National Titles.
These (alleged) felons will be a blip on the media radar, and will be less vilified than Manti. I am reminded of that old bumper sticker: "Jesus is Coming...and Boy, is He Pissed."
If they had not chosen to put him on a pedestal and try to run him for the Heisman and all the other awards, his problems would probably have gone largely unnoticed also. I don't know, of course, but with 84 other players on scholarship at ND, there is probably at least one who has something going on that would be as bad or worse than having a hoax girlfriend. But we don't hear anything about it because they aren't high visibility. The AL guys, while players on a high-visibility team, weren't themselves Heisman candidates or in some other high visibility position. If their QB had done something like this I think there would be a lot more press on it. This is the risk of putting someone on a pedestal--someone is always around to try to knock them off.
What crap! Manti deserved every award he got. The catfish thing was unfortunate but such is life. Just playing at Notre Dame makes you high profile in and of itself. An ND athlete can't hide from that as it comes with the territory. Any negative event that happens at ND is overplayed in the media without fail. That's because we have earned a legion of haters based upon our success and their envy. You either need to learn to live with it or root for someone else.
than a model for getting away with murder.
As if those players know that Alabama has a campus.
prison, where they belong for at least a bit.
After six months in joint, he more or less slipped off the orange jump suit and stepped straight into a USC practice jersey.
I'm all for forgiveness and second chances in life but that doesn't mean that somebody should regain everything they stand to lose. The Ray Lewis example is tenuous at best. I doubt the Ravens would have stood by Lewis if he was convicted of murder. Furthermore, I doubt they would have stood by him if he blatantly assaulted a Ravens fan outside of the stadium which is similar to the 'Bama on-campus assault.
I expect and hope that Saban disposes of these players. If they turn themselves around they should have the opportunity to play somewhere else, but they forfeited their right to play at 'Bama if the allegations are true.
Including a lot of Alabama fans. Aside from Jerry Sandusky articles, I've never seen this kind of one sided reaction. I almost want to say that the guy is doing a "devil's advocate" argument.
I'm with the majority. At least in the case of Ray Lewis, it can be argued that it was a crime of passion. This attack was premeditated. They need to be expelled and prosecuted. No excuses.
based on his comments. He's very much in the "everybody does it" camp.
As it seems like it should be.
Although, like a lot of websites, stay out of the comments section if you don't want to despair for the direction of humanity.
Alabama fans for understanding this is no crisis. If they boot all 4 players off the team, they're still about a dozen over the "roster limit". So why would there be cause for concern.