Junkie Football.

Maybe its my upbringing (an undergrad degree from KU does not instill one with the greatest confidence in football programs) or maybe I just don't get it, but I'm finding college sports to be more a reputational hazard for universities.  I'm absolutely certain they're a great source of money, but let's skip that.

This morning, seventeen TCU students were arrested for dealing what seems to be a considerable amount of illegal drugs.  Enough to warrant a six month investigation, including undercover cops, and I hope clever operation titles (Operation Frog Lickin'?).

Four of these seventeen were football players.  One of them was a leading tackler, and a former SMU player (ah memories of Dallas).  Now I've seen sources say that this has nothing to do with the football program itself, but I don't think the numbers support that.

4/17 = approx. 23% of the dealers were associated with the football team.  According to the TCU FAQ on this matter, less than 1% of the student body were "disciplined for drug law violations."  I'm assuming very few of those are enough to warrant a six month undercover operation, but let's move on.  For the sake of argument let's say its 1%.  There are 99 people listed on the football roster for TCU.  Four of those have been arrested for dealing drugs to an undercover officer, apparently.  4/99 = approximately 4%.  Now let's take the "lesser scandal" 13 students.  If TCU has a student population of about 9,500, and we say for this year there will still be about 71 "usual" drug violations, let's add the 13, without considering the football players, and that gives us 83.

83/9,500 = 0.87%.

You want to try again with claiming there is not something specifically wrong with the football program?  Where was the coach during the six month police investigation, which was apparently sparked by several complaints from students, parents, and others?  And you know what, to those people who called the police instead of kicked the can up to the next guy: thank you.  If there were more of them, there'd be less of Penn State.

Meanwhile yet another football program that boasted of its moral superiority is facing a hard reality.  And if I read one article on "we should pay the players so they won't have to deal drugs/take bribes/what-have-you" in the next few weeks, I'm going to vomit.