 |
| Don't believe the hype, Foo! |
As my boys in Public Enemy put it, Don't Believe The Hype.
This is just another example of media hype and BS sensationalism.
Take a closer look at the numbers and you will find the story is nonsense.
According to the report which looked into the criminal backgrounds of the 2837 student-athletes that make up the Top 25 NCAA Football teams, 204 players were cited or arrested a total 277 times.
The fact is, these players only paid a penalty or were found guilty in about 60% of those 277 cases.
So, out of the 2837 college players investigated in the report, approximately 166 convictions was all they had among them.
We live in a country where one is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Citations and arrests are only applicable to the issue if the player was found guilty.
Take another view of the 277 citations and arrests.
105 of them were drug or alcohol related incidents.
Is this really a problem or a surprise to anyone?
I do not mean to make light of illegal drug or acohol consumption by college students, but let's keep things in perspective.
2837 players have a total of 105 alcohol or drug related issues according to the news story.
Let's throw these reporters a couple of bones and pretend all 105 incidents resulted in convictions (which they did not) AND all 105 incidents were charged to individual players (which they were not).
The numbers would then show that 1-in-27 of the 2837 NCAA football players checked were convicted of these crimes.
That's less than 4%...way less than 4% when you factor in the following:
1. Not all 105 incidents in the report resulted in convictions.
and
2. In reality, fewer than 105 out of 2837 players were involved in these incidents because some players received more than one of those 105 charges.
Arkansas was one of the schools listed by CBS/SI as having a problem with 18 violations by student-athletes.
Take a look at these details released by their Athletic Department regarding those 18 violations:
7 were traffic violations that DID NOT involve alcohol or illegal substances.
3 involved DUI
5 were illegal use or possession of alcohol
2 were for marijuana possession.
1 was for shoplifting.
It's important to note that SEVEN of the eighteen violations were traffic violations.
Have you driven with an 18-22 year old lately. If so, is this really a surprise?
More importantly, are these traffic violations really the stuff that makes up hardened criminals?
A January 2010 study found 60% of students had been convicted of driving violations.
I'd say the student-athletes at Arkansas are damn good drivers...they fell in well under the 60% mark.
Equally important to note, EIGHT involved alcohol in some way, shape, or form.
That too is not unusual for college students (athletes or not).
According to Alcohol 101 Plus (an organization that helps educate college students about alcohol abuse), 81% of college students 18-and-under drink alcohol and approximately 30% of overall college students drive after drinking.
Of the remaining 3 violations for Arkansas, 2 were for marijuana possession.
The January 2010 study noted above showed over 7% of overall college students had been convicted of drug possession.
These are CONVICTIONS. And the numbers represent the ENTIRE student body.
Again, the CBS/SI report was for citations and arrests - NOT convictions.
CBS and Sports Illustrated spent 6 months on this story.
What a waste of time.
The report is full of information meant to grab headlines and nothing more.
This is not a college sports problem. This is media-hype and nothing more.
The NCAA student-athletes in the study are no more criminal than their non-athlete classmates.
BC Mafia -- believe dat Foo!
No comments:
Post a Comment