2014 NCAAF: Week 4

[Burgundy LaRue]

First, you don't make that kind of joke in an open area where someone other than friends can hear you.  It speaks to Winston's arrogance that he thought he could do so and presumably get away with it.

 

Second, if this joke was the only blemish Winston had on his resume, I'd say it was in poor taste and let it slide.  Problem is, Winston's resume isn't close to clean.  The soda incident at Burger King.  The BB gun shooting.  The crab legs.  And of course, the alleged rape.  Winston is building quite a nasty rap sheet for a guy who wants to be the #1 pick in next year's draft.  He has done himself zero favors and at this point, nothing he does is going to go unnoticed.  He should know that, and that he keeps doing things that would get the average college kid arrested speaks to his stupidity.

 

Winston isn't your typical college kid.  He'll be richer than all of us in nine months.  I don't expect him to be an angel, but he should act like he has some basic social skills.  That's not too much to expect from anyone.

[supremebve]

I agree that what he did was inappropriate, and just plain stupid, but my argument is that the punishment doesn't fit the crime.  I get it he's been immature and allegedly criminal in the past, but he was being a goofball with his friends in college.  If we sat every college football player who tells an off color joke, or says something dumb, they wouldn't be able to play any games.  This just happened to be the most visible player in the sport, which is the only reason it is news.  If this would have been any other player or student no one would care at all.  We can try to hold him to a different standard than everyone else, but that doesn't mean he is actually different than everyone else.  The coach should have reprimanded him for acting like a douche and made him apologize, but sitting him for the half for something this trivial isn't an appropriate punishment ni my mind.

[Greggulator]

If I stood on a table in the student union building and screamed that at the top of my lungs, I'd get punished by my college. Colleges take sexual harassment and vulgar behavior really seriously. I'd at least have to go to some sort of sexual harassment training seminar and would maybe have to go on probation, too.
 

[Burgundy LaRue]

There's a good chance a regular college kid would be placed on some sort of probation by their school.  If anything, being Jameis Winstson saved him from more severe punishment.

[supremebve]

You guys may be right, but it still seems excessive to me.  It kind of reminds me of when a couple guys on my high school team got into a fight at a Taco Bell between two a days.  It clearly wasn't their fault, the cops and Taco Bell employees made it very clear.  The coach made them go apologize to the team, principal, and the employees at Taco Bell.   They had to stand in front of the team and tell a fairly involved story of a couple guys starting a fight when "all I wanted was a Chocotaco."  It was a completely stupid, situation that happens when you are young and full of testosterone, but nothing that really matters in the grand scheme of things. 

[EVA]

I have zero problem with it. No college is going to stand for any student standing in the heart of campus and shouting sexually aggressive shit to all passersby in 2014. And add on to that fact that dude shouting the sexually aggressive shit was dubiously let off the hook for possibly being a rapist, and I think it's clear something had to be done for his own good.

College may, in part, be about doing dumb shit, but it's also about learning to grow up and act like an adult. Jameis clearly isn't making any progress in that regard, despite engaging in a laundry list of knuckleheaded behavior over the past year and, no doubt, countless "come to Jesus" meetings with his coaches, university administration, family, and everyone else with a vested interest in his athletic endeavors. Dude is just not getting it, and something more drastic needed to be done to get his attention.

I commend Jimbo for it. If Kevin Sumlin had done something similar with Johnny last year, he might at least be maybe an 1/8th the turd he is today.

[Randy]

I think FSU got it right. These were offensive words spoken in public by the most recognizable representative of the university. I think if they suspended him for the entire game it would have been too much because it was just words.

[evilwaldo]

You guys may be right, but it still seems excessive to me.  It kind of reminds me of when a couple guys on my high school team got into a fight at a Taco Bell between two a days.  It clearly wasn't their fault, the cops and Taco Bell employees made it very clear.  The coach made them go apologize to the team, principal, and the employees at Taco Bell.   They had to stand in front of the team and tell a fairly involved story of a couple guys starting a fight when "all I wanted was a Chocotaco."  It was a completely stupid, situation that happens when you are young and full of testosterone, but nothing that really matters in the grand scheme of things. 

 

So at what point in time do you suspend him?  He has been accused of theft and rape.  

 

If the kid is out of control now with booster money what will happen when he gets an eight figure NFL contract?  It is being ingrained into the kid that he can do whatever he wants without repercussions.  

 

Florida State would do something more if he did not mean a ton of income to the school.  If this was a backup he would be off the squad but because he is a star he gets off with missing 30 minutes of football.

[Randy]

I get that he's not going to get the message that he needs to grow up by keeping him out of half of a game, but do you think there is any length suspension that will drill the message into his brain? You could suspend him for 4 games and he still won't get it. In the end, the punishment has to fit the crime.

