I've been percolating on some thoughts about high school and college athletics anyway, and hearing about what's happening at Colorado with rape allegations and strippers for football recruits. So far, there's 6 allegations of rape.
The coach there, Gary Barnett, has now been suspended (with pay of course), for what he said about a former female football player, who is coming forward now with allegations of rape. His players are rallying around him.
Hoffman said the report, plus disparaging statements Barnett made Tuesday about Katie Hnida, a former football player who alleges a teammate raped her in 1999, triggered Barnett's suspension.
Barnett said Hnida wasn't good enough to deserve a roster spot on the team, fueling a widespread resentment among her teammates that grew into harassment.
"Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it," Barnett said Tuesday.
I don't blame all the things that have happened, or have been alleged to have happened, at Colorado on the coach. Those responsible for the acts have to be accountable on their own. However, it seems they had to be having these parties for recruits involving sex (or sex acts), whether consensual or not, with the implicit approval of the coach, as head of the football program. And surely Colorado isn't the only place where sex for recruits, or rape allegations against athletes occur.
It's not like things aren't happening at Miami, or Virginia Tech, or a multitude of universities across the country.
In any case, I think Barnett should be fired and those who are proved to have been responsible for the things occuring at Colorado have to be held responsible. And, the NCAA would do well to suspend the football program at Colorado indefinitely. They have an ingrained culture of irresponsibility there. And the coach, as head of the program, should take part of the fall, because for all his disciplinarian ways, as his players testify, the discipline only extends to things he's "aware" of.
And it's atttudes like his that I believe keep women from speaking out when they've been raped. I'm sensitive on this topic in the same way I'm sensitive about the whole Kobe Bryant rape allegations (how ironic that what he's alleged to have done took place in Colorado as well). I've heard arguments made about the woman's instability and her past. But we also know that Kobe Bryant isn't a truth teller either. He's been unfaithful to his wife more than just the publicized case. Why should he believed more than the woman--whatever her circumstances. It's likely that no one outside of Kobe, the woman and God will ever know what truly happened that night, but I'm not so quick to assume their sex was consensual either.
I think, ultimately, that perhaps a change in amateur athletics in this country needs to take place. That wouldn't make things change necessarily, but I'm starting to believe that competitive athletics shouldn't be a part of a school's mission--high school or college. I haven't completely worked out the details of such an arrangement. I know a lot of people have a lot of pride in the school they went to and for smaller communities and schools, they can be a rallying point. But I think the major focus of schools should be education, not athletics. In Europe and other places, athletics in school is not a part of the culture. It's a private endeavor. Why not do something along those lines? Why can't privately-run athletic clubs open to those in that community and use some of the existing structures (administrative and facility)? Since the fields and a lot of facilities are in place, perhaps there can be money to be made for communities who take this approach. Let the schools, states and communities with strapped budgets focus on education, and non-interscholastic athletic competition as opposed to schools having to fund all of this.
I think there's a way of making this work if the idea came to be, but I know this doesn't have a chance of flying, so I'm not worried that my opinion may be warped. It's just that I'm tired of seeing the overhyping of young athletes. The mission of schools with large athletic programs seem to have lost their focus. I mean, we've got high school games now being broadcast on ESPN. It used to be a big deal when the local paper did a write up or a local TV station had an athlete of the week. Big time college programs, in particular, are essentially minor-league programs. Likely, they have the same advancement to the pros as the minor league system in baseball does. And those without the heart to go to class wouldn't have to worry about that. I know there's a lot of flaws in my plan (any plan does, I think), and I'm flexible enough to find other approaches to an over-focus on athletics in scholastic settings.
It's odd enough that I'm talking about a de-emphasis on athletics anyway. I grew up on sports--football, basketball, baseball, soccer, tennis, etc. But when I played, I played to have fun. Win, yes, but just as important, to have a good time while doing it. I could have fun at those things whether I was kicking a ball by myself, or when half the neighborhood turned out for a mammoth football game. I'm just starting to believe that athletics don't necessarily need to be a part of a school's culture.
There was a more innocent time for sports; unfortunately, this isn't an innocent time.