2011 in Review: The Year Sports Imploded

In the coming weeks, you will be inundated with Year in Review posts from every self-obsessed blogger out there, as well as every news, entertainment, and sports site.  So, far be it from me to avoid jumping on the bandwagon.  My seven followers demand no less.  I have always been a sucker for Year in Review stuff.  It was a fun way to go back through and revisit events and remember where I was.  Now that I am older, I often forget what happens on a day to day basis, let alone stuff that went on back in February.  So these recaps are useful for me.  "The Royal Wedding II was THIS year? Man it seems like forever ago."

As I go through these posts, though, I want to do something different than just a recap.  I am not qualified enough to give a thorough rundown of the importance of events.  And I am biased.  Things that don't interest me would not be included - even if the rest of the world think they are important.  Looking at Yahoo!'s top news stories of the year, they had the Casey Anthony trial and the death of Amy Winehouse.  Those may have been notable - but I never would have listed those.  I also don't know how many of these I'll do.  It's like Christmas - surprises around every turn.

I'm going to start with sports.  Again, I don't plan on just recapping who won the different titles.  If it isn't my teams (it's never my teams) then I really could care less once the event is over.  I had to think for a minute to even remember who the title winners were this year.  Instead, I want to look at how sports in general progressed (or regressed . . . mainly regressed) in my view.  This year will be forever remembered (by me) as the year the sports world lost its collective mind.  It also will be the year that, for the first time, my affection for sports was smaller than my disdain for sports.  If I were being polled on if I viewed sports favorably or unfavorably, it is definitely unfavorably.  Here are some of the biggest reasons.

NBA LOCKOUT: Personally, I was more irritated by the NFL labor situation than the NBA one.  But I am putting them in this order so that I can highlight some points.  The NBA lockout was frustrating on many levels.  The biggest is no matter how noble some of the points were, the basic concept of millionaires fighting with billionaires over money still is hard for most Americans to stomach.  But it didn't affect me that much.  I don't usually watch basketball until the All Star break anyway.  I'm too busy with football.  So the NBA starting late didn't bother me.  And the reasons FOR the lockout were somewhat understandable: player salaries are out of control, there needs to be some level of revenue sharing, fans of small teams need some hope.  So I could see that and realize something needed to be done.  What I hate about these labor situations, though, is that the people who get hurt the most aren't the players or owners.  They are the complementary industry people.  Living in Orlando, I was made more aware of stuff like this.  The city paid a LOT of money to open a new arena for the Magic.  There are tons of companies whose existence are completely dependent on the Magic playing.  The city itself was counting on the All Star game.  It was awarded because of the new arena.  And it was constantly threatened.  People lost their income; some lost their jobs.  And for what?  At the end of the day, nothing seemed to change.  Immediately after the new agreement was signed, owners started overpaying players, players in small markets started manipulating the new rules to escape to big cities, and the teams took the opportunity to cut staff.  The Magic had promised they would not cut positions during the lockout.  Immediately after the agreement was reached, the team laid off twenty employees and eliminated twelve seasonal positions that had not been opened yet this year.  Good job, guys.

