Smearing a good state

Welcome to somewhat big-time football, Montana fans.

Here we are, not even a million of us in the entire state, thinking of our in-state alma maters as small, quiet and quaint … with some good ol' fashion football.

Heck, less than 10 years ago the worst things that were happening were early morning party shenanigans or players bagging their buck on Mount Sentinel. (But, geez coach, it's hunting season.)

My, oh my, how times have changed.

There was the assistant coach who was popped in the little town of Townsend for selling meth.

There were the numerous players (most of whom probably wondered what state Montana was in before college football coaches recruited them - then they quit football and stayed in our state) who liked drugs just as much as football.

Then dead bodies and big drug rings starting showing up on campus.

… And that's just one of the universities.

Over the past year, five former Montana State University football players and one current MSU player have been arrested on criminal charges, including a murder charge. On May 18, MSU coach Mike Kramer was fired in hopes of rectifying the situation.

But thumb your noses no more, Grizzly fans. After Griz cornerback Jimmy Wilson surrendered to authorities on Wednesday on the charge of murder, the University of Montana is on track to being lumped into the same category as the Bobcats.

Heck, UM sports started getting smeared even before MSU's problems. Remember Wayne Hogan and his crazy, stupid spending habits?

It usually seems so far away, but poor college football player conduct is an epidemic. Normally, it's just a few guys making mistakes that tarnish an entire team of good men. But tarnish they do.

No fewer than seven University of Florida football players have dealt with legal issues since the Jan. 8 national-title victory.

How about the 1995 national champion Nebraska Cornhuskers? Remember Lawrence Phillips, who served a six-game suspension for hitting his girlfriend? He wasn't the only one with legal problems on that team. Two more players were arrested after fighting girlfriends, another was charged with attempted murder and another fired shots into an occupied car.

What about the Colorado Buffaloes conundrum?

There are tons more examples - too many to name.

As a whole with big-time sports, maybe Paul Gallico (the 1920s and 30s sports editor at the New York Daily News) said it best in his book Farewell to Sport when he wrote:

"College football is one of the last great strongholds of genuine old-fashioned American hypocrisy… If there is anything good about college football it is the fact it seems to bring entertainment, distraction, and pleasure to many millions of people. But the price, the sacrifice to decency, is too high."

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Carl Hennell is a sports reporter at the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached at 758-4446 or at chennell@dailyinterlake.com.