Save It for Later: FAMU and Penn State

In Save It for Later you’re getting a brief run-down of each week's stand-outs from my Diigo "Read Later" list, Pulse News, Twitter, and Pinterest

FAMU Marching 100

Wednesday, Florida A and M University President, James Ammons, announced he is resigning after the hazing death of university drum major, Robert Champion, in November.  There is a lot to this story and I wasn’t aware of it until this morning when I watched E:60 on ESPN. 

Briefly, Robert Champion, a drum major in the FAMU marching band, was hazed to death by band mates on the band’s bus—Bus C, to be exact—a bus known for passengers being hazed if they chose to ride on it.  Seems the band director knew hazing was going on, but thought it had stopped.  However, in an interview shown on E:60, he claims he did not know it was going on, at all.

Also on Wednesday, the family of Robert Champion filed a wrongful death law suit against FAMU.  Of course the president is stepping down.  It’s not timely; it’s what is done once the law suits start coming in.  In my opinion, he should have been gone in November when the incident happened. 

The band was banned from performing this fall—a fitting consequence.  Thirteen band members were criminally charged in the ordeal (11 face felony hazing charges, two were charged with misdemeanors).  However, some, including the victim’s family, want the band to march again in the future.

I feel the days of FAMU’s Marching 100 should be over. Forever. Someone is dead.  Others before him were injured and the university knew about it.  Just days before Champion died, CNN reports, campus police recommended FAMU stop the band from marching or at the very least, suspend the upperclassmen.  

On Tuesday, HBO's Real Sports will air an interview with Rikki Wills, one of the defendants in the upcoming hazing trial.  Don't miss it.

Freeh Report

Much has been written about the Freeh report since its release on Thursday.  Much has been said as well.  ESPN should stop airing interviews with Jay Paterno, son of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, and Matt Millen, a former Penn State football player.  I agree with the views on both of the aforementioned in the below links, the first from Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic, the second from Rob Raissman of the New York Daily Times.  Click them. Read them.  Stop being afraid to read and talk about the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State.

The Other Joe Paterno

Matt Millen’s biased defense of Joe Paterno

 on ESPN indefensible

Another post about the Penn State scandal, specifically about the role of iconic, former football coach Joe Paterno, came from Ashley over at The Dose of Reality.  She was gentle yet strong in her voice and I enjoyed reading it.   Not because I love the topic---I hate it and it sickens me.  But because she provides for us an example of what we should be doing—talking about it. Make sure you read Silence is Not an Option, including the comments. There is important conversation happening.  Don't be afraid to join the conversation by leaving your own comment.  Then, if you are a blogger, go to your own space and blog about it.

And if you are part of the NCAA, please consider giving Penn State’s football program the death penalty.  Do all who come after the Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State deserve to suffer by not having football?  No. Players can play football someplace else.  If Ohio State got in trouble for some players selling belongings in exchange for tattoos, if FAMU’s Marching 100 is no longer marching because they killed a person…umm…you see where this is going.  It is a rule of society that the actions, or wrong-doing of one has impact on all--even the privileged.  We will fail to learn this rule unless big powerful institutions feel the consequences, until we feel the consequences.  The only fitting consequence for Penn State is NO MORE FOOTBALL. 

My favorite sportscaster, Dan Patrick, was on vacation last week.  I am looking forward to his return tomorrow morning to The Dan Patrick Show to hear his commentary on the Freeh report.  I am hoping to hear something like what he said last November when the scandal at Penn State broke:

“Joe Paterno has lost the right

to be the head coach of Penn State.”

~Dan Patrick

I hope I hear Dan say, "Penn State has lost the right to have a football program."  And after, I hope he takes down that poster of Kate Upton that is hanging behind him.  It's still crushing my morale.

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Altered by Fire

We have a routine.  In the morning, after the kids are off to school, I sit at the kitchen table and write.  M watches The Dan Patrick Show upstairs in the office.  If I hear the floor creak, I know M is coming downstairs.

He passes through the living room, opens the blinds, strolls by me at the table, and grabs some water from the sink.  As he retraces his steps through the kitchen, under his breath he asks me how I am doing.  I typically respond as I hear his footsteps returning him to his comfortable spot in front of  Dan Patrick, which turns into Colin Cowherd, which turns into the girls being home from school.