NFL LOCKOUT: Basically, take the offensiveness of the NBA lockout, remove the legitimate concerns.  There's the NFL lockout.  Where the NBA one at least was somewhat about reconstructing a flawed system, the NFL was purely about money.  It was two sets of extremely wealthy individuals fighting over EIGHT BILLION DOLLARS.  Bill Simmons likened to Scarface, with the giant pile of coke on the table.  Except with this lockout it was a gigantic pile of dollar bills - and there was a gang war over who got the most.  Yes, there were some peripheral issues that were addressed.  But those could have been dealt with during a conference call or small meeting.  The lockout was strictly money.  I don't know about you, but that is extremely hard for me to accept.  The cities are the ones who built the stadiums, who provide the fans, who create the secondary companies.  And they are basically told to shut up and sit on the sidelines while the money is split up.  Lots of people have already forgotten the lockout and moved on.  I'm not like that.  I never really was interested in baseball after their last labor problem.  I can still enjoy a game, but I never have been as invested in.  I have a feeling this lockout (along with #8) will have a similar effect on me.  I rarely check my fantasy lineups.  I only watch games when I'm with my in-laws.  That's pretty bad for a guy whose favorite sport (by far) is football.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCANDALS: It seems like scandals have ben a part of college sports for as long as I can remember.  I very clearly recall SMU getting the "death penalty" in football back in the 1980s.  I remember when Florida won the SEC and couldn't take the title.  But this past year seems like it was one of the worst I can remember - not even including #4.  Ohio State sent Jim Tressel packing due to coverups.  USC can't play in a bowl game from numerous issues.  Miami penalized themselves to try to avoid bigger sanctions.  Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton was surrounded with controversy as he won the national title.  The national title game was jokingly referred to as the battle for which team would earn the right to forfeit the title in five years.  Even my beloved UCF was caught up in recruiting violations all over the place.  Throw in the inappropriate behavior by the Fiesta Bowl officials and the questionable movements by lying head coaches and you have a for a very rotten system.  Of course, that all pales in comparison to the next point.

PENN STATE and SYRACUSE SCANDALS: I wrote about the Penn State Jerry Sandusky scandal when it first surfaced.  And it just seems to get worse.  That is coupled by the accusations that emerged about the Syracuse men's basketball program.  Both schools have many similarities - a small city that is completely wrapped up with the university in question, a long time head coach who seems to transcend other authorities in the area, a long time assistant coach who has almost as much power as the head coach and is shielded by the head coach.  Both are heinous.  Due to the scope and detail of the Penn State case, it is worse.  It seems like just the tip of the iceberg has been discovered, too.  What happened to that D.A. who was investigating and disappeared?  How in the world can Sandusky be so adamant about his innocence?  How many more kids will come forward?  These were two of the "good programs" in college sports.  They didn't deal with the scandals and the negative garbage - or so it seemed.  Instead they were hiding horrific secrets.

NBA PLAYER MOVEMENT:  One of the biggest stories of last year was LeBron James stringing along the people of Cleveland (and New York) before bolting to Miami to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form a "super team." One of the biggest stories of this year was James choking the Finals as the Heat lost to the Mavericks for the NBA title.  At least, that is the story to average people.  To NBA stars, it showed that James' plan to bolt and partner with his buddies instead of making a career in one city worked.  Remember, this was the FIRST YEAR in Miami.  They didn't even figure out how to make all those egos work until half way through the year.  They will probably run roughshod over the league this year, now that they have had time to work together.  It was like the floodgates opened.  Now, big shot players started to force their owners' hands to allow them to leave for bigger markets.  Carmelo Anthony held Denver hostage until they sent him to New York to partner with Amare Stoudemire.  Deron Williams did the same thing in Utah, ending up in New Jersey.  So, one of the big sticking points in the NBA lockout was finding a way to keep these big name players tied to their teams - even if it was in a small market.  So, what happened?  The agents had figured out a way to circumvent the process before it was even started.  A player could sign for far more money with their current team than any other in free agency.  So, instead of playing out their contract, now these players are forcing trades a year early so they can resign with their dream team.  It is dirty pool.  Chris Paul did it the Hornets.  Then David Stern went completely bananas and voided the trade with NO GOOD CAUSE.  It was perfectly legal.  Stern was just ticked that the players were able to go around the rules so fast.  Now Dwight Howard is about to do it Orlando.  These guys all want to team up and, in effect, create a handful of "super teams."  You'll have superstar jammed teams in Boston, Miami, Chicago, L.A., New York (which includes the Nets now).  Then the other teams will basically be the farm system to the big teams.  It is going to turn into baseball.  The small teams draft and develop talent, get a few years out of those players, and watch them leave to win titles.  As a Magic fan, I detest this.  I know all the fans of big teams love it.  Yet another reason to not care a whit about basketball.

