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.
