If They Want To Be Paid, They Should Act Like Professionals

“Politics is downstream of culture,” as Andrew Breitbart always said.  Therefore, a weekend of college football is more informative than one might suspect.  If this weekend past is any indication, the portents are not good.  Two incidents in particular signal the coarsening of our culture and our politics is to continue apace.

The first incident, and the least consequential of the two, occurred in the game between Texas and Tennessee.  Texas defensive end Colin Simmons had a spectacular game, but his behavior as he compiled those impressive stats was far, far less than stellar.  Early in the game he sacked the Tennessee QB for a 16 yard loss and “celebrated” by miming as if he were urinating on the field.  It was disgusting.  His coach after the game:

“We took him out, we addressed it, and put him back in,” he said. “I mean, at that point, I’m not going to give the guy the death penalty, right, over an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. We got to fix it though, right? That can’t continue as we move forward.

YES! You were supposed to give him the “death penalty.”  Such behavior would have ended my season in high school and my game in college.  Children that I go to church with were in the stands for that game and they had to see that.  They just learned that miming urination in front of a crowd of over 100,000 people will garner you little more than a slap on the wrist.  They just learned that your opponent is more than your opponent – they are an object to be punished and humiliated.

But, of course, Texas wanted to win, and so….

The other incident is actually frightening.  In the USC/Oregon game, Oregon QB, and Heisman candidate, Dante Moore was hit savagely during a downing slide by USC linebacker Desman Stephens II.  It was clearly what is called in the game “targeting” in which a player takes an action intended to injure an opposing player.  The foul was called on Stephens and he was ejected from the game.  After his ejection, Stephens was seen on the sidelines laughing and carrying on.  USC has subsequently suspended Stephens from the next game and released statements that were undeniably written by the schools press office and not the people in question.  Moore, in the meantime, had to be stretchered off the field  and taken to hospital.  He has since be diagnosed with a concussion and is expected to make a full recovery.  Stephens career should be over.

But, of course, USC wants to win, and so….

I will limit my broad cultural commentary simply to noting that Vince Lombardi had it wrong – winning is not the only thing.   If, in pursuit of victory, we produce human beings that mime urination on other people or purposefully injure their opponents in a game played purely for entertainment then the cost of victory is too high.  We are supposed to have left the savagery of the Roman Coliseum in the dust of history.  We cannot sacrifice our basic decency for our entertainment.

These college football players now make money, some of them counting that money in the millions of dollars.  While the compensation models are obscure and confusing, these are unquestionably professional athletes.  Amateurs can be accorded grace for the sake of their learning and improvement – but there is no room for such with professionals.

Professional status means that on-field penalties and even game ejection and suspension are insufficient punishment for offences of this caliber.  Financial penalty needs to be introduced into the system. I wish giving coaches fining authority would be adequate, but in both of these incidents the coaches themselves indicated a remorselessness unbecoming.  Therefore, such authority should also be granted to the university the teams represent and to the conferences in which they compete.

These guys are pros now – it is time they act like it and suffer professional-level consequences.

ADDENDUM (about an hour and a half later):  Lot of games on a college football Saturday.  Can’t watch them all.  The outrageousness was not limited to the two incidents I cited above.  At least in this instance the coach’s post-game comments were decent and the indenfitne suspension appropriate.