18Oct06 sportsRANT!!
When the ACC admitted the University of Miami (the ‘U’) in June 2003 lip service was duly paid to “raising the academic and athletic standards”. Of the Conference or of the ‘U’?.
How did that work out for you Miami? ACC?
The ‘U’ football team has committed one classless act after another over the years (most recently in the Peachbowl and at Louisville ) and rubbed the nation’s collective noses in their mess Saturday with that bench clearing pitch battle against Florida International at the Orange Brawl.
Well – after listening to the ‘U’s response to that travesty – I guess now we know why the ‘U’ crew are so ill-disciplined; it’s institutionalised.
This, from ‘U’ president Donna Shalala: “This university will be firm and punish people who do bad things.
“But we will not throw any student under the bus for instant restoration of our image or our reputation.
“I will not hang them in a public square. I will not eliminate their participation at the university. I will not take away their scholarships.”
So what is this appropriate punishment she espouses?
Well … twelve players pick-up ONE game suspensions and one player – safety Anthony Reddick, the helmet wielder – is handed an indefinite suspension … oh and all 13 get to do community service.
In contrast – of the eighteen Florida International players involved – sixteen have been placed on athletic probation for the remainder of the school year and two (Chris Smith and Marshall McDuffie Jr.) have been summarily dismissed.
So there it is … Shalala (instrumental in the U’s lousy defection from the Big East) thinks she’s done enough … wants the “feeding frenzy” to stop.
Whilst one can empathise with Shalala’s presumed reluctance to scar young lives, there comes a time to make a stand. If this isn’t it, then I fear for what is. And punishment can be meted out in a manner that provides constructive lessons … but this wrist slap allied with a wishy-washy warning of zero tolerance “next time” just doesn’t cut it.
So. Who’s up for sending your kids to the ‘U’ now?
Maybe the fallout from this doesn’t stop at Head coach, Larry Coker, after all … maybe it goes higher than that, much higher.
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