Michigan State University is known worldwide as one of the
top institutions in both academics and athletics. They have a reputation of
holding high standards when it comes to what they ask of their students. On the
other-hand, they need to make it apparent that their student athletes are no
different.
Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, depending on
how you look at it, MSUs Mark Meyers was caught and charged with operating
while intoxicated. He later was suspended from the team indefinitely that
following morning. Meyers is a junior and the backup safety for the universities
football team. Now being a backup player does not seem like a big deal but for
his position, it is crucial to have depth in replacements.
Granted this event only happened a few days ago, I feel the course
of action the coach and university has yet to be as harsh as it should have
been. The university and team share these high standards and I feel only
suspending him indefinitely is not the coarse they should have taken. They
should have simply cut him from the team, no if and's or buts about it. There should
be a no tolerance policy with these types of things regardless of if they are a
starter or a bench warmer.
Being that I am from Michigan, I do love MSU and especially
their football team, but this type of thing is just not acceptable. I have no
bias because I would still say the same thing even if it were the starting
quarterback in this position.
Until next time,
Matt
Matt, I completely agree with you 100%. I believe that in general sports punishments tend to be extremely lax. Did you ever hear about the football players who raped a young woman? Well, at first they really didn't do anything about it and tried to keep it under the radar, but the pictures and videos of the young woman went out all over campus; so of course the media found out. Honestly, if the media hadn't found out, I don't think they would've gotten any more of a punishment then a slap on the wrist. But because it became a huge deal they eventually went to trial and were found guilty. This was a triumph for all the times that incidents like this get covered up and the women are forced to deal with the fact that their attackers walk away unscathed. But I've gone on a tangent, the point is that many times the punishment is not harsh enough and I'm glad that other people believe it too. I don't want you to think I dislike football or anything because I really enjoy it, but I do think that we as a people tend to put sports up on a pedestal.
ReplyDeleteHere's the link to the article!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/vanderbilt-rape-trial-football-players-found-guilty/story?id=28531342
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI too agree! As college students we tend to think we are invincible. The degree of punishment could have been worse, and he's lucky he only got kicked off the team. This kind of thing could possibly ruin someone's career (hopefully his wasn't football). The fact that he was operating while intoxicated just baffles me. Why would someone want to not only risk their life, but the lives around them? I feel badly that he can no longer play the the game he loves, but I have no sympathy for endangering lives!
Matt,
ReplyDeleteThe way you started this post I thought it was going to be about Michigan State football and this weekend, but you definitely had me wrong. This post is so true though because as athletes, we do think that we are set apart from others. We are set apart from others, but for good, not to make a fool out of ourselves. Players at the division 1 level have a platform that athletes like us can't achieve due to the small nature of division three. I like that you don't have any bias here because most people would take the fan aspect of this make some excuse about how their team will still be okay for next week, not about how their backup safety has a court date in a month. Good work Matt.