MLB PLAYER MOVEMENT: For years, I have hated how the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, and Phillies poach big name free agents from the smaller teams.  I have learned to really like the Tampa Bay Rays.  They play in a division with the two richest, most loaded teams in the sport.  Yet, they still make the playoffs on a regular basis.  They have a payroll that is a third as big as the Red Sox, but they eliminated Boston from the playoffs last year.  The problem is, they can't keep up.  The Rays had an amazing team a few years back - one that easily could have won a World Series if it had five years to play together.  But they got one shot.  Then they got poached.  The thing is, those players that flee for bigger paychecks seem to be disappointing more often than not.  Take Carl Crawford.   On Tampa he was the big dog - making all the right plays.  He was a legend.  In Boston, he's getting booed.  He's just another overpaid player who isn't reaching the impossible to reach expectations.  It is the perpetual question for these superstar athletes.  If they stay with their original team, they will become legendary.  But they will probably leave money on the table and may only win one title (or they may never win one).  If they leave, they COULD become one of the biggest stars ever.  Chances are they won't, but they will at least be rich. Look at A-Rod.  If he had stayed in Seattle his whole career, he would have been seen as the greatest of all time.  He probably would have one ring at the end.  Now, though, he is seen as the flagship example of the overpaid athlete.  He's widely mocked and ridiculed.  He still could be the greatest of all time, but no one likes him.  And he still has just one ring.  My hope had been that things would be different with Albert Pujols.  He was so synonymous with the Cardinals.  He is such a nice guy and good model.  I hoped he would be willing to buck the trend.  Instead, he listened to his horrible jerk agent (seriously, go read about that guy) and signed with the Angels.  Now he's just another big name on a big team.  Another owner trying to outspend the rest for a title.  Pujols will be richer.  But he'll never be as loved or legendary as if he had stayed.

COLLEGE CONFERENCE INSANITY: Boise State is in the Big East.  That is all you really need to know to understand just how stupid this whole conference realignment process has been.  It was a mad scramble to consolidate power.  No one wanted to be left out of the big money.  And, like with the lockouts, no one wanted to share.  The big teams don't want to see other teams develop and enter their ranks.  They want to keep the other teams down.  If big schools had their way, they would pare down their own conferences and just have a mega conference with only the elite schools.  Instead, we had a massive reshuffling of the deck.  Syracuse and Pitt are in the ACC?  Nebraska is in the Big 10?  Colorado is in the Pac 12?  Rivalries, histories, allegiances.  All of those went out the window.  All that mattered was getting a piece of the pie.  Texas and Texas A&M aren't in the same conference any more.  Neither are Nebraska and Colorado.  Then the Big East, the weakest and most vulnerable of the BCS conferences, had to find some way to survive.  So they pulled in two Texas teams, one California team, probably one Colorado team, and Boise State.  It was all about getting Boise State.  And for the Broncos - the team with the best record in the nation over the last five years - they got tired of watching the big paydays from their dorm rooms.  So they needed a seat.  As a UCF fan, I'm not going to lie and say I'm not excited to be in the Big East.  I will now get to see a real rivalry with USF develop.  I will be able to watch some of the best college basketball teams in my own backyard.  And I'll have the chance to watch the incredible Boise State Broncos play my Knights.  I just hate the machinations that happened to get things there.  And I realize that for those teams left on the outside looking in, their hope to ever play for something significant is basically dead.

