Last week I wrote a column regarding rivalries in sports. This week? It’s reared its intensified head by means of a run-in with the law.
Early Saturday morning, Oregon State standout defensive back Jordan Poyer was arrested and charged with second degree trespassing at Impulse Bar & Grill in Corvallis, a night club near the Oregon State campus. Since then, the world wide web has been littered with “good natured” sarcasm regarding the epidemic of illegalities surrounding the Oregon State football program.
Why, you may ask? Primarily in response to Beaver Fan’s similar response to Oregon football transgressions over the last few years of successful Duck campaigns, and secondly due to a highly predictable level of piety.
During the Alonso/Harris fiasco’s of last year, Beaver Nation reveled in Oregon improprieties like pigs in their own excrement. Second only to winning on the field, Oregon State alums found nearly equal joy in hearing their hated rival bludgeoned by the local and national media, and now it’s Oregon’s turn.
Since the end of last year’s slate of games, cornerback Malcolm Marable was cited for speeding (104 mph) and failure to produce proof of insurance, fellow cornerback Sean Martin was arrested for driving under the influence and eluding the police, and safety Ryan Murphy with the help of the aforementioned Marable, were ejected from and simultaneously arrested at the previously mentioned Impulse club for fighting. First, I suggest Mike Riley immediately issue Impulse a no-fly-zone for Beaver ballers, for while Studio 54 I’m sure it isn’t, it appears that trouble lurks around every corner of that likely dark and Techno-music-playin’ place. Second, I recommend Marable read the Cliff Harris Do As I’m Told, Not As I Do guide to living, for he is obviously ignoring all sensibilities regarding life as a common-sense thinking individual. And lastly, I beg everyone skewering all of these players to come down from their ivory tower and remember for a second what it was like to be an 18-22 year-old college kid, with nothing but school, partying, and the opposite sex on your mind…and not necessarily in that order.
What has recently been going on in Corvallis, and what went on in Eugene more than a year ago, is not an epidemic, sign of the times, or a result of a coaching staff “losing control,” it’s what they call college…like it or not.
If you’ve been to a fraternity party, then you’ve seen Football Player-X try and get into said party, you’ve seen Fraternity Member-Y refuse him entry, and you’ve seen the minor-league MMA bout which almost always ensues. I hate to paint anyone with a broad brush (which means I’m about to do so), but generally speaking, football players at major universities tend to think highly of their standing in the campus community and due to such, non-footballers enjoy denying them that thought. It’s that line of thinking which often lands players in hot water, and leads to outsiders helping them get there.
In addition, college students tend to partake in big-boy refreshments, frequently use poor judgment under the influence of such, and in spite of instruction to the contrary, often act irresponsibly during times of recreation. Are these items exclusive to Oregon and Oregon State football players? No, nor are they outside of the norm of any other major university housing late teen and early twenties individuals living outside of the watchful of eye of their parents for the first time? But as football players, they should understand that their actions are highly scrutinized, and due to such should understand the certain reaction which will undoubtedly stem from such action or actions.
Therein lies the disconnect.
Players such as Alonso, Harris, Marable and now Poyer seem to be naïve to the microscope under which they live, and as a result continue to make the type of mistakes which provide the stones that their “enemies” love to cast. Much of the media, fringe sports fans, and most notably fanatics on the other side of the perpetrators fence, live for moments like these. If others look bad, they look good. If others are making mistakes, they can feel better about their own. And if someone else is taking the heat, they and their’s likely are not.
Oregon State football is not running amok, nor is the University of Oregon. Kids drink irresponsibly, kids get into altercations, and kids unfortunately act immature far more than they should. But to act as if any or all are signs of systemic ineptitude is a bit of a stretch…even for rival fans.
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