Penn State University covered up the systematic sexual assault of boys.
Despite the warning signs, the University of Miami snuggled up to a crook for his dirty money.
Florida State University will hold a gathering of more than 80,000 people Saturday to celebrate, among other things, school spirit, human achievement, civic pride and a quarterback who stands accused of sexual assault.
This is the legacy of major college football in America at the beginning of the 21st century. This is our legacy as a group of people. We are complicit and active participants in an enterprise that, with disturbing regularity, operates above the law, corrupts good people and protects the wicked.
Major college football in its present form is an incubator of deception. Your favorite conference is morally bankrupt. Your team's coach isn't trying to build tomorrow's leaders. Your school president doesn't care about education.
The sport isn't out of control. The sport is in total control.
It is beyond obvious that big-time college football in his present state should be torn down, demolished and rebuilt. Instead, leaders who are supposed to be operating under the public trust only want less regulation and more money.
The big five conferences of the NCAA — Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 — are in discussions about how to "reform" the sport, and if they don't absolutely get what they want they could threaten to break away. Ideas for "reforming" major college football include allowing schools to spend more and, as Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman put it to Sports Illustrated, maintain "control over our own destiny."
Here's the destiny of major college football:
On Tuesday, Jameis Winston, the quarterback at FSU, was accused of sexual assault and his accuser suggested in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times that police in Tallahassee tried to dissuade her from pursuing legal action by telling her that her life would be ruined.
"We requested assistance from an attorney friend to interact with law enforcement on the victim's behalf," the statement read. "When the attorney contacted Detective [Scott] Angulo immediately after Winston was identified, Detective Angulo told the attorney that Tallahassee was a big football town and the victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable."
That this isn't surprising is the most disturbing thing of all.
Only a few hours after that statement was released Wednesday, news was leaked to ESPN.com that DNA collected from the victim's underwear matched Winston's DNA. On Thursday morning in Tallahassee, Winston's attorney held a news conference to announce, among other things, that it "absolutely" was consensual sex.
"We are not surprised with the results of the DNA," said Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen. "We voluntarily submitted to a DNA test. The only thing we are surprised by is it was leaked out by law enforcement. The question the people should ask is why is it being leaked? For what purpose?"
Someone decided enough was enough. How's that for purpose?
Of course, people blindly will defend Winston up until the very moment he is either charged with sexual assault or cleared of all wrongdoing. But this isn't about Winston. It's bigger than that.
And it's bigger than FSU's coach, Jimbo Fisher, who mortgaged his career to play a quarterback who, at the very least, has been the subject of an open investigation all season.
Here's a statement by FSU president Eric Barron from last week when asked whether he thought this scandal would taint his school's image:
"The university and the athletic programs are much bigger than any one person. I believe in the strength of Florida State and the strength of the Florida State brand."
To protect the brand at all cost, that is your university's new mission.
No comments:
Post a Comment