Brace yourself... Because you are about to hear me go off. Which is pretty common :)
Last night my Dad brought up the topic about the kid who was just kicked off BYU's basketball team because his girlfriend is pregnant. Um, wow. I have so many different angles to attack this one from!
Apparently when you are an athlete at BYU, you sign an honor code which outlines the behavior you are expected to live by as you represent the school. Is that my problem? Not so much. BYU is a private school, therefore they can do whatever. If you choose to be an athlete there, that is just part of the process.
However, since when is it ok to publicly "out" a kid for a bad decision, or mistake (not that I'm saying that the baby is a mistake... Hello. Pot. Kettle. Black. Enough said.) that he has made? I think it is ridiculous! So he broke the honor code. Great. I'm sure it happens a lot more than any of us know. But now, this 19 year old kid who played center for the nationally ranked third place team has had his business publicly aired to the world. Nice... Kinda makes me want to go there! Right? Doubt it. I'm sure they would have beef with me from the very beginning!
I am NOT trying to get a rise out of anyone by posting this. And it has NOTHING to do with the fact that I've never enjoyed the Y. It has to do with being a person who has had a baby and not been married. It's a crazy nightmare and now everyone who knows someone, who just happens to know someone else, knows about this pending fatherhood. Kinda bugs!
I hope that the kid is ok and that he can make sense out of everything that is going on in his life. And in a perfect world, the U would scoop him up and maybe we could be talking about their basketball team this time next year :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do not like BYU, and I believe that their rules are too strict. But, their rules and the church's stance on premaritial sex is not in question here. The problem is that this student chose to break the rules, knowing the consequences... I actually commend them on putting their money where there mouth is. For once, an organization put values before success instead of giving a student athlete special treatement that any other student at BYU would not receive.
ReplyDeleteWith great honor comes great responsibility. This student CHOSE to be in the limelight. By choosing to play on a nationally ranked team, he chose to become a public figure, and public figures expect little to no privacy. In fact, legally they have less privacy rights than a normal person...
When something of national interest (like kicking off the star player on a natioanlly ranked team), the public will want to know why. The school did the right thing by sending out a release, answering questions that were going to be asked, but being vague about it. The school did not come out and say that he was kicked off for getting his GF pregnant. They said it was an "honor code violation." He could have robbed a store, stolen a car, got caught drunk driving, etc. It was not the school that spilled the beans about it being a sexual offense....
And it's not just the athletes that sign the honor code... it is EVERY student that attends that school. By choosing to attend that shcool, they choose to abide by the very strict rules, knowing that they could be expelled and/or kicked out of any school organizations for breaking the rules. And as a student athlete, he is not above those rules like they are at most schools. This adult man made his own bed, and now he has to sleep in it...
And yes, I hope the U or some other awesome school without so many rules picks him up! It would be great to see him carry on with a wonderful career and go places, despite the problems he has had. But, just not at a school where he can't obey the rules that he promised to abide by
Great post! :-)
Megan, I totally agree! I felt so horrible when Targhee told me about this poor kid. It actually made me laugh because he was more upset about the basketball team:) But having to go through something like that would be hard enough without the entire world knowing about it. I don't have any buffs with BYU:) I went there- haha! And it's not for every body. I will admit that. But the people who do go there are very aware of the standards we are expected to live. They aren't school stardards- they're church standards. Our standards are strict, but they are what make us free- anyway, total tangent... I just feel bad that he has to suffer public humiliation because of his choices. I definitely don't want my mistakes rubbed infront of the world.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments! And I agree with both of you! I guess one of the things that hit close to home with me is that having been in a situation similar to that one, I was VERY concerned about who found out about my pregnancy and when. So my statments mostly come from the point of the girlfriend... I know that I would be crushed if my business was "outed" in that manner. I do think they made the right choice in not letting him continue with the team, after all, he knew what he was doing when he signed the honor code and when he broke that contract, I just think the reasoning should've been left alone. It's a very scary thing to be in that position and I feel for both of them! I hope that they are able to work it out for the best! :)
ReplyDelete