Football punishments illustrate double standard

I agree with most of this article. As a former athlete, I was embarrassed by this incident. I was a non-revenue sport athlete and most people probably wouldn’t believe how many reminders and meetings we have through the course of the year to avoid situations like this as it embarrasses the university. And I was non-revenue! This meaning that the football players had it ten times worse and had even more reminders and meetings to ensure these incidents never occur yet, here we are.
However, you are losing credibility by stating obvious falsehoods.

“being paid for by their fellow students’ tuition and donor dollars.”

This is not true. The athletic department has its own separate account and is not funded by students. While it is true that some donors may give money- most of the donors are athletic boosters and wanted their donations going to the athletic department. Also, the football team essentially supports the entire athletic department (besides maybe b-ball). Many sports would not even exist if football did not provide as much money as it does. Therefore, this argument would be more valid if it were for a non-revenue athlete, yet for football players- they are bringing in the money and it’s just going right back to them.

Also, whether I agree with giving Winston a second chance or not, you took Dantonio’s comments out of context. Never did he intend to say there was a zero tolerance policy for players with no previous transgressions. What he was saying was, once a player commits a transgression, then there is a zero tolerance policy for that player for the rest of his time at the University. Again, whether I agree with this or not is irrelevant, the point is- you are twisting his words to fit your argument.

In regards to scholarships, this article is full of fail.

1. Jenrette is not on scholarship currently due to his past issues with the team and won’t “remain on scholarship.”

2. You don’t realize that keeping Winston on scholarship is an NCAA rule and not up to the coaches or anyone in the university?

If you have a problem, write a letter to the NCAA and get them to change the rule. There is nothing anyone in the university or football program can do about it. And maybe next time do some freaking research.

WOW! I can’t even begin to start with the incorrect facts and statements in this article. Did you even research this article at all? 1 of the 2 dismissed athletes was on scholarship. The second is under scholarship for one year. The contract is to protect the athlete in case they get injured while playing, the university can’t revoke their scholarship.

Whatever that jerk Winston did, dont you think it would look pretty poor to recruits if we took away his scholarship and let him fend for himself on the knee rehab?

Good luck getting a kid to come play here if that happens..

Did a 2nd grader write this?
Perhaps you could have them do a class project called “Proper Research” before writing an editorial. You do have an “Editor” don’t you? Perhaps they should be doing their job and EDIT!!!

The FAIL is strong in you.

Football scholarships are not paid for by “other students tuition”.

Couldn’t be bothered to make a phone call, use the google machine or walk over to the AD offices?

I clicked this link from the front page and started reading it thinking it was an opinion/editorial.

Now seeing it actually written by staff, I am sadly reminded why this “paper” is seen as a joke, because it is.

So many errors, poor grammar and a huge stretch with the deaf ed program being cut. Wow. Learn to realize college football is a business and there are regulations that are enforced well beyond MSU by the NCAA.

Scratch that, for whatever reason this article is linked under the sports section despite being an opinion column.

Instead I can see why this letter was written anonymously.

Typical State News fact checking and logic. Pretty terrible State News.

The contract is not in his hands and must legally be carried out. BTW – if he’s in jail (where he belongs) he wont be attending classes so you wont have to worry about losing money.

The coach suspended several of our starters for the bowl game because they lied to him – not because they were involved in the fight, they werent. That to me is the proper response and shows that he is serious. Many coaches would have either covered up the larger involvement or only suspended those directly involved. Coach D did the right thing, perhaps you should respect him for that instead of deciding he’s damned either way.

“If a student on an academic scholarship can lose it if their grades slip, so should a student on an athletic scholarship lose it if he or she breaks the law or “violates team rules”

“Their” should also be “his or her.” You guys are journalists??? It refers to “a” student, which is singular, not plural. You make this mistake so often that we must assume you have no idea it is wrong. Please refer to any middle school English textbook for more help on this.

Wow! another State News Editorial Gem.

The previous commentary speaks for itself. My hope is that the author will print some kind of retraction or amendment in tomorrow’s paper, accepting responsibility for terrible journalism. Simply having an opinion, and the resources to make it public to the world, does not negate your responsibilities to present factually correct data. You do REAL damage to your profession and to those about whom you write. Serious newspapers across the country are having trouble, and most of them do an excellent job. Perhaps you should examine your own use of student money, before pointing the finger at anyone else.

