Thursday, February 14, 2013

What Were They Thinking?

I recently wrote a commentary referring to sports figures such as  Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds in pointing out that we should all be wary about putting our sports heroes on unrealistic pedestals, and using them as our role models.

Again, many of them do not fit the bill of being good examples, and, sadly, some of them turn out to be nothing more than petty thiefs, thugs and frauds.

The University of Alabama football program was one of the main topics of ESPN's First Take discussion show with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless Wednesday morning, but unfortunately for Crimson Tide fans, it was not due to the program's current amazing run of championship success or because of another recruiting title for Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Of course you know by now that the main story involving Crimson Tide football at the moment is the Monday arrests of Tide players Brent Calloway, Dennis "D.J." Pettway, Eddie Williams and Tyler Hayes. Calloway was charged with fraudulent use of a credit card while his three teammates were booked on two counts of second-degree robbery.

Specific details of the various circumstances involving the respective players have been trickling out the past couple of days, but in a nutshell, Williams, on Monday, allegedly physically assaulted two subjects, Caleb Paul and Samuel Jurgens on the UA campus, rendering both of them unconscious. Pettway and Hayes apparently sat in a car while Williams assaulted Paul and then took his wallet containing cash, his ACT card and credit cards. Pettway and Hayes joined Williams with the attack on Jurgens, and then they took his backpack containing clothes, books and a laptop computer. Calloway, meanwhile, apparently used the stolen ACT card, fully aware that it was stolen, to make various purchases.

The UA student newspaper, The Crimson White, had a very detailed summary of the various crimes in its Wednesday edition, which included an interview the CW conducted with Jurgens Tuesday night.

It is disturbing, alarming and frankly a bit eerie to hear the details of those assaults and to hear the recounts from Jurgens and his friends about that night.

These are four student-athletes who not only represent Nick Saban's Crimson Tide football program, a program that has won three of the last four BCS national championships, but they are also supposed to be ambassadors for the University.

As student-athletes, they are given countless advantages and opportunities that most regular UA students can only dream of, while being treated by many as gods on the school's campus. Many of them also have the chance to advance to the next level of football and earn millions of dollars, provided that they work hard, stay clean and avoid roughing up and stealing from their fellow students.

 But in one night, these four "ambassadors" for the University of Alabama were reduced to nothing but common punks and thugs, leaving innocent subjects/students battered, bloody and minus their possessions, sense of security and their dignity.

Four young men who had it all, with the opportunity to attend a quality school and wear the Crimson jersey of the nation's most successful football program. Some of these players might have had the chance to become another Trent Richardson or Courtney Upshaw, but now you have to wonder if they will instead join the ranks of Sherman Williams, Saleem Rasheed, Jimmy Johns and Santonio Beard, former UA players whose professional/athletic careers and legacies have been tainted or even shattered by various troubles and jail time.

The reactions by Smith and Bayless on First Take pretty much match the sentiments I have encountered from pretty much everyone else I have discussed the arrests with, with emotions ranging from bewilderment to outright disgust.

We have not heard much from Saban yet regarding the matter, other than his announcement that the players are indefinitely suspended pending the further compilation of information relative to the events of that night.

While that is fine for now, other people, including yours truly, are not quite as guarded when expressing their opinions about what should happen to Calloway, Pettway, Williams and Hayes.

As a graduate of the University of Alabama, but also as a rational-thinking human being, I find the thought of these four young men having another opportunity to put on a Crimson jersey and representing my alma mater offensive, appalling and totally unacceptable.

Not only should these four criminal offenders be tossed out of Saban's program immediately, but honestly all four of them probably should still be doing jail time for the acts they perpetrated against Paul and Jurgens. Most common citizens probably would still be behind bars, but it's a little different when you are part of one of the nation's high profile college football programs. And then we wonder why these athletes have such a sense of entitlement.

It's ridiculous, and it's also sad.

 I know that Tide fans also hope it is not a sign of things to come again for Saban's program, as really only scandal and a host of off-the-field problems such as this could seemingly put a halt to or hinder the current dynasty being enjoyed by Saban's program. That and a host of major injuries or other sources of attrition.

When Saban first arrived at the Capstone, he dealt with a rash of player arrests, but quickly cleaned the program up thanks to peer intervention groups led by his players and ridding the program of other problem players as well as other in-house disciplinary measures. So perhaps this matter is just one of those rare exceptions that tend to crop up occasionally and not a bad omen, signaling more stormy waters ahead.