[Niners Fan in CT]

If I stood on a table in the student union building and screamed that at the top of my lungs, I'd get punished by my college. Colleges take sexual harassment and vulgar behavior really seriously. I'd at least have to go to some sort of sexual harassment training seminar and would maybe have to go on probation, too.

 

 

Storrs doesn't take it very seriously. smh

[Josh Mann]

As someone on this board pointed out to me via text, Michael Irvin in 1986 probably DID fuck a girl in the pussy in the Rathskeller on the UM campus and no one said boo. Different times.

 

The problem with blotter fatigue is that you risk just sticking your head in the sand when you know you shouldn't

[Burgundy LaRue]

Yeah, but Irvin did it with style.  Still bad, but style points count.  Irvin was wild and didn't GAF.  Winston fake apologizes for the cameras and keeps doing the same stupid stuff.

[Raziel]

Given the current climate in the NFL though, I'd set the over/under on Winston getting suspended and put on Exempt before his first OTA.

[Brisco]

With the current climate in the NFL I would be surprised if conduct doesn't cause Winston's position to fall much farther than it would have in previous years. Who want to pay millions to a player that may not make it through the end of his first contract?

[hammerva]

He is being suspended for a half in a game that they should win by 20 points without him.  given that he wasn't punished in an alleged rape and shoplifting, I think a half of football is fine.  

[EdA]

With the current climate in the NFL I would be surprised if conduct doesn't cause Winston's position to fall much farther than it would have in previous years. Who want to pay millions to a player that may not make it through the end of his first contract?

 

The Cleveland Browns and Johnny Manziel say hi.

[Burgundy LaRue]

Manziel hasn't been accused of rape.  BIG difference, especially with domestic violence being the hot topic of the day.

[supremebve]

Manziel hasn't been accused of rape.  BIG difference, especially with domestic violence being the hot topic of the day.

The thing about the rape allegation is that everything about it is so damn vague.  All of it is troubling, from whether he did it or not, to the investigation, to what it says about the handling of sexual assaults at colleges, to how we treat the potential victims of sexual assaults.  It is a problem that has been around for years and hopefully stories like this actually help us as a society improve how we deal with all of these accusations and investigations going forward.  As stupid as it is for him to continue behaving like he does after those allegations, that shouldn't have anything to do with why he is currently being punished.  If they want to punish him for the sexual assault allegations, I don't think you'd hear any arguments, but this isn't that.  This is a dude behaving like a huge douchebag in public, which I agree is horrifically fucking dumb as a best case scenario, but as a singular act I don't think it is that big of a deal.  He should behave better, he should show some sort of self-awareness, but standing on a table and shouting obscenities is not the crime we are making it.

[evilwaldo]

They are vague for a reason.  The school does not want to lose its cash cow.  Once he leaves it gets swept under the rug or they forfeit the games two years later.

 

That school in State College, PA is proof that the NCAA cares only about lining the pocketbooks of Div 1 schools.

[Randy]

If he doesn't change before he gets to the NFL, then he is Ryan Leaf.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I wouldn't be surprised if 3-5 years from now, someone from the Tallahassee PD comes forward with evidence damning Winston in some measure.  It's all but a formality this will happen.

 

Punishment and life doesn't come in a vacuum.  Famous Jameis had better learn that, and quick.

 

He clearly has no concept on how to read a room.  If you've been accused of rape, don't making sexual jokes in public.  It's just common sense, but it's not even common for Winston.  It's non-existent.

[supremebve]

I wouldn't be surprised if 3-5 years from now, someone from the Tallahassee PD comes forward with evidence damning Winston in some measure.  It's all but a formality this will happen.

 

Punishment and life doesn't come in a vacuum.  Famous Jameis had better learn that, and quick.

 

He clearly has no concept on how to read a room.  If you've been accused of rape, don't making sexual jokes in public.  It's just common sense, but it's not even common for Winston.  It's non-existent.

Yeah, I don't think that case is gone forever, but I have no idea how it is actually going to turn.  From what I remember she was unable to give the police any details about what actually happened.  That could mean a lot of different things.  I wouldn't be surprised if she was drugged and raped or if she just got shitfaced drunk and decided to sleep with the quarterback.  I hate this part of life.  We have to try to guess to see if someone is either guilty or innocent based on the information we're getting from people we don't trust to tell the truth. 

[Robert C]

Texas QB David Ash has thankfully decided to call it quits.  Either he realized the obvious or somebody finally got through him that having a functional brain later in life might be nice.

[EVA]

"I have no future in the NFL, and this program is the shits. OUT."

[EVA]

And, hey, there's a Top 25 matchup tonight! I feel like Auburn is going to boatrace KState, but it's always nice to have a meaningful game on Thursday. Should be fun to watch for a couple of quarters anyway.