Okay, enough idealistic diplomacy. Instead, I'll hit you with a dose of more user generated content: an opinion piece authored by a high school friend and a student at the University of Tennessee. Though the student newspaper at Tennessee turned his letter to the editor down, who am I to blockade the dissemination of valuable opinions?
After overhearing people discussing it seemingly all day, I really think everyone is being a little too harsh on our freshman football felons. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not condoning their actions, and I’m sure we all shared the same reaction when we saw the news headline that three of our players were arrested, thinking to ourselves “These guys are dummies. Oh my God, please don’t let it be Eric Berry.... wait, what the hell is a 'mike edwards'.” However, the outcry of criticism that has followed is confusing to me. First of all, contrary to what I keep hearing, I think this reflects terrifically upon the integrity of our University, proving that our boosters clearly aren’t providing our players with any illegal gifts or cash to play here. Secondly, stop with the double-standard when judging athletes; I mean, let’s be honest, who hasn’t at least thought about committing an armed robbery once or twice in their life? Granted, these players didn’t quite Oceans 11 their failed heist, as the Strip doesn’t exactly qualify as “incognito.” In fact, if they had taken their pellet gun a few blocks into the Fort, it would have been an email from UT police breaking the news, rather than a suave Sportscenter host. Anyway, my point is that I think we should ease up on Nu’Keese and Janzen, and stop pretending like anybody actually cares whether our football players have “moral integrity” just so long as they pay enough visits to the endzone. Perhaps I’m simply numb to it, since I’ve been getting robbed repeatedly by the UT athletic department every time I want a football ticket.
-Brennan Scotland