Bayless posed the question of whether the apparently-desperate actions of the players, in order to gain items such as money and a laptop, is another testament to the notion that college athletes should be paid.

I don't find myself often agreeing with the sometimes-volatile Smith, but I was right in line with him when he answered Bayless's suggestion/question with an immediate no.

College athletics are becoming corrupt enough as it is without adding money to the equation and making it a farm system for professional sports. Again, although they are treated like gods, college athletes are still students and frankly many students have to deal with financial pressures such as student loans and having to survive on Ramen noodles. It's part of life as a college student as harsh as that might sound.

Most college students, however, do not get the honor, glory and rewards that often come with being a student-athlete and do not enter the University with a system of advisors, counselors and other various structures already in place to make their college stay as easy and smooth as possible. In Saban's organization at UA, athletes are given access to every vehicle necessary to ensure that they are totally successful in every area of life, whether it be academically, physically, or professionally. I also have to believe that there are also counselors/advisors present for these student-athletes to help them deal with their finances as well. If not, then I am sure their coaches would be available for that as they are often mother and father figures for these impressionable young people at times.

But what occurred in this matter goes way beyond the question or proposition of paying players.

To not only steal money and other belongings from these victims, but for physically-massive athletes to batter these people until they are rendered bloody and unconscious does not indicate that they are players or people who might thrive more under a system where college athletes are indeed paid.

Their actions signal to me that these are genuinely mean young men who have little character and even less regard for their fellow students and human beings, many of whom have a fawning respect, support and admiration of the UA football program and the players who are a part of it.

People such as this surely have no place in a society where we all try our best to treat our fellow man with kindness and respect, and there is also definitely no place for this type of individual in the UA football program, a program which has not only excelled on the field in bringing championship glory to the University and to Tuscaloosa, but a program under Saban which has also represented the city and the Crimson Tide Nation with much class.

 

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Signing Day 2013: Alabama Brings Top Class Again


Like many of you, and much like other crazed college football fans from around the state and nation, I took advantage of my day off Wednesday to basically fully engulf myself in the all-day coverage of National Signing Day. 

Of course for football-starved fans and observers such as myself who are looking for anything related to pigskin news once the Super Bowl has been played and there is no more actual live football to watch, Signing Day is often termed as a second Christmas, and the nonstop discussion of the day's events, and even sometimes a little drama, does not hurt either. 

Anybody who knows me knows my allegiance lies with the University of Alabama, and I cannot even try to hide or deny that fact as I was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, was raised to be an intense Crimson Tide supporter and attended and graduated from UA where I also wrote for The Crimson White. So of course I was jubilant to see Nick Saban wrap up the nation's No. 1 recruiting class. Of course top-ranked classes under Saban have become a certainty of life, such as death, taxes and horrible Jason Aldean songs. 
 

For a good part of the day, some recruiting services as well as ESPN had Alabama ranked about third nationally behind Florida and Ohio State, but a few late catches for the Tide, including Norcross, Ga. running back Alvin Kamara, once again moved Alabama to the top spot. Of course Alabama had already secured the signatures of highly-rated standouts such as linebacker Reuben Foster, defensive tackle Dee Liner and four-star quarterback Cooper Bateman

So it was yet another special day for the two-time defending national champion as the Tide grabbed the nation's top group of recruits for the fifth time in the last six years. It was also another huge year for the Southeastern Conference, who for a large part of Signing Day had 7 of the nation's top 11  classes. This means that the astounding run of SEC dominance is not about to end anytime soon. Sorry to break that news to you, fans of teams from the Big 12 or Big 10. 

 
So again, as an Alabama grad and supporter, I was proud to see another great group of stud athletes ink their names to wear the legendary Crimson jersey, and I very much enjoyed seeing Saban's slight smile as he discussed this year's class,  I also viewed the Signing Day events as a journalist, and in doing so probably exercised a bit more caution than the average fan. 

Like many college fans, I fairly closely follow the recruiting battles which take place each year, especially in terms of how they apply to the respective schools in the SEC. Unlike a lot of those fans, however, I do not worship recruiting in terms of following it year around or subscribing to services which allow me to know which players are hosses even as ninth graders or players that some schools are targeting for two years down the road. I guess I find better things to do with my time than paying real attention to what 16-18-year-old kids are thinking and doing until they actually make it official on Signing Day. 