FOOTBALL CONCUSSION PROBLEMS: The concussion issue has been bubbling at the surface for a few years now.  The studies have been out there.  The arguments have been starting.  But it seems like in 2011, things accelerated.  The NFL had enacted measures last year to try to avoid concussions and help players who had suffered them.  But this year we watched as players who obviously had experienced a head trauma go back into the game.  We saw multiple retired players die unexpectedly and under suspicious circumstances.  We also saw college and (especially) high school players get seriously hurt - or even die - from head injuries.  Football has become a sport that is on the verge of improving itself to death.  The rules that were enacted decades ago do not take into account how fast and strong modern players have become.  The human body is not built to take that much damage.  And if we see athletes from the 80s dying due to complications from head injuries, how much worse is it going to be with modern players?  (The same thing goes for professional wrestling.  How many wrestlers have to die in their 40s or start to act completely irrationally before we realize there is a serious problem?)  I have not been able to enjoy football anywhere near as much since I started reading about concussions.  And with every story like Dave Duerson's, I get detached a little bit more.

There were some great sports moments.  But it seemed like this year had more than its share of negative ones:  Dan Whedon dying in a wreck and the Oklahoma State coaches dying in a plane crash, the idiotic riots in Vancouver when they lost the Stanley Cup, the attack by Dodger fans on the Giants fan.  It used to be that sports was an escape from the ugliness of the news.  Instead, it has become just another source of disappointment and stuff I don't want my kids to hear or see.  And I am less and less interested in it.  I think there is a larger divide between sports and the common person.  I can't relate.  I don't understand why it is necessary to squeeze every dollar out of a contract.  Isn't $220 million enough?  Why does it have to be $250 million?  I don't see how it benefits colleges to screw over other colleges.  I can't understand how you can turn a blind eye to children being abused or players knowingly getting seriously hurt or your own employees suffering.  There are certain qualities I find important in my own life.  And I find that those are less and less represented in the world of sports.  I know there are people out there who will cry, "You are so old fashioned!  You can't impose your values on other people!  Wouldn't you take a higher paying job if you could?!?"  I am old fashioned.  I miss being able to cheer for a player and know they will spend their career with one team.  I believe in loyalty.  I have taken less money (or no money) to work at a place I believed in.  More than anything, I guess my love affair with sports has ended because we just grew apart - like Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries did.  Sports and I don't want the same things.  We have irreconcilable differences.  It has been this way for a while.  I suppose this year was the one where I couldn't take it any more.  Sports just went too far.  It wasn't one moment; it was a lot of moments.  That's what I'll remember about 2011 when I think of sports.  It was the year it went nuts.

On a Pedestal

Apparently, in light of the horrific events unfolding at Penn State, there is a movement to pull down the Joe Paterno statue that currently stands outside of Beaver Stadium.  The school itself has tried to distance itself from Paterno in light of the allegations against Jerry Sandusky, his former Defensive Coordinator.  I spelled out my opinions about the scandal in this sure to be Pulitzer Prize nominated post.  I went so far as to say they should fire the entire coaching staff and shutter the program until they find out what exactly is going on.  However, something just seems wrong about pulling down the statue.  I think the problem is that there ever was a statue in the first place.

It would be hard to refute the statement that Joe Paterno is one of the greatest coaches in all of American sports history.  He has the most victories in NCAA Division I football history - more than Bear Bryant or Bobby Bowden or Ron Zook.  He's won two national titles.  What is more impressive is that he did it at Penn State - a former agricultural school in Nowhere, Pennsylvania.  And, by most accounts, he did it well and clean.  The school was never hit with investigations and probations.  They kept high academic standards.  Paterno did all of that.  He was the architect of Penn State football.  And it wasn't just the program.  He was one of the first coaches to take advantage of a corporate sponsorship.  Since players cannot be paid to wear a company's products, national shoe brands will pay the coach instead.  Penn State signed with Nike years ago - back before they got heavily into creating superhero costumes for teams like Oregon and Boise State.  He's been handsomely rewarded for that.  His time spent at Penn State has brought him a lot of money, respect, and love.  In turn, he has donated a ton of money back to the school. By all accounts, he is a good man and a good leader.  He's earned his pension and his position.

