All That and a Bag of Mail: Grape Stomping Edition

Charles M. writes:

Clay,

If you've used the internet for anything other than looking at porn then you know the grape lady. Jimmy Traina at si.com recently made a tribute to the video, including this link with information about where she is now. She survived. She is in Albany doing the weather and a closer look at her bio reveals that she got her degree in meteorology from Mississippi State.

Miss. State meteorology, you can't run, you can't hide, eventually they take over your airwaves too.

Josh S. writes:

C'lay,

I just finished reading your article in regards to people overlooking the arrests at Florida because we've won a lot of games. To be honest, I agree with your basic premise. I hate seeing our guys arrested, as it reflects poorly on the program and the school. Personally, I wish every one of our guys acted like Tebow off the field.

And I know that the typical Gator fan response goes something like this:
"It's my duty to point out the real reason that no one has really put media pressure on the Gators and Urban Meyer for some of the terrible off-field displays. And here's the thing -- it doesn't have as much to do with Tim Tebow as you might think. It has to do with the fact that players that are arrested for doing abhorrent things are removed from the team.

Think about the 4 guys you mentioned specifically in the article (Jamar Hornsby, Jacques Rickerson, Cameron Newton, Ronnie Wilson); what did they have in common? They did extremely bone-headed things, and were swiftly kicked off the team due to their lack of discipline. Ronnie Wilson was a special exception. He was kicked off the team for one year (and thus removed from the scholarship roll), but would be allowed to return to the team after that one year (still without a scholarship) if he met a strict list of requirements set forth by Meyer. After initially complying with these requirements, Wilson screwed up again and was removed permanently from the team, having never started a game for the Gators.

Plus, 2/3 of those arrested were recruited by Zook, 5 of the arrests were for traffic violations, and charges were dropped in 9 of the arrest cases. Rival fans only see what they want to see, and they'll do anything to rationalize why the Gators are evil and diminish how much we've won lately."

I guess this bothers me more than many of my fellow fans. I understand their reasoning and realize that not every arrest is quite as bad as it may seem on the surface. But some of them are that bad, and many of them are worse.

So what's the solution, not just at Florida, but at all schools? Would it help if coaches were allowed more contact with the players during the off-season, when most of the arrests occur? Should players, who are still college students, not be allowed to go out like their non-athlete peers? Is it even possible to win big in a violent sport without recruiting guys who have the potential for violent (or, at the very least, stupid) off-the-field behavior?

As much as I feel the need to point out the individual circumstances surrounding these arrests when chatting with rival fans, I can't help but look at the total number of arrests and be ashamed. Is there a solution, or is this really the price of winning?

Here's my solution, admittedly this would require action from the administrators, I'd put the arrests of athletes in the context of the larger student body. In other words, I'd want to know whether male athletes are more likely to be arrested than male students at the school. I'd break it down by program. Then I'd present this information to the coaches and tell them things were going to have to change.


I'd decide on a baseline number that each program should strive to beat (it would be better than the undergrad population at large), then I'd publicly release that information and institute my own punishments against the coaching staff if they failed to meet these goals.

What if you pegged, say, assistant coaching salary raises to this number?

I'd call a press conference and lay out all the details. I wouldn't hide behind a lack of data. And I'd say if fans don't care, I do care, because I'm an administrator at an institution of higher learning. And that, if things don't changes, sooner or later another student is going to end up dead because of a culture that doesn't punish athletes on campus.

I'd use these numbers as a teaching opportunity to go after arrests in general. As is, and I've been talking about this for a pretty decent amount of time, I still don't think we have a great context for whether athletes are getting into trouble much more frequently than "regular" students.

Anyway, that would be my idea if I were a college administrator. I think putting these arrest numbers in the context of the student population at large is imperative. Right now we just really don't know how much athletes misbehave relative to their peer groups, we just hear about it a lot more.


C'ade writes:

Hey C'lay,

FYI

I was perusing the roster of a summer program I'm working with and came across T'era. I've never seen this, but a quick facebook search came up with several other T'eras. Some male, some female.

If your name is T'era and you're male, can we all agree that your life is over? I mean, seriously, how much do your parents hate you?

This is nothing compared to M'leigh.


Phillip Blankenship writes:

Your recent article on Coach Calipari was a real joke......that was not funny. Your questioning about would you want your 18 yr old daughter to date Patrick Patterson had serious racial meaning to it in my opinion.I mean he's not an older guy,he's not a thug,he is a model citizen.....who is black. I have forwarded this to people who should have a stronger opinion.......maybe like Al Sharpton. I do know most on message boards consider it as racial,nothing else.

This is the line, Phillip has a problem with. "Of course right now John Calipari could stand up in front of the UK fan base and say, 'When each of your daughters turn 18, they belong to Patrick Patterson.'"

I don't even know where to begin here. First, nice punctuation. Second, the accusation of "racial meaning" is racist. Because it assumes that there are no black, Hispanic, or Asian Kentucky fans who can turn over their daughters. Which is, of course, a racist assumption. Third, presumably Phillip is okay with a white Kentucky player such as Jared Carter receiving every 18 year olds daughter. Or not. I'm honestly not sure what he means. Just that he has a problem with black people sleeping with (presumed) white women.

Which is why I said that the children would have good height. I thought that would clear everything up.

Anyway, I responded to Phillip and told him that Al Sharpton was my cousin. I still haven't heard back from him.

Josh B. writes:

I've discovered a new word that I think might be of some interest to you.

pogonophile n: One who loves beards.

If there ever was a pogonophile, you sir, would be that man.

Found it reading this article on beards in the Gainesville Sun. It is from a more "hipster" perspective, and there are a few heresies, such as glorifying Fu-Manchus and goatees, but it makes some good points as well. I am very disappointed that he made no Pogonophilia comments.. I think that was a definite wasted opportunity.


The best paragraphs from the article:

But according to Wikipedia, the most reliable source of information I know of, beards have had a long, bristly life even outside of our hairy city.

It states that throughout history, beards have been associated with wisdom, sexual virility and high social status, which I did not need Wikipedia to tell me. It also says men with beards are ascribed attributes like “filthiness, crudeness, or an eccentric disposition, such as in the case of a bum, hobo or vagrant,” though that last part is without citation and, I feel, wholly unfounded.

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Posted by Clay Travis at 3:59 PM
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