Awkward Situations

Two NFL athletes were forced into apologizing yesterday for their transgressions. Reggie Bush had to apologize as he forfeit the Heisman Trophy he won in 2005, after it was proven that he illegally accepted money from agents, and thus should have been made ineligible to play that season. Ines Sainz stirred up controversy recently when she came into Jets camp dressed similar to her outfit in the photo above (If your hot, flaunt it). She was allegedly harassed by some players, so Clinton Portis, from another team, just had to put his two cents in....

“You know man, I think you put women reporters in the locker room in positions to see guys walking around naked, and you sit in the locker room with 53 guys, and all of the sudden you see a nice woman in the locker room, I think men are gonna tend to turn and look and want to say something to that woman. For the woman, I think they make it so much that you can’t interact and you can’t be involved with athletes, you can’t talk to these guys, you can’t interact with these guys.

“And I mean, you put a woman and you give her a choice of 53 athletes, somebody got to be appealing to her. You know, somebody got to spark her interest, or she’s gonna want somebody. I don’t know what kind of woman won’t, if you get to go and look at 53 men’s packages. And you’re just sitting here, saying ‘Oh, none of this is attractive to me.’ I know you’re doing a job, but at the same time, the same way I’m gonna cut my eye if I see somebody worth talking to, I’m sure they do the same thing.”

Portis is no stranger to being caught in a storm of controversy because of his words. While having intelligent thoughts, Portis is terrible at phrasing what he means to say. He is right that female reporters have no business being in a male locker room, just as male reporters should not be in female locker rooms. It creates an awkward situation of steamy, naked, lust.

If opposite sex reporters are disallowed from the locker room, to keep fairness, no reporters should be in the locker room. Athletes should be entitled to their privacy, whether they want it or not. They can be interviewed as they're walking out of the locker room and the same answers would be given. The locker room is why there are so few women reporters, and keeping all reporters out of the locker room could solve this problem.

The harder problem to solve is agents in college football. Bush is exiled from USC for now, but he did the right thing by forfeiting rather than have the trophy be snatched from him. Give it 20 years and the Heisman Trust will exonerate Bush and re-award him with the trophy. Vince Young can keep his too, if they decide to award him with Bush's trophy. Young said he would keep it, but he shouldn't. Though he had a great season, and beat Bush in the title game, Bush won the trophy with 784 votes, the 3rd highest total ever.

Bush is taking this opportunity to prevent this from happening to other college athletes. Bush is most certainly not the only collegiate athlete to accept gifts, but he was one that got caught. Something needs to change, and it is in how these collegians are compensated. Schools, the NCAA, the conferences, and the coaches all profit from these athletes. For many of theses footballers, college is just a stepping stone to the NFL. Unfortunately, this is sensitive since the schools can not pay the athletes. How would that be fair for other students?

Most students need a degree to work in their field of choice. Athletes do not. It is wise for them to work to a degree as a backup plan, but their real degree should be in sports, whether it be communications, management, or business. We tend to forget that being a professional athlete is a job and going to college is just training to be a professional.

Reggie Bush should not have accepted the money and hopefully his punishment serves as enough incentive for others to stay away from agents, but collegiate athletes deserve some type of compensation for what they bring to schools, conferences and the NCAA. So much money is made from TV, memorabilia, and advertising that the players are being ripped off, especially the players that could care less about a college education.

How real is that education anyway? Professors aren't going to fail star players when that could take away money from the school. Most athletes' main focuses are on their sports, not studies. With playbooks becoming more extensive, how can athletes be expected to get a job, in addition to passing classes and keeping the coach happy?

This will be solved, but only after it gets worse. And when it is solved, Bush will be welcomed back with open arms. Until then he has to focus on providing me with more fantasy points than week 1.