UGA fans let down by the athletic programs
July 10, 2003 by The Red and Black Archives
Filed under Sports
Much has been made of the recent scandals of the University athletic department in the past few months.
But the question is, when did it all begin?
What started this trend among the athletic department?
Who can forget the summer of 2000 and the long-distance phone call mishaps? This, friends, was the original ill-fated seed of scandal.
At least back then the scandals were light-hearted and judicial intervention was rarely mentioned.
A total of 16 football players were charged by the University for abusing a free long-distance service and were sent off to do varying levels of community service– nothing but a slap on the wrist.
The Dogs finished 8-4, Kendrell Bell (despite his involvement) went on to the Steelers, but the events that transpired forever affected Georgia athletics.
For a year things were quiet. Sure a couple of athletes got caught smoking pot, but nothing out of the ordinary drudgery of the college experience.
As the year rolled over to 2002 there was the incident involving Tony Cole, Steve Thomas, Brandon Williams, a young coed, and a dark closet.
This is where things started to get ugly. It was an alleged rape and it was all over the news.
I never really understood the whole thing. I even felt a little creepy sitting courtside at the basketball games after that.
So on to Tony Cole.
What hasn’t been said about this guy? The infamous whistle blower who dashed the hopes of a more-than-worthy team heading off to the SEC and NCAA basketball tournaments.
What was Cole thinking? There are better ways to get book deals and media coverage than selling out your team.
Following Cole, when it seemed things couldn’t get much worse, the selling of SEC Championship rings on eBay incident came.
When I heard that, it reminded me of the time I came downstairs one frosty Christmas morning to see my own father dressed like Santa Clause belatedly putting presents under the tree.
Talk about demoralizing.
The most recent chapter in the Georgia Athletics’ Book of Scandal has been the biggest. Univ. President Michael Adams just can’t seem to keep his grubby fingers out of the athletic department.
I guess nearly four decades of service will only get you a swift kick out the door with Adams.
The problem is that a majority of his biggest decisions as University President have been in the realm of athletics.
It’s probably a moot point even mentioning him, because I’m sure he’ll head out of Athens soon enough.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Georgia athletics.
However, as a fan, I feel let down. Worst of all, the scandalous dealings of the football and basketball teams often drown out the accomplishments of all our other teams.
I always hear people say that these kinds of things happen all ove the country, but we just got caught.
But there is no hope in attempting to rationalize bad behavior. There is no excuse.
Student-athletes at the University have got to keep their noses clean.
They represent the University and the thousands of fans that come to cheer them on.
It only takes a couple of bad seeds to make a scandal, but that’s where the concept of the “team” comes in. Keep your fellow players in line, guys, and stay out of trouble.
– Brad Klinedinst is a sportswriter for The Red & Black.
