The Jameis 'scandal'

Let me begin this post with the obvious disclaimer.  I am a proud alum of Florida State, I was a proud member of the Marching Chiefs for 4 years, and I remain a fan/supporter of the Seminole football team.  This is meant to be an post to hopefully encourage people to think before judging, but I clearly have a bias which I acknowledge here.

Ok.  This whole Jameis mess.  Let me list what is being labelled a litany of violations and issues surrounding the last Heisman trophy winner and national champion. After, I will comment on each of the alleged violations with focus on the latest to attempt to bring some sanity to what has become a ridiculous witch hunt.

1) Alleged BB gun shooting off campus a few years ago (unknown shooter--not at people)
2) Alleged 'stealing of soda' from a Burger King when ordered water
3) Alleged sexual assault off campus
4) Theft of crab legs from local grocery store
5) Shouting a vulgar phrase on campus in the union


1) BB gun incident.
I'm not comfortable commenting on this as I really know very little to nothing about this.  The fact that this is not talked about at all suggests that this is not an allegation worthy of attention but I wanted to list it as ESPiN has been careful to list everything that may or may not have been Jameis (or DB Cooper for all we know!)

2) Alleged Stealing of soda
Really....this is really a thing.  No, seriously, look it up.  I'll wait.  Someone wants to press charges for this.  Is stealing a drink from a fast food restaurant self service dispenser right? No.  Ethical? No. Something that everyone has done at some point once in their life because NO ONE CARES? I'll leave that to you.  Let's move on to the elephant in the room and stop wasting time.

3) Alleged sexual assault
Now we have something that's worth examining...or do we? If he indeed committed this heinous crime, he should be put in jail let alone worrying about his status on a football team, but let's examine the facts.  Jameis never said the sexual encounter didn't occur.  He never denied it.  It happened.  Again, immoral? Perhaps.  Illegal? No.  More and more facts keep emerging that the accuser has attempted to extort Jameis for millions of dollars for this to go away, but the facts all support a consensual sexual encounter.  Not to mention the fact that all witnesses corroborate his story.  The popular argument is that this is a town covering for its superstar, but take a moment to suspend your prior beliefs.  What if he didn't do it? I'm not telling you he did nothing wrong, but imagine for a second that this was a consensual act between adults.  Couldn't the same accusations and consistent witness testimony be occurring without any unethical backroom dealings? Again, this is NOT saying that Jameis is innocent.  It's simply suggesting that there is no substantive evidence supporting the accuser's story which, by the American legal system, prohibits any further action.  Let's be honest, we know this exact situation plays out on every college campus in America.  Sports star/BMOC has his pick of a bevy of coeds.  This is not something many people want to acknowledge but it is real.  Alcohol leads many people to bad choices.  I was not present so I can neither confirm nor deny these awful accusations, but I can look at the facts and see that given the lack of evidence, there is no reason to continually badger someone for something that may or may not have happened.

4) The crab legs
OK.  No defense here.  This is just plain stupid, and it highlights the main downside of Mr. Winston.  Stupid.  We all know, whether you acknowledge it or not, that a superstar athlete at a big time school can pretty much get what he wants.  Want some crab legs? Go to Mr. Smith's house and chow down.  Want some delicious BBQ? Jim and Milt's will hook you up (check it out if you're in Tallahassee).  Why....WHY would you do something so stupid? He did it and there's no defense.  Crush him for this if you want, but he served the penalty and moved on in accordance with the decision of the courts.

5) The vulgar yelling
Now we come to the latest installment of: Could you be any dumber? I'm going to let you in on a little secret: nothing he did is really breaking any law or rule...or anything other than societal propriety (yeah, there might be an obscene statement clause somewhere, but I hear curse words in public all day---and there were no criminal charges for this).  Was it wrong? Sure.  Stupid? ABSOLUTELY.  Illegal? No.  Jameis needs to be smarter in these situations and know the lay of the land.  FSU was well within their rights to suspend Jameis, but a half of football was about right.  Let's be clear about one thing: FSU wasn't suspending Jameis for what he said/yelled/etc.; they were suspending him for STUPID.  He needs to think: While this isn't illegal, is it a good idea for a guy with a track record (deserved or not) or for a guy in the limelight? Maybe this is how to teach him, maybe not.  Why was the suspension increased to a full game? Some say it was because Clemson isn't that good so FSU wasn't worried about losing the game.  I would disagree with that wholeheartedly (see last Saturday's game as proof).  The reason the suspension was increased is Ray Rice punched his fiance and AD beat his children.  This is a suspension that was increased due to the current landscape and CYA 'cover your...butt' mentality in football now.

