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JIM STEELE
COLUMN FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
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From the
Upper Deck
Willis Is
Still Admirable
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By Jim Steele
steele@mckenziebanner.com |
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Do you want to know who the most discriminated-against
person on a college campus is?
You can try to affix some sort of ethnic component to it
but you will be way off base. This element of
discrimination pays little attention to color, race,
creed, religion and any of those other labels people
flaunt.
It is the college athlete.
I get the idea that the NCAA is a liberal-run
organization. Why? Because, much like liberal policies
in an attempt to make everything equal, they polarize
and alienate groups more.
As proof, I cite political correctness. Its aim is to
make our differences less conspicuous by egregiously
calling attention to them.
When it comes to college sports, here is an example. The
NCAA's mantra is that college athletes, or what they
call, laughingly, student-athletes, are treated no
differently than regular students on campus. As a
result, college athletes suffer. Here is what I mean.
Many college athletes have their school paid for. Many
biology students do as well. But the bio student can get
a job when class is over; the college athlete cannot.
If the biology student has a family emergency and needs
to fly home, the biology department head can purchase
the biology student a ticket; the football coach cannot.
If a biology student is hungry and has no money, he can
call a donor to the school for a meal with impunity; the
college athlete cannot. If the biology student needs a
suit to accept a prestigious research award, one of his
teachers may purchase that suit for him. The coach of an
athlete who is about the win a prestigious athletic
award may not purchase his prodigy a suit.
What's the difference? The biology student isn't going
to score the winning touchdown Saturday.
It really is sad and in a respect, I don't blame the
NCAA. Regulation must be done. There are too many
unscrupulous boosters and don't kid yourself, every
school has them. A friend and colleague, who hosts a
nationally-syndicated radio show, once said there are
two types of schools: the caught and the uncaught. Some
boosters think nothing of paying hundreds if not
thousands of dollars each year to college athletes who
are all too eager to collect a little coin on the side.
But here is where some people are victims of
circumstance. Ole Miss star Patrick Willis will serve a
one-game suspension this year because he accepted money
and meals totaling $80 over the past two seasons. Who
dropped this chunk of change on Willis? A friend of his
on campus and his family.
My guess is that Willis befriended a kid in Western Civ
class and when that kid's parents came to Oxford, the
dude said, "can we invite my pal Patrick to dinner?" The
parents probably agreed.
Later, Patrick probably lamented that he wasn't sure how
he was going to get home and this kid probably said,
"here, here's $40. Have a safe trip." You have done it
with friends and so have I.
Was Willis being unscrupulous or disingenuous?
Absolutely not! He was being a college kid. You won't
find a more admirable figure who is dripping with
character. Willis even disclosed to the coach himself
what happened when he learned that eating dinner (eating
dinner!) with a friend and his family might be a problem
(can you believe that?).
Do I blame the NCAA? No, because they are arbitrarily
meting out sanctions based on precedent. When basketball
players at UNLV are all driving brand new
Mercedes-Benzes, when Chris Webber has 200 large in his
checking account, then regulation must be done, at the
athletes' expense. I repeat, Willis is NOT a villain
here; he is a victim of a system put in place by
unscrupulous boosters. I remain a huge Willis fan to
this day and, as a result of the events, admire his
character even more.
As for my pics last week, I did an admirable job myself.
I missed only two of 22 and that puts me at 72 of 92 for
the year, which is 79.1 percent. Here is to this week's
fare:
McKenzie over Trenton: The Tide is struggling this year
and could well be washed out when the Rebels finish with
them Friday.
Huntingdon over Westview: The Mustangs have too much
firepower for the youthful Chargers.
West Carroll over Perry County: The Vikings are better,
but the War Eagles prevail.
Camden over Hollow Rock-Bruceton: The Lions will win
their second straight over the Tigers, but it won't come
without a price.
Bethel College over Cumberland (Ky.): The Wildcats seem
to perform well in front of a home crowd.
Tennessee over Louisana Tech: The Vols basically have a
walkover here, if they play. With Tennessee, though, you
never know.
In other action, I see:
USJ over North Side; Fayette Academy over Halls, JCS
over Bishop Byrne, Gleason over Trinity (a hunch),
Dresden over South Fulton, Waverly over Riverside,
Chester Co. over Dyer Co, Adamsville over Greenfield,
Obion over Union City, Humboldt over Bolivar, South Side
over Liberty, Crockett Co. over Manassas, Lexington over
Kingsbury, Ripley over Treadwell, Brighton over
Memphis-South Side, Covington over Munford, Haywood Co.
over Fayette-Ware, JCM over Milan, Hardin Co. over
McNairy, Lake Co. over Catholic, Middleton over
Lighthouse and St. Benedict over Gibson Co. |
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