Sick Six

Recently, six Mississippi State football players where charged with simple assault on an off-duty police officer. From all accounts, this took place in a public location with multiple witnesses. At the time (not that this matters) it's pretty clear they didn't know he was a cop.

Of course, the local news stations are going nuts. Guess what the fuss is about- not that they had the audacity to do such a stupid thing, but what will happen to their football careers.

The MSU coach has suspended them and is awaiting further legal action until deciding on further disciplinary measures.

Here's what drives me nuts- if the President had done this, he would have already resigned. No political figure- from the top to the bottom- could have survived such an event. However, athletes can. And the news, picking up on this vibe, focuses the story not on the injured police officer but the fact that the players (two of whom are starters, I believe) won't get to play in at least a few football games. Whoop-de-doo.

I understand that everyone deserves a fair trial, but it appears that in this case we should be focusing on the police officer (not to mention what kind of society condones this reprehensible behavior) and not whether six alleged criminals get to play a game.

Much like the Provine coach I blogged about earlier, this is an example of society placing the value of sports above that of human decency.

I have a sinking suspicion that when the final buzzer sounds, we're going to realize we've been using the wrong scoreboard.