What's Wrong With This Picture?

What's the big deal?




This story just shows how skewed the world of college athletics has become. I was hoping to let it die as the media got onto bigger stories, but it seems like it just won't go away: much ado about nothing, I say.
Brandon Davies, a starting player on Brigham Young's nationally-ranked basketball team, was dismissed from the team earlier this week because he violated the school's honor code by having sex with his girlfriend. It wasn't noted how the news became public, but it really doesn't matter. Davies 'fessed up and knew the punishment...see, BYU is a university associated with the Mormon's, and all students sign the honor code which indicates that they will not drink, smoke, drink tea or coffee (presumably for the caffeine), swear, or have sex while attending the university. Students know that going in and agree to it...so, no big deal, right?
Well, pundits nationwide are calling into question how a university can reasonably expect a young person to avoid ALL the near occasions of sin, as they used to be called. I mean, that's what college students DO, and given the report this week that indicated a large number of football players at Division I schools had criminal records BEFORE entering school, one wonders if BYU isn't being a bit strict. Not me. Good for them...other schools like Virginia and the military academies to name a few have the same system, and students and student-athletes seem to be OK.
Wait a minute...did I say incoming freshmen had criminal records and were STILL recruited to play football? Yes, I did. Now THAT'S something to fill the sports pages...or the University of Oregon paying some guy $25,000 to "scout" a player who eventually enrolled in school at Eugene. The NCAA is currently investigating that incident, but the coach Chip Kelly says the action is perfectly legal, and that other schools do this all the time!
Add all of that to the fact that the graduation rate for football players, especially black athletes and elite basketball players is abysmal, and you really have a story.
Or a player who has someone else take the SAT for him (while nobody seemed to notice!) so he can play one year of college basketball, jump to the NBA and make millions.
Something is definitely wrong with this picture, and it's not the picture of Brandon Davies.