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August 03, 2006
A Reason To Pay Attention To College Football
As you know, I generally don't like college football. I don't like the pretension of putting guys in universities who have no interest in actually, you know, going to school; I don't like that there are kids who have the academic qualifications or skills or interest but who can't afford to go, while a bunch of spoiled 'ballers' who have treated academics like a joke since 6th grade and act as if the world owes them an ass-kissing get to skate in while still treating academics like a joke. I don't like that the athletes get away with infraction after infraction, while short-sighted, enabling alumni put pressure on coaches to forgive or ignore anti-social behavior.
But... I might just have to eat my words. I've certainly found a team -- and a coach -- that I am going to cheer like hell for in 2006. Oklahoma was considered a front runner for a national title this year; many pre-season rankings had them listed at #1. They were supposed to be led by a star quarterback named Rhett Bomar, among the better college quarterbacks in the game. It shouldn't shock you that a college football player was involved in unethical behavior and financial shenanigans. But it is rare to find a coach more committed to ethics and teaching the right thing than he is to kissing the tails of alumni and overlooking unethical behavior in order to win. When Rhett Bomar was revealed to be "working" at a car dealership in Oklahoma five hours a week -- for which he was paid $18,000 a year -- in violation of NCAA rules, coach Bob Stoops dismissed his star (and his offensive lineman roommate and kicked thm off the team ... even though doing so will likely cost his squad a shot at the national title.
“Both parties were aware that their actions were in violation of NCAA rules. They did it over a long and extended period of time,” Stoops said. “That’s conduct that we won’t tolerate here at the University of Oklahoma.”
You know what? Good for you, Coach Stoops. Good for you for having a sense of ethics that overrides your commitment to winning. You've earned my respect, and you've earned my fan-dom for the upcoming season. You've restored some of my faith in your sport and the NCAA.