It was at that time yesterday, as I was in the ferocity of engagement that comes with the kids needing snacks, help with homework, and rides to practices, that M escaped the commotion by doing maintenance outside in the yard.  I was pleased because our lack of curb appeal was an item of embarrassment for my 13 year old.  What was more, it was good to see him going—plowing through months of depression with fervor and ease.  He seemed to possess the joy of a child outside for the first time since the thaw of winter.

In my distraction with the kids, I failed to keep watch over what was transpiring in the yard. 

As soon as I had the girls settled in their rooms for homework and while our dinner’s fresh green beans were steaming in the microwave, I heeded my instinct and looked out the back door.

M had moved a pile of sticks and branches from behind the dog house to the middle of the yard.  Only, it was no longer a mound of natural debris.  It was a carefully crafted sculpture of the picture-perfect bon fire—minus the fire.

I heard the microwave alert me to the fact that the green beans were done and ignored it.  I was too curious.

I said, “You aren’t going to light that on fire are you?”

M lifted his Budweiser-holding hand in my direction and waved it around as he replied, “I grew up in the country.  I know how to handle a fire.  I have the hose ready.”

My eyes scanned the tall grass for our garden hose to find it in a circular heap at the edge of the yard.

He pointed the beer can toward the hose and said, “I got it. Is dinner ready?”

Food was enough to give M motivation to set that wood on fire.

I could smell it as I was loading the dishes into the Maytag.

I could hear our neighbor's voice bellowing from the direction of the rusty chain-link fence.  He told M that it was against city code to have a fire in the yard.

M replied, “I got it. I grew up in the country.”

Responding to the urge to go out back and intervene, I closed the door to the dishwasher, shut off the faucet and grabbed the hand towel, drying my hands as I walked to the back door.

Instead of reaching for the knob, my hands remained in the towel.

M was using the garden hose to put out the fire.

This morning, as I sat at the table to write, I heard the creak in the floor upstairs but no television.  M got some water from the sink, retraced his steps through the kitchen, but stopped at the table.  He pulled out a chair and sat.  He asked, "How are you doing?"

His fire for life is returning.  I just hope it stays out of the back yard.

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Dan Patrick Crushed My Morale

I am a sports fan.  I share my enthusiasm for sports with my significant other, M. What we do not share is a liking for day-long sports news updates provided by ESPN streaming via the TV in the living room.  It’s turned down to a low volume thanks to my numerous pleas.  But it is always on.  Other sports networks show up as well.  M is not an ESPN loyalist.  But I am not aware of what the other sports news outlets are, nor do I care, unless the news is about the Pittsburgh Steelers or the broadcaster is Dan Patrick.

Over the years, in an attempt to connect with M, or use him as a pillow while taking a short nap after getting the girls off to school, I would join him in watching Mike and Mike in the Morning airing on ESPN.  The show became annoying to me because the hosts, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, were repetitive, lacked in-depth analysis, and in my opinion, seemed afraid to share their true opinions on topics they covered.  So one morning, after Mike and Mike, M turned the channel over to The Dan Patrick Show assuring me I would enjoy the host, Dan Patrick, much better.  The fact that he was a native of Ohio and defector of ESPN also intrigued me.

As time went by, Mike and Mike became completely replaced by the Dan Patrick Show.  On mornings when I chose not to be lazy and nap in front of the TV with M, I found myself choosing to do sedentary work on my laptop (in lieu of housework which requires movement) so that I could strategically place myself in view of the TV so as to not miss the Dan Patrick Show.  But the day I can say I officially became a fan of Dan Patrick was when his show aired the morning following the weekend that the  Penn State child sexual abuse scandal broke in the media.

I was glued to the show for the entire week.  No napping.  No work.  Just watching. Dan Patrick’s coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State was phenomenal.  No other show or network, covering sports or headline news, gave it comparable reporting.  Dan Patrick’s handling of the topic was intelligent, factual, sensitive to the victims, heavy handed on the alleged perpetrator and conspirators of cover-up, and gave voice to victims of child sexual abuse.  In essence, he put down his sports reporting notepad and pencil and picked up a poster printed with bold lettering, “CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE IS WRONG.”

As a survivor of child sexual abuse, to me, this was powerful stuff.  Typically when stories like this reach the media, controversy and debate ensue giving more voice to the alleged perpetrators in order to maintain the façade that powerful institutions are impermeable to such horrific accusations.  Movement is usually swift in protecting the establishment’s reputation.  Cover up is priority.  Excuses are mandatory.  But this was not the case with the story in the hands Dan Patrick.   

