My one cent worth. I would say two cents worth, but most of you will devalue this contribution by half, so I might as well start out at fifty percent.
Here it goes, what is happening at the U and in the media is tragic. Having had the opportunity to wear copper and gold and represent the University and my State while getting an education is a source of pride for me. I came in under Larry Donavon and left under Don Read. And here is the bad news for some of you. A bunch of crap went on that shouldn’t have back in the 80’s! And I heard about crap that went on in the 70’s. I am not advocating rape or even seeking justification of the recent events by trying to say it is all ok because it went on before. The fact is, times have changed radically. When I played, there was not as much focus on the football team and basketball was really the biggest draw. There was no social media, cell phones, digital cameras and such. And to some extent, we were much like the Marines in that lots of disciple was in house. Upperclassman may pay you a little visit if word got out about something that happened that might embarrass the program. However, the players of today have to understand that they are under the microscope and any step out of formation will be noted. Call it balance, Karma, Ying/Yang or whatever but with the increase recognition and glory there comes a price. Some may say it isn’t fair, well get over it, life is not fair.
But here is what I’m sick of! Every story about the recent rape situation shows file footage of the stadium and field house. The story will go on to discuss other parts, but the inference is it is related to the Grizzly football team. I’m sick of people that want to blame the victims, as the father of a soon to be college bound daughter; I don’t want to hear about how she asked for it because she put herself in the situation. I’m sick of not hearing about the student/athletes who go to read with the grade school kids or who help to organize Toys for Tots collections. Or that as a whole they have higher GPA’s then the general study body and tend to graduate more. I’m tired of the belief that things in the past decade were allowed to run amok and that a different attitude would have changed things. I have first hand knowledge of events that occurred between 85 and 90 that would now be on the front page had they occurred in this environment.
My oldest daughter will be a senior next year, has a 4.0 GPA and intends on going out of state. If she doesn’t, she will probably attend MSU as her interest lies in engineering. I have been forthright with her about all the things that need to be said to a young lady about to venture out. This is not about looking for bad things to happen at MSU, but if they really believe some similar behavior is not going on over there too, they are in for a big surprise. I hope, and for self serving reasons that it is better over there, but I’m prepping my daughter as if they aren’t because from what I’m hearing it is very much the same.
I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. What I do believe is that women, as they should, are more willing to report incidents of rape. I have and will always contend that no does mean no. I believe that the ability to instantly record, message, and share information has altered the landscape and those that fail to adapt will perish. Much as today’s cops need to contend with being concerned with today’s environment, today’s student athletes need to be aware that there is very little privacy and that is part of the price of admission. Again, past issues do not justify current behavior, rather it should serve as an example that failure to modify current behavior will only result in the expected outcome. Very simple, change or die.