I think, as I also try to do with most things in life, take a practical and realistic view when it comes to recruiting, and I think you have to do that when you are talking about teenagers who are often undecisive and unpredictable about what they are going to do and how they are going to respond to various situations and responsibilities. 

While many excited Tide fans are no doubt throwing celebrations and mini parades about Alabama claiming another top haul of blue-chip athletes, I think we all have to just slow our roll a bit, take a chill pill and  realize that we really will not know how good this class is until possibly a couple of years down the road, when we know if they actually qualified academically, stayed with the Tide program or actually lived up to their hype and are out on the field helping to lead Saban's team to victory.  
 
 
This is also true for other programs who had strong Signing Day showings, including the aforementioned Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators, as well as Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame and Florida State. Gus Malzahn's first class as the coach of the Auburn Tigers was also a significantly good one as many services had Auburn just outside of the Top 10. Malzahn is to be commended for putting together a strong class following a disastrous Auburn season and for also putting together a coaching staff that is comprised of a host of good recruiters. 

There is no doubt that one of the big stories of the day was the historically great class that Hugh Freeze signed at Ole Miss, which included highly-rated standouts Robert Nkemdiche and Laremy Tunsil. Nkemdiche was the nation's top-ranked recruit according to most of the major recruting services. 





                                            Robert Nkemdiche

Rebel fans have every reason to be excited about having a Top 10 class coming off a winning season and bowl win, and I definitely do not want to play Debby Downer or say anything that would disparage their big day or Freeze's recruiting abilities. 

But does anyone really think that even a prolific Signing Day by Ole Miss is going to immediately elevate that program to contention status in the SEC? It may down the road at some point, but at the current time Ole Miss still appears to be no higher than the fourth best team in the SEC West behind Alabama, Texas A & M and LSU. Ole Miss may sneak up to that third spot just because teams such as LSU and Arkansas are simply question marks at the moment. 

But the point is, this is the reason why we have to be still a bit guarded in our giddiness about Signing Day success until these kids prove it on the field two to three years down the road. 

You would expect programs such as Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, LSU and Ohio State to have recruiting success on a yearly basis, and they typically do thanks to strong traditions, facilities and other things that can quickly woo impressionable and sometimes immature young student-athletes. 
 
But during the last 5 to 6 years, however, only Saban's program has proven that it can consistently translate strong recruiting performances into major, championship-level success. Other often-hyped coaches such as Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and LSU's Les Milescannot say that, although their programs are always usually good. They just haven't won a lot of actual championships.
 
Coaches such as Will Muschamp at Florida may well be on his way to achieving Saban-like success, but he is certainly not there yet. Urban Meyer is a strong candidate to perhaps gain Bama-like success with his Buckeye program, but will his recruiting, and his health, hold up to allow him to be able to accomplish this?

To put it crudely, but accurately, recruiting can be a crapshoot at times, especially when you are dealing with the high expectations of these major programs and also with youngsters who can create a lot of drama in their own right. I will not hammer on Reuben Foster anymore as he has been hammered plenty by the media and many others, but everyone knows by now the exhaustive and frankly laughable process it took for Bama to finally secure his services. Then there was the bizarre story of Arkansas commitment Alex Collins, whose letter of intent to sign with the Razorbacks was allegedly confiscated by his mother because she was not happy with her son's choice of signing with Bret Bielema's program.  So even the moms can make a program sweat if they're not happy (also note the recruitment of Bama's Landon Collins last year).




                                             Reuben Foster


Foster's recruiting saga also shows the mistake that some youngsters make by tying their choice of a school to a certain coach instead of what the school itself can offer him academically and athletically. Coaches are coming and going with a lot more regularity these days, and these youngsters need to take keen note of that.
 
At the end of the day, I congratulate each young man who signed on Wednesday and I hope their signatures translate into a bright future for him and the school that gained his services.




I also urge the fans of these schools and athletes to be proud and excited about the quality young men who will hopefully soon be wearing their colors and representing them with class and pride on the field.



Along with that pride and happiness, however, I would also urge those same fans to show a little restraint and patience, as the true story of Signing Day 2013 may not be told until two or three years down the line.