Unfortunately, stories about athletes getting into trouble are so commonplace they no longer have the effect they ought to. In a sense we expect these things to happen, but in the process of becoming numb to them we also become complicit – indirectly allowing them to happen again.
But this is an extraordinary story brought to you by The Seattle Times, part 1 of a 4 part series about the football program at the University of Washington, taking place around the turn of the millennium. Two of the other parts are nearly as vile, and the fourth attempts to end things on a hopeful note (too late guys), but the first is the one worth reading and remembering.
It concerns accused (Oh, no, wait, this is a blog and I live in Korea) anal rapist and current NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens, who, in raping and pillaging his way toward a mediocre, alcohol-soaked professional football career, was given privilege and benefit in ways that will make your stomach turn.
Stories like this can be tough to digest, and this is a long one (over 6,000 words). But it should be read, if for nothing else to get these names and institutions out and about in public since the system in place failed so horrendously.
3 responses so far ↓
1 yoshi // Jan 31, 2008 at 1:38 pm
this is a pretty big story in seattle. the husky football program is under heavy scrutiny right now. a few months ago, a husky booster who happened to be the ex-mayor of one of the larger cities in washington state wrote a letter to uw. the letter offered $200,000 USD for the firing of the head coach as well as the athletic director. the a.d. was eventually fired but willingham is still here. i am not sure if the booster ended up forking over the dough. i was thinking about forwarding these articles to you guys before you posted it. weird. about two weeks ago there was a push from the university for a 500 million renovation for a new college football stadium. that push ended in about two days. no dice. im not sure which is more dramatic, the husky articles or the sonics attempt to weasel out of seattle. this story is amazing as well.
2 Shinsano // Jan 31, 2008 at 5:48 pm
One thing that’s too bad, is that a lot of the major players involved aren’t around to suffer the consequences. Rick Neuheisel is at UCLA, the Kings County Proscecutor guy is dead, the AD woman retired a few years ago…
I guess not getting the stadium is good. Then again, I think this crap is going on all across the US in college football. Makes me glad I don’t like college football.
I need to get this story out of my blood. Yikes.
3 Korea Beat // Jan 31, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Big-time college sports is basically a cesspool. As much as they are disgusting stories I can’t say I’m surprised by any of it.
But it isn’t only sports stars that get protected by universities. My own college worked hard to convince rape victims not to press charges and protected one guy from charges many times. The harshest punishment he got was being forced to live off-campus. I heard that one of his victims eventually sued the school.
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