When football season rolls around; it’s the buffalo wings, the comfy couch, the cheerleaders; your old, college, nacho-cheese stained alma mater sweatshirt in the back of your closet. The game is the centerpiece of all the festivities, like the turkey on the table at Thanksgiving dinner; friends and family are gathered around a television set, cheering on their team.

With the high expectations of an upcoming season, the integrity of the sport lies within the players, whether it be their social graces, their family, or morals. Athletes represent their team, and every action has a reaction.

Being an athlete has it’s perks, like any occupation would, however, it’s the media that highlights professional and college athletes and their whereabouts. Cheating, drug abuse, illegal activity; it seems whenever you turn on the TV there is a close-up of an athlete’s face with a ‘less than flattering’ headline plastered under it. The more important question would be, “Why do we care?” But we do. So here’s a better question, “If the athlete knows he/she is under public eye, why do they do it? ..Or why not try a little harder to conceal it?” Especially college athletes, why on earth would you throw away your full ride scholarship just to rob an apartment complex? And LIE about the injury, stating it was a heroic incident, that he was merely trying to save his nephew from drowning in a pool. When in actuality, the athlete was caught on surveillance cameras scaling the side of an apartment complex just after allegedly robbing someone’s home. Student athletes must follow their university’s rules of conduct and behavior, failure to commend will result in suspension or possible expulsion from the team, and loss of scholarship.

What is the purpose? Why do people do the things they do?

People tend to forget the big picture and get caught up in the details. The student athlete got a football scholarship for USC, and after the truth came out about his injury and how he got it, it was rightfully taken away. Only then, the athlete decides to sue the coach for “racism.”

Maybe that education could have served him well, too late for that now.

The media has taken this accusation and blown it up to greater proportions. You can’t even FIND articles on the internet about the player’s alleged crimes, anymore.