" -- which is sorta contradictory, given that it was a response, but you get the idea.

Plati also accused Lounis of wanting "fifteen minutes of fame," and he may have a point. But while Plati correctly notes that boosters take the risk of seeing their team lose every time they purchase a ticket, the defensiveness of his reaction suggests that folks in the program may be irritated by the current state of Buffs football, too.

Last October, we branded CU coach Dan Hawkins a "dead man talking" for the way he attempted to explain away 2009's assorted catastrophes when he had to know he'd be looking for work by season's end.

But that didn't happen. Around Thanksgiving, inappropriately enough, CU announced that it would retain Hawkins's services -- and while university spokespeople have never admitted that money was the major factor in this decision, what else could it be?

Since then, fans have been praying that this year's Buffs won't blow like the previous incarnation -- and a victory over CSU in the opening contest offered a modicum of hope. After the Cal slaying, though, it appears that the win says more about CSU's mediocrity than CU's improvement.

Instead of reacting imperiously to Lounis's bill, Plati would have been smarter to offer up a little humility -- something along the lines of, "We know you're frustrated, and we're frustrated, too. But hang in there, because we're doing everything we can to perform better, and we're confident we will."

Because, truth be told, we all deserve a refund.