Parham: The good and bad with college football on display this week
OXFORD | I watched two videos related to college football this week.
The latter one, the one the sports world is rightfully scoffing at, involves Urban Meyer offering up a form of selective amnesia as reason for ignoring alleged domestic violence. And Ohio State — as an institution — providing plenty of evidence during the thrown-together presser, after a sham of a lengthy deliberation, that Meyer’s winning percentage far outweighs human decency.
It’s major college football at its worst. Ruthless, bottom-line obsessed and full of buzzwords that elicit pageantry and family while proving that all that matter are bowl revenue and catering to the laundry-clad sheep in the fan base that offer up absolute support despite any evidence involved.
The first video also offered up a predetermined outcome but in a far different context. Floyd Allen, a walk-on Ole Miss wide receiver, won a one-on-one competition at the end of a practice with defensive back Montrell Custis that Custis was in on, making barely a move inside as Allen hauled in a pass to win a prize bag laid out for the victor by Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke.
The bag held a scholarship offer, moving Allen to tears as he was swarmed by teammates in celebration.
“After we got done and we were in the receiver stretch, he was tearing up a little bit,” fellow receiver DK Metcalf said.
Allen, who is working toward entry in medical school to become a surgeon, played in nine combined games at Bethany College and El Camino College during his first two collegiate seasons. Last year at Ole Miss as a non-scholarship player, he appeared in six games on special teams and has a chance to be in the rotation at receiver in 2018.
Every major college team has its own issues balancing amateurism and the multi-million dollar corporation each program has become. Ole Miss has certainly faced its own demons during the NCAA colonoscopy that still hasn’t been closed by the appeals committee.
And these videos showing creative scenarios to award walk-ons scholarships aren’t new. They’ve been circulating for several years and have become somewhat cliche, but right now college football could use some truthful sentimentality — even some hokeyness that’s not performed as an aside to something that leads to eye rolls.
Allen is an example of college football at its best. The sport, like a lot of activities, still changes people for the better and offers paths to careers, educations and better lives. But between all the scandals and sideways reasoning to protect powerful coaches and programs, it’s become a complicated mix that infects the perceptions of the entire sport.
That’s the point. College football is complicated. It’s not all good. It’s not all bad. Certain places and people have put it above honesty and integrity and human lives. Some places and people perform both the positive and negative regularly.
The sport is what it is. A lot of what makes it popular and special is the emotion that permeates each fan base. That can move in any direction.
Allen’s scholarship video showed the good, the emotions and the moments that are hard to duplicate by any other sport. And, because of Meyer and the Ohio State circus as the latest black mark, it came at a time when a positive reminder was especially needed.