Duck muck: Oregon football officials sending mixed messages

This editorial appears in the March 19, 2010, Yakima Herald-Republic.

Here's what you get when you mix a winning sports program with higher education: a mess.

The University of Oregon has turned a nightmarish string of arrests within its Rose Bowl-tested football team into an equally nightmarish attempt to set an example and mete out punishment. Whatever happened to the appreciation of higher ideals that a university is supposed to embody and espouse? When it comes to being a star football player, special treatment apparently remains the order of the day.

And don't speak ill of the head coach. Verbal assault seems to be a worse offense than the physical kind.

It started back on Jan. 24 when a Eugene, Ore., fraternity claimed that Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and wide receiver Garret Embry stole two laptop computers and a guitar from its house.

Later that night, Oregon kickers Rob Beard and Mike Bowlin were injured in a brawl. Beard was charged with assaulting a woman but ended up pleading guilty to physical harassment. Beard stayed on the team; Bowlin left.

Then on Feb. 15, the Ducks' phenom running back LaMichael James was involved in a domestic violence incident. He had a fight with an ex-girlfriend and was later charged with five misdemeanors, including a count of strangulation.

He later pleaded guilty to only one count, that being physical harassment, and agreed to 24 months of probation.

On the same day that James pleaded guilty, Masoli strolled into court and pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary involving the theft of the computers.

For his domestic violence incident, James got booted off the football team for one game. For breaking into the frat house, the starting quarterback got kicked off the team for a full year.

Hmmmmm. That looks funny. Steal a piece of electronic hardware and you're dropped from the team. Cause off-field physical harm to another person and you get a figurative slap on the wrist.

Oh, and this: All of the suspended players will be allowed to practice with the team and will keep their scholarships. Let's hear it for crime and no punishment.

Also confusing is what happened to receiver Jamere Holland. He posted a Facebook message criticizing Oregon's head coach for kicking off the team another player cited for DUI. (In the past seven weeks, nine football players have gotten into public trouble.) For that practice of intemperate free speech, the coach kicked Holland off the team.

How's that for handing out justice? What kind of mixed message does this send to students at an institution of higher learning? What happened to protecting women and others from violence? And why not chastise the head coach's choice of penalties? It certainly seems warranted.

We would recommend the Oregon football team spend a few more hours in the classroom -- preferably studying ethics and morality -- than on the gridiron, where bashing each other around is a proven source of collegiate pride and lots of revenue.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.