Columns

Play in bowl, flunk ethics test

In the wake of a cheating scandal that has shamed FSU, the Seminoles should offer to withdraw from the Music City Bowl.

By GARY SHELTON, Times Columnist
Published December 20, 2007

Coach Bobby Bowden may not deserve the blame, but where is his outrage over Florida State's cheating scandal?
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

As tests go, this one should be easy. Even a suspended FSU football player should get it right. Even if he has not been provided with the answers beforehand.

On this test, there is only one question that matters on the test: Given the cheating scandal that has shamed a university, what should the next step be?

Alas, there is only one answer, too.

Immediately, the Seminoles should offer to withdraw from the Music City Bowl.

This should be done today. FSU president T.K. Wetherell should telephone those in charge of the bowl and offer to bow out ungracefully. Considering that about one-fourth of the Seminoles roster has been suspended, he should decline the $1.6-million payout. In the spirit of the moment, he should give the Music City Bowl a chance to change its answer.

There is no choice, not really. The cheating has embarrassed FSU, and now it threatens to embarrass a bowl game. Before that happens, Wetherell should suggest that the Music City take, say, Iowa instead. Maybe Louisville. For that matter, how about Appalachian State? Somebody. Anybody.

If we are told that a bowl game, even a midlevel bowl game such as the Music City, is a reward for a season, then what business does FSU have for showing up? What is there to celebrate? Do the Seminoles really want to take the field and subject themselves to 31/2 hours of conversation about academic shortcuts?

Announcer one: Since we're at the Music City Bowl, what music do you think would be perfect for FSU?

Announcer two: How about Your Cheatin' Heart?

And so on.

Granted, withdrawing from a bowl game would not be an easy thing for FSU, a school that has had its fun when it comes to bowls. This would be the 26th consecutive bowl game for the Seminoles, and Bobby Bowden's 20 victories place him within two of the national record for most bowl wins.

It is because bowl games are so important at FSU, however, that it makes withdrawing from one a good place to start for a school that needs to make a statement about how important it considers academic integrity to be. For Wetherell, there is much more class to worry about than the one on the Internet that caused so much trouble.

Make no mistake. This is serious stuff. This is worse than Chris Rix and the religion class. This is worse than the Foot Locker scandal. This is worse than the Dillard's discounts.

There is no gray area here. There is nothing to interpret, and certainly, there is nothing random. When cheating is widespread enough to include up to 25 players, including 11 who have been starters, it is not to be explained away with four-game suspensions. When a school-employed tutor is giving answers, filling them out, writing reports for players, then the entire university has been lessened.

This was all for help in an Internet music class? What? Were the players unable to download from iTunes without help? Given how many hours a day some athletes spend with speaker buds jammed into their ears, how in the world could they need help with a music class?

Of course, given the teeth-gnashing of many FSU fans these days, there are some who will use this as a new and convenient direction to lay the blame with Bowden. Why, they will say, Bowden is the head coach. He's the CEO. Of course he should have known.

That part of this is silly. Bowden thinks the Internet is where Spider-Man lives, and the last bit of music he listened to was Stephen Foster's final CD. Trust me. There isn't a head coach in America who is looking over a player's shoulder as he takes a test.

What I would like to see from Bowden is a little irritation at the scandal. It is his school, his program, that has been tarnished. I would like to hear a bit of outrage. I would like him to suggest that four-game suspensions are just the start.

After that, I would like to hear FSU offer to pull out of the Music City Bowl. True, that punishes the innocent along with the guilty, but when college football teams are punished, that's usually the case.

And perhaps this will surprise you, but I would like to see the Music City Bowl decide to let FSU play anyway.

At least that way, we will know which Seminoles are innocent in this scandal. Provided, of course, that FSU doesn't take the names and numbers off of the jerseys and force its players to play in ski masks.

If that happens, we may never know the names of the guilty.

Unless, of course, we look them up on the Internet.

Gary Shelton can be reached at (727) 893-8805.

[Last modified December 19, 2007, 21:43:56]