But, now things start to surface.  It is like the lid is taken off of the box and the ugliness can start to come out.  People are talking about how he was stubborn and cruel.  He clashed with the administration and basically did whatever he wanted.  He really ran the school, regardless of what anyone's title read.  Some accusations are even worse.  Former Oklahoma Sooner coach (and a guy who knows a thing or two about cheating) Barry Switzer said that there is no way that Paterno did not know what was going on with Sandusky.  He said that at a big time college sports program like that, people don't get access without the coach knowing.  Other people have said that Sandusky's "retirement" was actually a penalty for the original accusation years ago.  And it is widely believed that Paterno did not do everything he could have to protect the kids involved.

I think that the shock of the situation has been so great that no one really knows what to do.  The school is trying to save its reputation.  Alumni and fans are trying to make sense of things and know if it is still okay to love Penn State and love this man.  So you have wild uncontrolled emotions flailing everywhere. This confusion has been brilliantly documents by Michael Weinreb over at Grantland.com.  He is an alum of Penn State and has been personally wrestling with all of this and documenting it.  Brilliant articles, all of them.  The big struggle is what to do with this man who has become an icon of greatness to the school - and really all of sports.  How do these accusations affect the view of this man?  He didn't physically do anything to these kids - but his inaction allowed someone else to.  The program he built did not funnel kids to a predator - but the program he created gave the man ways to funnel kids to himself.  The culture he fostered did not force people to have an unhealthy view of him and other coaches - but the culture certainly lent itself to it, and he never discouraged it.

The problem is not so much with Joe Paterno.  It is with putting any human being in a place reserved for a god.  Really, that is what a pedestal is for.  It is putting something or someone in a place higher than others.  It is allowing us to revere and almost worship them as something greater than just the average man.  Look at the statues around you.  They are erected to recognize, honor, and inspire greatness.  Sports teams will frequently put up statues outside of their stadium to tap into a sense of loyalty and team spirit.  FSU has Chief Osceola on Renegade with a spear and an unquenchable flame with a huge sign reading "UNCONQUERED."  UCF has an awesome statue of a knight on a horse.  The Jacksonville Jaguars have a roaring jaguar.  The Bucs have their end zone pirate ship.  And Penn State had Paterno.

We have monuments throughout our country.  There is the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore.  We see people that have done great things and inspired us and put them up on a pedestal.  You don't put some useless dork up on a statue.  (Well, unless you are the city of West Palm Beach.  They had some random soldier and then that got replaced by a guy who designed a disastrous development project.  The only reason he deserved a statue was to give people something to aim the tomatoes at.)  However, there is a great danger in this.  Putting anyone up on that level is begging for problems.

These people, as great as they are, are still human.  They are flawed.  We may be drawn to their great qualities.  But there still is darkness housed in that same person.  We lift that person up and slowly focus only on the good things.  When something negative or unseemly surfaces, we are floored.  It doesn't match the refined and polished view that has been accepted.  Our faith is shaken.  And then we have to go through the messy process of tearing down the pedestal that never should have been constructed.  I see it happen in churches frequently.  Pastors are put up on a metaphorical pedestal.  People listen to their sermons and assume that this person has it all figured out.  They must know everything and being living completely blameless lives.  Many pastors foster this by never talking about anything negative in their own lives unless they have already overcome it.  Then, when the human element starts to come out - when that church member becomes more involved or some of the stuff said in staff meetings leak out - members are devastated that this man is just . . . a man.

We started attending a new church recently.  We loved our old church here, but it was smaller and the kids are at the age where they really needed an expanded children's ministry.  It was a hard decision, but we knew it was the right one.  And we consider ourselves lucky to have two churches we love and feel connected to.  The pastor at our new church is amazing - a truly gifted speaker and leader.  The temptation is to heap too much praise on him and give him too much glory.  I can see where some people there are already doing that.  It is an easy trap to fall into with a growing, thriving church.  And I am doing my best to make sure that I always remember he is a man.  He's a gifted and talented man, but still a man.  It is so easy to do this.  We do it all the time with celebrities and political figures.  Apple fans did it with Steve Jobs - pointing out his many brilliant moves while quietly ignoring the failures (Ping?) and the ugly stuff.  I am very concerned with the horde of people who have elevated Tim Tebow to this level.  Yes, he is a good man with a strong faith and a will to win.  But he's just a man.  God forbid, what happens if he was to fail?  What would happen if we found out that he was hiding a secret?  How crushed would his fans be?  (And, conversely, what kind of sick joy would his haters experience?)

