TALLAHASSEE--Please allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment here. Imagine, if you will, the voice of beloved Seminole radio caller Gene Deckerhoff:
"Jameis Winston is down around the 50, and he ain't moving, William Floyd."
"No he's not, Gene."
"That could spell disaster for this team and this season. The medical training staff are down there attending to a lifeless Jameis who has not moved since going down after a vicious hit from the Miami linebacker. It was incidental, I believe, but head-to-head contact, nonetheless."
In the stunned silence of Doak Campbell stadium, where you could almost hear Jameis Winston's slow breathing, how many shocked Seminoles would be thinking about his off-the-field antics, or what he said while standing on a table in the student union. As the whole of Seminole Nation held their collective breath, they would all be thinking the same thing, "Oh, #$*&@!" (insert your favorite expletive here, but make sure no one tweets about it).
Because at the end of the day, this is the reality for every kid that straps on that yellow and purple helmet meant to represent the Garnet & Gold. These kids, and yes, to me (at age 46) these are just college kids playing a sport that rakes in millions of dollars in television revenues and booster donations every year. An FSU football player dons his gear and takes the field nearly every weekend during the fall semester KNOWING that this could be the last time he ever walks or plays the sport again. Each of them is one vicious hit away from paralysis or worse.
And do you know the thanks they get? A seemingly worthless $240k college degree. I say that because most college football greats have their sights set on an NFL locker room somewhere not some corner office. Now, I could make a statement here about "pay for play" but that's not my point.
We expect these kids to go out and perform for us every day. We expect them to handle a full load of classes, two-a-day practices and maintain a level of excellence on the field that, quite honestly, is overblown to the ridiculous. And in the case of a Jameis Winston, possibly the most famous college athlete in America right now, we expect him to handle the media and the public with grace and acumen. On top of the already insurmountable pressure of college academic and athletic excellence, we pile on the pressure cooker atmosphere of 24/7 cable news and even social media (in the hands of other kids) watching him under a microscope.
I'd dare any 50-year-old professional to excel in that environment, under that much scrutiny and pressure, let alone a 20-year-old amateur athlete!
And let's have a second dose of reality here. The kid cussed on a college campus. Yes it was lude, crude and rude, but have you ever watched an episode of Key & Peele on Comedy Central? There have been way too many Sunday school teachers riding their high horse through the forums on Facebook and other social media for me to count. And as I stated there, this is 2014, not 1950. Lucille Ball-Desi Arnez, sleeping in separate bed, G-rated comedy is a thing of the past. And well it should be. Kids in college are going to say things and do things that seem utterly reprehensible and irresponsible to your grandmother who has gone to every FSU game since before Bobby Bowden was coach. And maybe even to you, whatever age or religious or moral persuasion you happen to be. GET OVER IT!
This was not a punishable offense.
And lest I be remiss, I'll point out that shooting BB guns at others, stealing soft drinks and crab legs and shouting obscenities are all just college high jinks. I grew up on movies like "Grease" and "Animal House" and "Revenge of the Nerds," so this all seems pretty tame to me. And done by any OTHER college kid would've never made national headlines.
Granted, he's the face of the program right now for FSU. I get that. Go back a few paragraphs and read about the ridiculous amount of pressure that he's under. And he's just a kid from a small Southern town. I mean, who ever even heard of Hueytown before he made waves as a high school quarterback. Who's even driven through the one stop-light, Alabama town? Now, he's thrust into the national spotlight, a sophmore in college, expected to behave like Peyton Manning.
Guess what, folks, he ain't Peyton Manning, or even Charlie Ward. He's his own person and I happen to find him particularly funny. Over the top, at times? I think one could argue that. But cut him some slack, for Pete's sake ("I see ya, PT!").
I couldn't sit back any longer while this snowball rolled downhill. It started on social media two days ago and look what it's turned into! Top story on ESPN SportsCenter? As the guys say on Monday Night Countdown, "C'MON MAN!!!" This was a proverbial mole hill that got raked into a mountain overnight by the witch-hunt media on a slow news cycle. And, sadly, much of Seminole Nation jumped right on the "brand Infamous Jameis and kick him off the team" bandwagon. I mean, with fans like that, who needs Florida or Miami? Haters be damned!
We'll wait and see what everyone is saying come playoff time when this has been put to bed and Jameis is throwing bombs to Rashad Greene for six and leading his team to another championship game. I'll be in Dallas watching a great number of you eat crow. I'll have plenty of napkins there for you. Good day, Noles.