GEEZ, I bet you didn’t waste a single second to research this topic before you wrote this article. I’m kind of ashamed that something this poor made it to our school newspaper. I mean I hope WRA is at least a requirement to being on staff. This is just atrocious, aren’t there sports editors on Staff.

Sadly this is not the first editorial I’ve read with this type of poor quality.

Budget cuts to academic programs like music have NOTHING to do with the athletic department.

Athletic scholarships are paid for by the athletic budget. The athletic budget is entirely seperate from the budget that funds specific academic programs. The athletic budget (and thus glenn winston’s scholarship) are paid for entirely by ticket sales, donations to the Spartan Fund, and other athletic-related revenue.

Hey, I agree with the SN that Winston remaining on scholarship is pretty stupid. But Please learn these simple facts before proving yourself to be an idiot and thus, rendering your point worthless

Let’s get some facts straight. First of all, MSU athletics is almost entirely self sufficient, meaning that they do not receive funds from the university, which includes all athletic scholarships. Stating that the football players are “still are being paid for by their fellow students’ tuition and donor dollars,” is entirely false, and very irresponsible to print.
You also bring up the Glenn Winston case: “Yet Dantonio saw fit to reinstate Winston to the team as soon as his jail sentence was up. If only we normal students were afforded such generous help in the classroom.” Now if only normal students would be punished like Glenn Winston was for a drunken fight. The State News even said back in April that Winston received a “harsher-than-average sentence as a first-time offender,” (April 13th, 2009), mostly on the basis because he was a football player in a high profile case. Yes he made another moronic mistake, but at the time Dantonio reinstated Winston, Glenn had already missed several football games, the entire spring and summer of team activities while serving his sentence from the courts in jail. Yet this young man would have been better served being dumped back in Detroit without any support or guidance, instead of adhering to a very strict behavioral policy and a second chance?
I am glad that we do not follow your recommendations that there “should be no second chances for players who engage in violent behavior.” The young adults that we are, we all make mistakes and when remorse and actions are made that seek forgiveness, second chances are deserved. Yes our athletes should be held at a higher standard because they are such public figures, but such a policy still may not have prevented this from happening. With over 700 scholarship athletes from all different types of backgrounds, events like this will still happen, but as an university, it is more important that we all learn from these mistakes. MSU does and will not “sacrifice winning morals for the sake of a winning team;” I hope we will still stand by our athletes and do what is morally right, which is to continue to give those from rough backgrounds where violence is prevalent in the culture support and help.

Probably the first time I posted something on a thread and every single person agreed with me. In the words of Mark D, State News, “You need to check yourselves.” There should definitely be a retraction written.

Did the author not post his name in fear that he may be the next assault victim?. lol.

eitherway, great opinion, i agree wholeheartedly.

100% negative feedback.
this goes to show how stupid people should speak about that they don’t understand.
take this “article” down now!

it should be noted that none of the players have been charged with any crime.

People, sure the article missed on facts and lacked research. However, I’m pretty sure the bigger problem here is what these thugs did to our university’s reputation.

What is really worse: one SN staff writer with poor fact-checking or 10 student-athletes starting a fight with other students on campus?

I say forget this column’s grammar (and all other petty complaints) and focus, instead, on its intent. It should be absolutely unforgivable for our athletes (on scholarship, or not) to lash out so violently and become a public disgrace.

I say as everyone negatively involved in this incident should be expelled soon as the NCAA rules allow for it!

Perspective,

Even as a former athlete, I agree with you- what these idiot football players did was disgraceful and I will concede that it was much worse than making some false claims in a newspaper.

However, don’t downplay the State News spitting out falsehoods in a campus-wide publication by calling them petty. It’s absurd that they have actually let this article be published when this is what they do- they write articles and distribute newspapers. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Just because you have a good point doesn’t mean you can just go around making up stuff to try and prove your point further.

Granted though, you are right about the football players. Kick them out.

charged: Check the front page. Pretty sure that says that 9 players have BEEN CHARGED.