That's another problem with putting people up on pedestals.  There are always going to be people who just love to knock them off.  There will always be cynics, people who refuse to believe anyone should be so loved and honored.  It goes beyond keeping things in perspective and approaching actively wanting to see this person fail.  I have seen it happen with Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, even President Obama.  There is this group of people that (basically) worships these guys and then another group that really hates these guys.  They want to see them fall on their face and laugh if and when it happens.  (Colin Cowherd, shoot, every sportswriter, I'm looking at you.)

Putting people up on a pedestal is a dangerous thing.  It invites disappointment.  No person can live up to that kind of pressure and scrutiny.  No one is that good.  All of us have shortcomings.  And even if they are minor, when someone is elevated in such a way, those shortcomings are magnified.  What could just be something we put up with Weird Uncle Larry becomes devastating when it is done by Urban Meyer.  We expect more from these people - they shouldn't be susceptible to the same things as us.  But that is unrealistic.  We shouldn't have to tear down pedestals because we shouldn't put people up there in the first place.  That isn't to say that we never look up to someone or admire anyone.  We shouldn't go through life negative and critical, assuming every person deep down inside sucks and will disappoint us.  But we should gain inspiration while remaining realistic.  And if someone tries to put us up in a places we don't belong, we shouldn't allow it.  I doubt anyone will ever put me in that place because I am the first to say that I am a messed up person that will only serve to let you down.  I am not going to hide my flaws because I know they will come out anyway - and probably at the most inopportune time.  If you find someone you really want to enshrine, learn from them and admire them.  But then pray - not TO them, but FOR them.  The pressures they face are extreme.  Not only do they have to make the right choices for themselves, but also for the people all around them looking up to them.  And if they do slip up, you won't have to pull them down from their perch.  They never will have been on one in the first place.

No Defense

I have wanted to write about the Penn State scandal for several days now.  In truth, it has dominated my thoughts since this past weekend.  I heard mention of it on the news when the story first broke, so I read some of the coverage on it.  And, I wish I could un-read it.  It horrified me so much that I had trouble sleeping that night.  The next day, I sat my older kids down and explained what they needed to do if anyone approaches them in an inappropriate manner.  I told them, "Scream as loud as you can, punch them as hard as you can in their special place, run as fast as you can, and then tell me as soon as you can."  I didn't know what else to do.  What I wanted to do was to drive up to Happy Valley (ironic name, this week), find Coach Sandusky, and murder him.  That is precisely why I didn't write about this whole issue.  I didn't see any way that I could convey my thoughts without cursing, offending someone, or making me look like a violent rage-a-holic.  From the coverage I have been hearing and reading, my thoughts are not isolated.  It is amazing the number of sportswriters and sports talking heads who have expressed those exact same sentiments.

The fallout from the scandal is still being measured.  So far, the University President, Athletic Director, and a VP have exited - along with the firing of Joe Paterno.  Somehow, though, the original accuser still is coaching on the team - despite the fact that his reporting of the 2002 incident was so poor that several people hid behind the claim they "didn't fully understand the gravity of the accusation."  Personally, I think that the Board of Trustees needs to just get rid of the entire coaching staff and shutter the program for the rest of the year until the school can truly assess what in Hades is going on.

