Egg on Their Face…Again

The bowl ban against the Penn State football program was lifted this past Monday to the joy of some and the dismay of others.  While Jerry Sandusky’s crimes were the most atrocious in college football history, the NCAA should have kept its nose out of the entire thing.  While I’m no lawyer, the Penn State case was a criminal one over which the NCAA should have no jurisdiction.

What is the role of the NCAA?  I always thought it was to protect amateurism and keep things fair in athletic competition.  By inserting itself in the Penn State case, the NCAA has said that Miami’s boats and hoes, Reggie Bush, and academic misconduct at UNC are worse than child abuse, the ultimate crime.  Miami was in NCAA purgatory for three years over dink and dunk charges.  USC made major compliance changes and their AD appealed the loss of thirty scholarships.  All this over ONE player and the worst violations were in men’s basketball!  But, the NCAA dismissed Pat Haden and told him to suck it up (main because the previous AD, Mike Garret dared to stand up to the NCAA.  I say good for him).  All the NCAA had to do was keep out of the Penn State scandal, and they would not be receiving the criticism they are today.  Side note:  I also like how they released the Penn State news the same day the NFL got egg on its face for its handling of the Ray Rice situation.

Now, some want the NCAA to come down on Famous Jameis, but they won’t because it is a criminal/civil case (and the Tallahassee Police Department has show itself to be so transparent).  I guess things have changes since the Penn State scandal in 2011.  And Jameis is good for college football right now.  Prior to Jameis, Johnny Football and Cam Newton were quickly exonerated in scandals that affected their amateurism (which is what the NCAA is supposed to patrol).  In the case of Johnny (one-half suspension, BFD), he admitted it with his subsequent behavior (see below).

I guess the point of this is why are some more equal than others?

 

Thoughts on Youngstown Boys

As a graduate of the University of Miami in the early 2000s, I am not a fan of Ohio State or its former star running back, Maurice Clarett.  I followed his career closely, and at the time, I found him to be a punk, and to a certain extent, he probably was.  But, I always felt that he was mistreated by Ohio State.  ESPN’s 30-FOR-30 documentary Youngstown Boys solidified that view and showed me that perhaps Clarett wasn’t as obnoxious as I thought.  He’s actually really smart.  Ohio State tolerated his bad behavior as the wins rolled in (the documentary skipped the academic fraud allegations), but the second there was some adversity, they washed their hands of him.

It is amazing how the media can manipulate our perception of someone.  Once Clarett pissed off the OSU athletic director at the Fiesta Bowl, he was portrayed as a “bad boy” in the media.  In fact, Clarett just wanted to go to his friend’s funeral and felt like he had been given the run-around by the university.  The picture of him throwing his OSU jersey paired with the “one-and-done” quotes were taken out of context but provided us an image of an ungrateful troublemaker.  Even the Ohio State faithful turned on their former star.  But how could he not be intrigued, especially when his buddy LBJ was going to sign a multimillion-dollar contract with an NBA team?  All Clarett said was that he would consider “one-and-done” as a means to provide for his family.  He never said he would do it and only did it when Ohio State cut him loose and he was out of options.  Trust me, we have tolerated far more obnoxious football from Johnny Football over the past two seasons.

As a former athletics administrator, I have an even harder time with this next point.  When Clarett accused the (now former) Ohio State AD of lying about the paperwork issue that prevent him from attending his friend’s funeral, he started a war.  The athletic director, in vengeance, did everything in his power to crush that kid.  This could have been handled in so many different ways than a fifty-year-old man orchestrating the demise of an eighteen-year-old…all over some choice words.  Who’s the adult here?  The athletic department set parameters that would have been impossible for him to meet.

Jim Tressel’s reaction was just as disappointing.  I can imagine that a “national championship winning” coach’s job would be in jeopardy if he had shown the kid some support.  Instead, he sat back and let it happen.  Tressel claimed to care about Clarett but didn’t reach out to him until his subsequent fall from grace.  Until recently, it was as if Maurice Clarett had never happened.  Regardless, people make mistakes, and it is nice to see that “The Senator” and his player have reconciled for the greater good.

As previously hinted, not all facts are presented in a film like this.  While Clarett was cocky and probably engaged in some inappropriate behavior while at Ohio State, I certainly don’t believe he deserved the treatment he got back in 2003.  He was a kid who needed to be taught some life lessons, and it looks like he got them the hard way.  He didn’t rape, murder, or assault anyone.  He didn’t do drugs until after his Ohio State days.

After Maurice Clarett was out of football, he went down a destructive path and did some really bad things.  On a happier note, this film showed that not everybody blows his second chance.  As a young man, Clarett must have felt the world turned on him unfairly.  He was pushed until one day he said “enough.”  He served his time, educated himself, and is now working to help young men in his native Youngstown, OH.  I hope he does well.

It’s Killing Me

I have always considered myself a loner.  In high school, I never fit in with a “group.”  In college, I didn’t join a sorority and had a small circle of friends.  I’ve always been very comfortable with myself as an individual.  The one community I have always felt a part of is the college football world.  As a kid, I would rather watch football with my dad than hang out with my peers.  My various positions with Miami Football from 2003-2012 further linked me with this fraternity.

This post isn’t about my love for the Miami Hurricanes or “what’s the matter with kids today?”  It’s just an observation.

So, my beloved Hurricanes were recently playing a heavily outmatched opponent and were winning handily towards the end of the game.  They were about to punch another one in, too.  The opponent’s defense then made a nice tackle.  The individual who made the play then pointed at the crowd and put his index finger to his lips as to shh the spectators.  Huh?  Later, another person on the losing team did the “feed me” gesture after a nice defensive stop.  What?

When did college football become an individual sport?  I’m all for celebrating big plays (I went to The U, after all), but your team is losing!  This isn’t the time to celebrate you.

It is my observation that many college athletes no longer have pride in their team.  This is just a stopping point on the way to the NFL.  Just look at the divas at USC.  It is more important to a lot of guys to end up on a highlight reel that to win a championship.  So many guys would rather make a big hit than a sound tackle.  It’s killing me.

Unfortunately, in our current society, everyone thinks he or she is a celebrity because he has a twitter account (irony: as I write a blog).  When fifty-year-old men are following seventeen-year-olds on twitter, no wonder those kids get a big head.  For so many kids, their profile on rivals.com is more important than their team.  Everybody is desperate for attention and instant gratification.

A very obvious example of this is Johnny Manziel.  While he might be a fantastic player, his behavior shows he doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about anyone but himself.  It’s all about the celebrity of being “Johnny Football.”

Character and intelligence need to go hand-in-hand with talent.  Just look at Kenny Dorsey, my favorite player of ALL TIME (more on him another day).  In fact, look at the Hurricanes’ roster in the early 2000s – most of those guys weren’t blue-chippers coming in, but they worked their way up to it.  They worked hard as a team.  And when the five-stars came in and thought they were bigger than the team, that’s when it fell apart.

The cliche is that there is no “i” in team, but it appears there certainly is a “me.”

Update: USC played Notre Dame in what is each school’s biggest rivalry game of the season.  With less than a minute left, USC turned over the ball on downs and was obviously going to lose.  A couple of the WRs were chatting and walking off the field with smiles on their faces.  Were they making plans for when they got home to LA?

As Keyshawn Johnson says, “C’mon, man.”  This is the biggest game of the season and they have smiles on their face after a loss.  Their heads should have been in their hands.

QB Cody Kessler said after the game, “It really sucks that we lost, but we gave it a good effort.”  He is not worthy to be the leader of that team.  Petros Papadakis and “the worst USC team in history” fought harder.