It’s late. I have a 7:30AM doctors appointment and a full day of work ahead of me, but I can’t sleep and I have to get this off my chest. I have to open a can of worms because no one else will address the question I have. I have a few thoughts and opinions on the media attention John Calipari is receiving and no one else is looking at it from this angle. I am sure that some non Kentucky fans will accuse me of deflecting away from the whole Calipari “sleaze” angle and trying to put the attention on other schools. But I have a few questions.
What exactly is the criteria for running a “bad athletics” program. And when will the media put away their personal biases and report on things as journalists? On Tuesday, two prominent athletic programs were in the news. One for an ongoing series of continuing embarrassing acts by it’s athletes and the other a program where there has been no evidence of wrongdoing proved. Guess which program is getting the media castigation?
Over the past few days, there have been literally dozens of articles written by so called “journalists” attacking Kentucky’s John Calipari. And for what? Right now, it is all rampant and hazardous speculation. John Calipari has not been accused of committing any violations formally. Yet, the self proclaimed pundits and beat writers with a chip on their shoulder have been castigating John Calipari for virtually every move he has made. For what?
For accepting a player on his team that may or may not have been paid money in the European basketball leagues thousands of miles away and over a year or so ago. We are talking about Enes Kanter Never mind the fact that Kanter and his family have denied taking any money and I would assume that Kanter was thoroughly vetted by UK’s compliance office.
Forget all that. Instead all everyone does is pay attention to Pete Thamel. All we really have is an article by a self serving journalist with a grudge, who interviewed a Turkish GM with a grudge about payments that may or may not have existed. We really don’t know how this interview went down because one party did not speak English and we do not even know if a translator was used. Also no proof of the payments was shown to the reporter. So we are going on just speculation that all of this happened as the said reporter said it did.
And we also have the case of Eric Bledsoe. Keep in mind that Eric Bledsoe’s grades were thoroughly examined by both Kentucky and Florida’s compliance office, the NCAA compliance office, a second review by the NCAA, and a prior “investigation” that took place in February or March. Eric Bledsoe’s grades have undergone more examination that any other student that I can think in recent years. And then, based on another article by Pete Thamel, the Alabama High School Association spent $10,000 on yet another investigation. Some of the details were linked this morning, which led to yet another hit job by Pete Thamel, which was cowardly removed by a couple of hours and replaced by a different story on the New York Times website.
And all that is going on in the Bledsoe case is mere speculation, founded on rumors and hersay at the moment. At what point does this stop being called an “investigation” into Eric Bledsoe and called what it rightfully is? A modern day witch hunt. And once again, all of this drama is based on mere speculation. No one knows the facts, yet the character assassination of John Calipari continues.
And now we come to the other program that is in the news today.
Urban Meyer’s Florida Gator football program. It was revealed that Gator WR Chris Rainey was arrested for aggravated stalking. In this case, he was accused of telling his on again/off again girlfriend that it was “time to die” in a text message. Technically, this is not a NCAA violation, so most of the major pundits are ignoring the situation to focus on rumors and speculation in Kentucky.
But how can this situation at Florida continue to be ignored? The arrest count in Gainesville is getting close to 30 since Urban Meyer arrived in Florida and really, there is no outrage aside from the occasional op-ed piece I see in the Florida newspapers. Where is the outrage from Florida fans that their program has become a lawless bunch of hoodlums? Is there no pride in their school or is it all about winning? What happened to Urban’s promise that he would go after the top 1%?
What is Urban Meyer’s responsibility in running a “clean program” at Florida? Is it simply keeping the NCAA wolves at bay while the football team wracks up wins? Or is it to recruit players that represent the university and alumni well and making the program one that the entire state can be proud of, and not another version of Miami’s “Thug U”?.
Like it or not, the Gator’s have surpassed Miami as today’s Thug U, but no one is really bringing any heat onto Urban Meyer for the lawless program he is running. Granted, this team had Tim Tebow as the face of it’s program for the last three years really, so sportswriters preferred to focus on him and his ultra-humanitarian deeds rather than the six players a year (average) that have been getting arrested on Urban’s squad.
But no NCAA violations or rumors of trouble from Indianapolis, so it all gets ignored. But isn’t the job of a head coach to develop these players as human beings and model citizens rather than provide a fast track to the NFL? Obviously something is slipping through the cracks here as the arrests have gotten out of control. But does anyone care?
Meanwhile in Lexington, John Calipari is teaching his team humility and compassion for others en route to a pathway to the NBA. He had his team spend time manning a telethon for the victims of a earthquake in Haiti despite the fact the team was in the middle of a SEC season. On the way to an exhibition series in Canada, he taught them the meaning of humility by having them wash the feet of strangers. And he has taken such “problem recruits” as John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Eric Bledsoe and turned them into outstanding young men that the entire Bluegrass and fanbase has embraced.
Yet, because of rumors and speculation, John Calipari is being demonized as everything that is wrong in college basketball while Urban Meyer is being praised and recognized as one of the “great ones” in college football.
Is it all about the NCAA? Is that the sole, defining factor that makes a clean program? And I have to let it be known that despite all the negative media, John Calipari has zero violations. But yet he is castigated. Meanwhile the other program has it’s athletes reside in a whole arena of lawlessness, driving drunk, being accused of battery, and making violent threats. And it is all shrugged off.
Is is right? Does this make sense to you?
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