He took time to tell his viewers of the impact that child sexual abuse has on victims—the damage it does to victims' lives for years into adulthood.  He would not be moved by callers with varying opinions of Joe Paterno's status as coach of the Penn State football team.  Paterno knew of the crimes committed and failed to report them to authorities other than higher ups at the university.  Dan Patrick bravely stated, “Joe Paterno has lost the right to be the head coach of Penn State.”  He even took calls from victims of child sexual abuse, allowing them to share bits of their stories.  Callers always ended with an outpouring of gratitude, thanking him for using his show to shed light on a topic that gets swept under the rug far too often.

Dan Patrick is good at what he does. I'd say, he is one of the best.  He gives insightful commentary on sports news and couples it with clever entertainment in his banter with his show's supporting cast.  He's a stand-out co-host on NBC’s Football Night in America and was bestowed the honor of presenting the Super Bowl XLVI trophy to team winning quarterback, Eli Manning.  He has also made several appearances as an actor on the silver screen and I think he’s talented enough to take over for the menacing David Letterman.  So yes, I am a fan of Dan Patrick. . .

. . .or was, until last week.

I had been aware of The Dan Patrick Show's Wall of Morale but had never given it much attention.  If you aren’t familiar, the Wall of Morale is an area in the show’s studio devoted to posters of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition covers.  I must have missed viewer competitions from years past wherein votes are cast to determine which poster comes down off the wall to make room for the current cover.  But last week I caught this year’s ridiculous hoopla while peaking over the screen of my laptop.  And I was angry.

"With great power comes great responsibility."

~Stan Lee

I truly believe that when one has been given talent they are charged with using that talent and sharing it with the world in order to make change.  The change doesn’t always have to be magnificent in the number of people affected, nor does it have to have the impact to be a catalyst of world peace.  One's work, even if it changes only one person for the better, is significant. It’s not for the talented to determine if his impact is going to be great enough to make a difference. The talented only needs to determine how much fear he will allow to get in the way of his expression.

When Dan Patrick covered the Penn State scandal with such skill and insight he raised the bar for sports journalists and broadcasters.  He courageously answered his call and responsibility as a man with talent.  He embraced his position of having a powerful voice in the media and used it as an opportunity to raise awareness.  His was a shining moment in broadcasting and one in which the world of news media should use as a lesson in ethical and honorable reporting.

Contrarily, for him to devote so much of his show's time to making the decision of which model to keep on the Wall of Morale, making the objectification of women a colossal event, was not only wrong, but a horrific departure.  I was deeply, incredibly disappointed.  In my eyes, another great voice failed to go "against the grain" and sold-out in the name of a pay check.

Dan Patrick must not have been aware of findings from the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls and cited by Miss Representation that indicate:

• the hyper-sexualization of women is linked to depression and eating disorders. 

• the pornification of women in main stream media is numbing boys and men to the true value of women. 

• the association of female objectification with sports implies that for women, being healthy is about fitting into a tiny bikini.

• in the 57 years of the Sports Illustrated’s life a woman appears on a non-swimsuit issue a total of 66 times (on average, just once a year).

Dan Patrick had an opportunity to speak on the crisis of the objectification of women in America to an audience wherein the message is desperately needed and to an audience who has his full attention—sports fans.  He proved he can make a difference in how people view critical cultural topics during his coverage of the Penn State scandal.  In his silly enthusiasm over the Wall of Morale, he succumbed to fear—fear of losing members of his fan base, fear of losing support of SI.com who hosts his show’s website, and fear of looking less macho to a world full of hot women who he refers to as “shorties” and  then jokes about making room for them in his bed.

 

"Every society has a way of torturing its women, whether by binding their feet or by sticking them into whalebone corsets. What contemporary American culture has come up with is designer jeans."

~Joel Yager, M.D.

One last point.  Dan Patrick has a daughter.  All I can surmise is that he does not find raising a daughter in a world that objectifies women to be challenging.  I really wish I could ask him how he does it.  Does he tell her it’s OK to be valued for sex?  I bet he does not.  And I bet, one day, she’ll identify his hypocrisy and be as disappointed in him as I am.

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