Now, apparently that last comment would get me a riot outside of my house.  There are so many horrifying and inexplicable things that have happened in the course of this scandal.  But one of the most mind scrambling is the fact that Penn State students rioted last night when news of Paterno's firing hit the airwaves.  Dannah Gresh, who is an amazing writer of purity resources, lives up near State College.  She has been tweeting about what was happening up there.  One of the things she posted (I think it was from someone else originally) was, "Too bad the rioting wasn't because a child was molested."  That's the crazy part.  AT LEAST eight boys were molested by this guy.  I say at least because the police are fielding tons of calls about other cases not related to the Grand Jury indictment.  [By the way, I refuse to say "allegedly" in all of this.  If it was one accuser, I may have some doubts.  Eight?  A three year Grand Jury investigation?  Reports that this guy was "walked in on" on FOUR separate occasions?  You don't get an "allegedly" for that.  This isn't some tv cop show where they drag five different people in and threaten to arrest them.  This was a freaking THREE YEAR Grand Jury investigation.]  The rioters were not up in arms that this kind of horror could happen right under the noses of the university.  They weren't furious that state and school resources went to this man - even after he had been accused and ADMITTED to making mistakes with young boys.  The angry hordes weren't buying pitchforks and torches because the school allowed this guy's nonprofit (which was supposed to help children) to operate on its campus running football camps.  They were mad because the people who made stupid, irresponsible, reckless decisions that led to the continued destruction of children's lives were fired for those decisions.

This is one of the things I absolutely hate about sports.  Sports fans are so passionate about their teams and players that they turn a blind eye whenever something that could tarnish that entity arises.  I can understand being shocked and not wanting to believe an accusation.  But to stubbornly defend a team, a school, an athlete in the face of mounting evidence is just asinine.  It isn't like there isn't a track record of sports personalities and groups making self-serving and immoral choices.  How many times do we need to see this play out before we start to believe that these players and teams are not deserving of that level of defense.  I remember when trouble first started to swirl around Tiger Woods.  People made all kind of statements and accusations about Tiger's wife.  Nearly twenty women later, those supporters know the truth.  But it was their first inclination to defend, defend, defend.

Two other things happened yesterday that highlighted this.  While Penn State was watching their world unravel, UCF was watching their athletic department for entirely different reasons.  UCF President John Hitt fired Athletic Director Keith Tribble and the Wide Receivers Coach.  Head Men's Basketball Coach, Donnie Jones, was suspended without pay for three games.  Several basketball players have been suspended, including Michael Jordan's sons Marcus and Jeff.  In the case of UCF, an NCAA investigation has shown that the athletic department had been getting into an improper relationship with a professional "runner" - who is a guy who guides players to specific teams and is paid for it (illegally).  Back in April, the reports began to surface.  UCF was dirty - that's how they were getting a shocking number of high quality players from Chicago.  UCF fans refused to believe it.  I myself, being a devout UCF fan and alum, wanted to doubt it.  But, there was something that didn't add up.  Partly, it was a sports entity being accused - which, in my opinion, always ends up being true.  Keith Tribble went so far in April as to say he had never met this guy, couldn't identify him.  Turns out Tribble was a big fat liar.  Now, UCF is big trouble.  They are trying to self discipline.  But it isn't going to work.  What has been the response of most UCF fans I've seen?  Shame - followed by questioning if this is going to keep us out of the Big East.

It should.  I think that the Big East should contact President Hitt and say, "I'm sorry, but that is not the kind of institution we want in our conference.  You have no control over your players or staff or coaches. Stay in the Conference USA, if they'll have you."  They SHOULD say that, but they won't.  This is the same conference that houses UConn basketball and Louisville basketball and Cincinnati sports and West Virginia (until last month).  The Big East is probably rushing even faster to get UCF now - since they proved they can cheat with the big boys.  Cheating is a prerequisite for admission.  [Truly pathetic part?  Eight of the teams in the Big East for basketball are Catholic universities - the kind of schools that shouldn't stomach cheating on any level.  And they are thinking of inviting BYU, the team who suspended their top players last year for having premarital relations with their girlfriends.  Run, BYU, run.]  Once again, the temptation for UCF fans was to defend their teams.  The temptation for the Big East is to defend their schools.

