Choices affect games, reputation
Paige Carswell
Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: Personal Column
The players who say "no" to distractions and "yes" to healthy food seem to be a scarcity. There are more who say "Gee, thanks, I'd really like 10 thousand beers after the game I just peed down my leg in."
Distractions like women and beer are bad enough on the football team, but the worst one I've heard is, of course, the strip club.
Two weeks before the season was over, an inspiring senior on the team was informing people how much it costs to get in, how much it costs to ride the "party bus" and how much he had previously spent at the strip
club during his tenure as a football player.
It's innocent, yet raunchy, fun, I suppose.
But, is it really a coincidence that they bombed their last game by 33 points the day before around 30 of the players took a party bus to the strip club?
It doesn't take a lot of time to figure out that in order to be good, you actually have to put the time in. However since the football team is the best team on campus, I guess certain players don't feel they have to.
They can squeak by in a few games and then brag about their 3-7 record, and how much better that is than last year, but it doesn't make them any more credible as a team. Being proud of a 3-7 record is like being proud of getting a "D" in a class. Yes, you're passing-kind of. No, you aren't respected-at all.
If the team wants respect from me and others around campus, and actually wants a crowd, then maybe every player should work on earning some fans by pretending to care about the season. Maybe they should stop getting drunk on Friday nights and start trying to figure out why they're losing games.
Maybe if we had more people who enjoyed playing football instead of just being football players, next season could be fun to watch. But, until then, it's just a team consisting 80 percent of losers who don't care that they're losing.
Paige Carswell is a junior majoring in journalism. You may e-mail her at paige.carswell@sckans.edu.
Distractions like women and beer are bad enough on the football team, but the worst one I've heard is, of course, the strip club.
Two weeks before the season was over, an inspiring senior on the team was informing people how much it costs to get in, how much it costs to ride the "party bus" and how much he had previously spent at the strip
club during his tenure as a football player.
It's innocent, yet raunchy, fun, I suppose.
But, is it really a coincidence that they bombed their last game by 33 points the day before around 30 of the players took a party bus to the strip club?
It doesn't take a lot of time to figure out that in order to be good, you actually have to put the time in. However since the football team is the best team on campus, I guess certain players don't feel they have to.
They can squeak by in a few games and then brag about their 3-7 record, and how much better that is than last year, but it doesn't make them any more credible as a team. Being proud of a 3-7 record is like being proud of getting a "D" in a class. Yes, you're passing-kind of. No, you aren't respected-at all.
If the team wants respect from me and others around campus, and actually wants a crowd, then maybe every player should work on earning some fans by pretending to care about the season. Maybe they should stop getting drunk on Friday nights and start trying to figure out why they're losing games.
Maybe if we had more people who enjoyed playing football instead of just being football players, next season could be fun to watch. But, until then, it's just a team consisting 80 percent of losers who don't care that they're losing.
Paige Carswell is a junior majoring in journalism. You may e-mail her at paige.carswell@sckans.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 29
#18
posted 11/18/09 @ 9:10 AM CST
I like how u choice to criticize the football team and seem as if we actually care wat u think of us....you seem very interested and airing our personal life, but yours definitely isn't so squeaky clean. (Continued…)
SC#18
#18
posted 11/18/09 @ 9:20 AM CST
Im glad that u think that the football team or anyone else actually cares if u respect them. why should we? this article is coming from a person who has to fix herself before she can say anything about anyone else. (Continued…)
dylan hackmann
posted 11/18/09 @ 10:31 AM CST
this article is bull(expletive deleted), you have no idea what we do in the off season and summer to prepare for the season. we put it at least 2 hours a day in the off season. (Continued…)
Caitlin Smith
posted 11/18/09 @ 10:52 AM CST
I have a few things I'd like to say about your column. First of all, I appreciate you standing up as an athlete for what you believe to be as appropriate and inappropriate behavior. (Continued…)
SC Supporter
posted 11/18/09 @ 2:53 PM CST
I have a lengthy comment to make, so bear with me here.
First off, if you are a football player and commenting on this article, I understand you being upset, but, do me a favor and at least run your comment through spell check before posting. (Continued…)
Tristan Walters
posted 11/18/09 @ 4:14 PM CST
Nice article, Paige.
You brought up some very valid points in it. I respect the football players and know that a vast majority of them work very hard. (Continued…)
Former SC Athlete
posted 11/18/09 @ 4:28 PM CST
I can see why this article has gotten the kind of response it has from not only the football team, but the entire school. It's such an honest and TRUTHFUL opinion that OF COURSE is bound to show us the guilty parties immediately. (Continued…)
Keith VenJohn
posted 11/18/09 @ 5:23 PM CST
This is an opinion article, Yes. Should it be allowed to be published, No. We are all members of this great college, and most of us love it because it is small and everybody really gets along. (Continued…)
Michelle Dreiling
posted 11/18/09 @ 6:40 PM CST
First of all, I am absolutely astounded at the amount of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in these responses from college-level students. Do you people not realize that, although your zeal for the subject is obvious, you are making yourself look ignorant and unintelligent? Even the response from one football player claiming to be an "outstanding student" would not stand up to the standards of even a high school english teacher. (Continued…)
Lea Shores
posted 11/18/09 @ 8:13 PM CST
Paige was incredibly brave to write and then publish this piece. And it by all means deserved to be published. Freedom of Speech, correct?
Was the article harsh? Yes. (Continued…)
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