Another criticism has surfaced following the incredible comeback win for FSU.  Many have cited that Jameis didn't look 'contrite enough' and that he 'ran in to hog the attention from his teammates'.  What? Are you mental? He just dodged a major bullet, but more importantly, he was freaking stoked his teammates pulled off a huge win.  This win was not because of Jameis, but he served his penalty and the Noles emerged victorious.  The media needs to stop judging the punishment based on the outcome.  Some were quoted as saying that Jameis clearly won't learn his lesson because they still won.  This is the definition of 'hater'.  They weren't mad at 'Jameis not learning his lesson', they were mad that FSU won.  Don't hide behind false words.  People who say Jameis won't learn his lesson because FSU won believe a loss would teach the lesson? Is that fair to the rest of the roster? Jameis was punished, they triumphed, end of story.  Most people would applaud the 'other members' of the team for fighting through adversity to emerge victorious; not cut down the person who almost cost his team the win because he didn't end up costing them the win.  These premises are simply ludicrous.  The outcome of the game doesn't determine the merits of the punishment.  (Note: UF suspended three players for their opener against powerhouse Idaho which was canceled due to weather after the first play.  Those players were returned to full status the next week with the 1 play suspension deemed sufficient...and we're complaining that a game vs. a ranked opponent is too light for FSU's star?) Suppose FSU lost.  Would Jameis fly on the straight and narrow? Maybe.  Now that they won, will Jameis be an upstanding citizen? Maybe.  We don't know.  What we do know is a guy made a dumb decision amplified by the current landscape and was punished for it (actually more harshly than deserved in my opinion). That being said, he's served his time and it's time to move on.  If he remains stupid Jameis, then punish him when the time arises, but until then, he's innocent until proven guilty regardless of your preconceived notions.

One more comment about his coming out in pads: was this intelligent? Probably not, but I've seen games where suspended players wore pads.  Suspension doesn't prohibit wearing the uniform.  Does anyone really think that Jameis would 'sneak' into the huddle with millions of television eyes on the game? Get real.  Let's also consider the fact that he was supposed to play in the second half until 11:00 PM the previous night.  At that point, the equipment managers had already prepared his pads for him and they were in his locker.  A good idea for him would have been to ask the coach before 'suiting up', but if the pads are there, why not? He knows he's not playing.  That was another instance of a minor infraction being blown WAY out of proportion.

In closing, I wrote this due to all the insane speculation I've been seeing on the Twitterverse, Facebook, and across many media outlets.  Take a step back and think before you judge Jameis for not taking a step back and thinking.  I hope I made it clear that I don't condone the actions taken by Jameis and that he needs to be smarter socially to succeed, but I also realize that he can make mistakes and atone.  I won't use the 'he's just a kid' excuse because that's crap.  He needs to step up, take responsibility for his life, and stop doing dumb things, but the dumb things (again, not counting the assault if that indeed is proven true) he has been doing are so minor in the grand scheme, it's amazing the level to which they've been promoted in the media.  I will also not use the excuse of 'every kid does this' because that's lazy as well.  He isn't 'every kid'.  When he signed on the dotted line to play QB at FSU, he left 'every kid' behind.  He is special and he will be scrutinized.  What Jameis needs to do is follow three simple words that should center everyone's life philosophy: "Don't be stupid."   Are his transgressions a big deal? Other than the alleged assault, no (and the assault is simply accusation no matter how it is portrayed at this point). But he needs to be cognizant of the world today and the spotlight on him at all times.  He needs to do this for college football, for Florida State, and, most importantly, for Jameis Winston.