Memo to ESPN: Criminals, Malcontents Should Not Be Glorified
Saturday night showcased an inexplicable display by a team of producers at ABC/ESPN, who were completely out-of-touch with reality, during the broadcast of Saturday Night Football, between Florida State and Clemson.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, however, as the media, after all, handed the 2013 Heisman Trophy to a criminal, who, less than a year ago, was also in the middle of a rape investigation. The pawns in the chess game of covering college football, salivate and pant at the mere thought of seeing the ‘student athlete’ they have deemed, the most charismatic to ever dawn a helmet and set of shoulder pads. Pavlov would be proud.
Here are just the known incidents that Jameis Winston has been involved with:
November, 2012 – A pellet gun incident leaves 13 windows broken at an apartment complex on campus at Florida State. The complex manager is stopped from evicting Winston after a representative from the FSU athletic department promises the damages will be fully paid for.
Late 2012 – Police are called after Winston is seen stealing soda from a Burger King. The restaurant owner decided not to press charges after learning who it was.
2013 – Winston was the prime suspect in a rape investigation. That ‘investigation,’ was a comedy in itself, that had, ‘we will protect the star quarterback from one of our state schools,’ written all over it. The Florida authorities and lawyers involved, made jokes and laughed extensively during the announcement that no charges would be filed. It was a completely unprofessional act in itself, considering they were talking about a matter that involved a girl being raped.
April, 2014 – Winston was issued a civil citation for stealing crab legs and crawfish from a Florida Publix. He was actually disciplined here, being suspended from the FSU baseball team.
September, 2014 – Winston is seen making lewd public comments about the female anatomy in yet another display of his, ‘I can get away with anything’ attitude.
Despite his many failures to act like a responsible human being, Winston had never missed a football game, until Saturday night. He was suspended by head coach Jimbo Fisher, who, at this point is just an accomplice in this parody, following Winston’s latest incident. Fisher had originally suspended Winston for only the first half, you know, being a big game and all, before removing him for the entire game late Friday night.
Winston, who took the field for warm-ups in full pads and helmet, apparently didn’t get the memo. Fisher immediately ordered Winston back to the locker room, much to a bewildered reaction from the ‘stand-up’ QB.
This action, however, did not prevent Winston from being on the sidelines for kickoff and did ESPN ever fall to their knees. Any play, positive, negative or neutral, generated a prompt panning to the obnoxious reaction of the suspended quarterback.
To the naked eye, Winston received more air time on Saturday night, than any player or coach on the field at Doak Campbell Stadium. Not bad for a suspension, huh?
The story behind Winston and his history would have changed dramatically had his rape investigation taken place here in 2014, instead of a year ago. In the midst of the NFL domestic violence drama, it’s hard to believe he would still be enrolled at Florida State, especially with the four other incidents that were documented above, but why is this the case?
Do we now care more about women being the subject of violence from men than we did a year ago? That would be hard to believe.
Regardless, the decision to put Winston on camera as often as was seen on Saturday was incomprehensible. Rewarding someone who acts as selfishly as he does, is a disgrace and disservice to all outstanding citizens on the Florida State roster. Winston, the face of the program, brings down not only the reputation of his teammates, but the school as well.
As if the Jameis Winston promo shoot on Saturday wasn’t enough, fast forward just ten hours to Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN. There sits Ray Lewis, the former murder suspect, who plead guilty to obstruction of justice during that investigation, before becoming the ‘over the top in your face,’ face of the NFL during his final playing season, two years ago.
Well, the ‘Worldwide Leader’ promoted Lewis from the Monday night set last season, to the full-time NFL Countdown crew on Sunday’s.
Yesterday, Lewis preached about how to handle difficult situations when talking about his friend, Ray Rice’s, domestic violence investigation.
“We’re here because we saw a friend of mine brutally hit his wife in the face in an elevator,” Lewis said. “There’s some things you can cover up, and then there’s some things you can’t.”
Is that Lewis justifying him covering up the accounts of what happened when two men lost their life in his presence fourteen years ago?
Ray can act like a preacher all he wants, can gloat in his success and ridiculous media adoration over his play at linebacker and the belief of the executives at ESPN that his employment is a good idea, but he cannot fool America.
ESPN should be ashamed.
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