TheSportsTrap
How vain it is to sit down to write when you haven't stood up to live?
Moroccan track star Mariem Alaoui Selsouli entered London2012 as the Olympic favorite to win the Women’s 1500m event. Today, she is stamped a ‘cheat’ having failed a drug test, positive for a banned diuretic known as furosemide. I actually remember watching Selsouli wow the crowd in Eugene at Track Town USA with a personal best 8min 34.37sec in the 3,000m back in June. Golden hopes squandered.
Joe Paterno Supporters Left Speechless after Release of Penn St. Freeh Report
What we hoped wasn’t true…just happened.
A bomb was dropped on Penn State today after FBI Director Louis Freeh released his several month-long inquiry on the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The blast radius is so severe following the report’s release, it’s impact has many writers calling for the death penalty of Penn State’s football program for one of the most significant cover-ups in collegiate athletics history. One of the more significant findings: Joe Paterno was far more involved than we had originally anticipated, far more than involved than the sports world had hoped.
Before I’ve even had a chance to dive deep into the details myself, and fully let this whole thing register in my brain, I can’t help but drop my jaw glancing around the sports media spectrum seeing the headlines across the board speaking volumes about the report’s impact. Unlike a handful of weeks ago, there are few voices standing up for Paterno and the university. A sample:
- Joe Paterno, Penn State Concealed Abuse
- Penn State, Paterno Failures Allowed Predator to Use Showers at University
- No Honor in Winning at Penn State
- Paterno Could Have Been Indicted if he had Lived
- Joe Paterno, Forever a Coward
- Penn State Football Deserves Death Penalty for Cover-Up
Just how serious is this? Even some of Joe Pa’s closest friends are backtracking on their initial stances on this terrible situation. Remember Phil Knight’s passionate speech at Joe Paterno’s memorial, in which he confidently defended the most-winningest coach of all time’s legacy? Paterno, Knight’s long-time mentor and hero. [here’s an article if you don’t want to watch the video]
Well things are drastically different today… Nike released this statement:
I have been deeply saddened by the news coming out of this investigation at Penn State. It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes. With the findings released today, I have decided to change the name of our child care center at our World Headquarters. My thoughts are with the victims and the Penn State community.
– Mark Parker, President & CEO, NIKE, Inc.
Other than my parents, my college coach, Bill Bowerman, was the biggest influence in my life. Bill Bowerman and Joe Paterno shared some great qualities. Throughout Joe Paterno’s career, he strived to put young athletes in a position to succeed and win in sport but most importantly in life. Joe influenced thousands of young men to become better leaders, fathers and husbands.
According to the investigation, it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences. I missed that Joe missed it, and I am extremely saddened on this day. My love for Joe and his family remains.– Phil Knight, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, NIKE, Inc.
Although Knight’s overall love and support of Paterno and his family are deeply set in stone, the corporate monster known for its patented swoosh took a symbolic step forward in justifying the impact of Paterno’s tarnished legacy. His name will be removed from Nike’s campus on the Child Development Center.
The Freeh report is massive, 267 pages to be exact. Deadspin is currently doing a nice job thumbing through it, providing an abridged version highlighting the major bullet points on ‘everything you need to know about the Freeh report.’ Below is the full PDF for those interested in diving deep into the details yourselves. I’ll be doing the same here shortly.
Freeh Report of the Actions of Penn State University
This is a large pill to swallow to say the least. I truly feel for—obviously the victims and their families—but also for the loyal, dedicated Penn State grads and all their diehard fans. Their stomping grounds is called STATE COLLEGE. Little is more important than helmets smashing on the gridiron. I can’t even begin to imagine how I’d feel if this were to unfold at my beloved University of Oregon.
Trap of the Day: Bobby Petrino
Sports and scandal. Two words that have become inseparable lovebirds in the world of athletics. As the sports editor here at Trapit, I find myself on a weekly basis pondering, who is next? Who will be the next sports “professional” to slip up and make the headlines for the wrong reasons. Like clockwork, the next name gets thrown my way ready to get trapped.
This week, the gold medal for sports idiocy goes to (former) head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Bobby Petrino.The public gaffe took root behind the scenes, as the 51-year coach pursued a double life off the football field. In a bizarre unfolding of events, Petrino was discovered to be having an affair with a university employee half his age. In Petrino’s eyes, he wasn’t cheating, because he hadn’t yet been caught. Then it all came crashing down on him. Literally, crashing.
Petrino’s name became sullied after he crashed his motorcycle going on a scenic highway ride. How romantic. The details of how he crashed were far less compelling than whom he was with when his tires lost traction. Riding on back was 25-year old Jessica Dorell, an employee working in the Razorbacks’ athletic department. Here’s the catch—Petrino himself was the one that hired her! To make matters worse, Petrino had to face the public for the first time donning a ridiculous looking neck brace underneath that scraped up, bewildered expression on his face.
Cheating on your wife is one thing—it will get divorce papers filed in a hurry. But cheating with a woman that you strategically brought into the athletic department to work a very desirable job, well coach, that’s what gets you fired. And that’s precisely what happened.
Turns out, the two had exchanged thousands of text messages and phone calls over the course of their clandestine relationship. Phone records also indicate that Petrino’s cheating ways may not have begun with just a single woman. Did a Miss Arkansas bikini model come first? Get this, the other woman in question once won a Miss Motorcycle Mania competition. Oh, the irony.
Well, what did we learn from all this? This writer provides 21 lessons. Without even reading the piece, I can provide one valuable lesson: Don’t be an idiot when you know the public eye is watching.
It just keeps getting more and more interesting (and sleazy) in the Bobby Petrino trap!
-Geoff
Geoff Ziemer
Life is a short hop. Charge it or get benched
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