In the NFL, Ryan Clark - a safety for the Steelers - was fined $45,000 for a helmet to helmet hit on Sunday.  His response was touching and sensitive.  "If I'm going to get fined that much, I'm going to make sure I get my money's worth."  Amazing.  The NFL is trying (pathetically, but trying nonetheless) to cut down on concussions now that it is evident that brain damage from football are costing players years of their lives.  So they have ramped up the penalties for head hits.  Then you have Clark responding like that.  And, once again, Steelers fans will rush to the defense of their player.  They will complain about how the NFL singles out Pittsburgh players.  They will say the NFL is getting soft.  They will laugh at Clark's comment.  And they will get giddy the next time a Steelers player tries to paralyze someone.

We keep seeing this happen.  Football fans defend their sport and try to minimize those brain damage studies.  They defend their teams and players.  They defend behavior that is violent and uncalled for and irresponsible.  It is sad.  It is like a person loses their usual moral and ethical compass when it comes to winning a championship.  I guess that makes me a lousy sports fan.  I ditched the Dallas Cowboys around 2000 because I hated the way they did business.  I did the same thing with the Bucs a few years later.  And I did the same thing with the Yankees when the Mitchell Report hit and it showed everyone on the Yankees had a needle perpetually sticking out of their arm.  I won't ditch UCF because I went there and my tie there is different.  But I will have hard supporting the current coaching staffs until this gets fixed.

Sports isn't the only place this happens, obviously.  We see Republicans doing the same thing right now with Herman Cain.  These are the same people who wanted to crucify Bill Clinton and fire Rep Weiner over their misbehavior.  But their first response with Cain is to say it is a conspiracy.  Fans of Apple Computers refused to acknowledge anything negative they heard about Steve Jobs - even going so far as saying that what made him so great was his tendency to be a rude, abrasive, intolerant, short tempered tyrant.  We all have the desire to defend things we care about.  Unfortunately, more often than not lately, the things we want to defend don't deserve our defense.  They haven't earned such passion and loyalty.  So we are put in a position where we have to compromise our own morals and ethics to defend their lack of control.  "All programs cheat.  We just got caught.  We just are worse at hiding it."  Why should anyone who claims to have a moral guide and compass DEFEND unethical behavior?  You shouldn't.  Wrongdoing is wrong - no matter what.  Breaking the rules is wrong.  I don't care if you like the color of the jersey or the helmet logo the person is wearing.  It is wrong.  There is no circumstance that makes it okay to cheat ... or to sexual harass someone.  And there is absolutely nothing that makes it okay to sexually assault a child.

Which leads us back to Penn State.  Some people have asked what Paterno's crime was.  They say he legally had done everything he was supposed to, but he had not morally done everything.  The fact is that he ran that campus.  He ran that athletic department.  And he allowed Sandusky to remain there.  I don't even know how he could.  I doubt that I would be able and willing to have someone that I knew had hurt children around my workplace.  At the very least, Sandusky admitted to making a mistake in 1999.  Paterno then was told about another disturbing incident in 2002.  That's two.  At that point, even if he didn't understand everything, Paterno should have banished Sandusky.  He should have made trouble for his nonprofit and refused to let them operate on campus.  He should have ended the friendship.  The fact that he not only didn't do that, but allowed him on campus "all the time" and allowed him to use the athletic facilities.  He saw him in the company of young boys "from the nonprofit group" on trips.  That never triggered a question?  I believe that is is the job of all adults to defend and protect the innocent - the ones who can't defend themselves.  That includes kids.  You may think kids are annoying and hate their noise.  But you still should protect them.  That is ingrained in people.  We are built to care about others and to take care of small people.  To sacrifice children for the sake of a friendship is deplorable.  To ignore harm coming to children for the sake of a bowl bid is reprehensible.  And to be more upset about the decimation of a football team instead of the decimation of innocent lives is completely indefensible.