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The Persecution Of Laremy Tunsil Is Ridiculous

By Charles Evans

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Laremy Tunsil proves that college football has a serious problem. Laremy Tunsil is just more proof that the college football system has been constructed to help the haves and hurt the have nots.
 
I love college football and I’m an Alabama fan, but Laremy Tunsil isn’t a criminal and should be allowed to play college football. What is happening to Laremy Tunsil is both ridiculous and wrong.
 
Tunsil borrowed a loaner car for longer than he should. Tunsil received an extra benefit worth more than $700 and will serve at least a four game suspension. I’m not arguing that Tunsil didn’t break the rules, I’m just saying that the rules are stupid and set up to take advantage of the athlete.
 
According to Fox Sports the car Tunsil borrowed came from Cannon Motors in Oxford, a dealership that’s an official sponsor of Ole Miss Athletics and is managed by a former Ole Miss assistant coach. So a dealership with major ties to the athletic department and that is run by a former coach gave this kid a loaner car and let him keep it longer than they should. Middle aged adults probably told Laremy Tunsil that he could keep the car and it would be fine. Adults who to Tunsil probably appeared credible because they are heavily involved in college football. It won’t be the dealership who suffers though, it will be Laremy Tunsil.
 
Meanwhile, Ole Miss released this statement:
 
“The matters involving Laremy Tunsil aren’t related to anybody on our football staff, Coach Freeze or any of the assistants… We want to protect the young man and are doing everything we can to do that, but we also have to and need to and should protect our staff and our program.”
 
Ole Miss is washing their hands of Laremy Tunsil. I don’t expect Ole Miss to take the fall for Tunsil, and I know Ole Miss is doing what they need to do to protect Ole Miss, but it still feels wrong. Laremy Tunsil is on an island; he has no support. When an NFL player gets in any kind of trouble, the first thing that happens is a team press conference talking about how they are going to help the player recover or go to rehab or get counseling. In college football, players can’t count on the support of the team in these matters because the university has to protect itself.
 
Ole Miss is wise to do what it’s doing. After all, the dealership has extensive ties to Ole Miss athletics and this is the kind of thing that gets the NCAA up in the morning. The NCAA has looked extremely impotent lately, but you never want to risk being the school they decide to set an example with.
 
The players have no advocate in these situations, and if they did the NCAA would probably claim their advocate is an extra benefit.
 
The crazy thing is that when Tunsil got in criminal trouble (trouble I think was bull, and probably led to this current problem) Ole Miss did stand by him. How many times have we seen teams like LSU stand by players after they commit serious crimes?
 
Jeremy Hill and Zach Mettenberger had sexual crimes on their record, but LSU stood by them. LSU stood by Jeremy Hill even after he got into another violent incident. All Jeremy Hill and Zack Mettenberger did was hurt a person, while the real evil, Laremy Tunsil, drove a loaner car.
 
The NCAA says they can’t do anything about players who commit violent crimes, that’s outside their purview. The NCAA protects the “integrity of the game” only by policing amateurism. A ridiculous concept that is only held in esteem because it allows universities to take advantage of athletes.
 
Coaches are given cars, bowl executives receive cars and huge paychecks for part time jobs, and the media rakes in cash, all based on the work of these players. But here we are ready to condemn the players for not obeying the rules set up to hurt them while everyone else profits. The whole system feels very un-American.
 
The media is already condemning Tunsil: Hugh Kellenberger of the Clarion Ledger says Tunsil has “no one but himself to blame.” According to Mr. Kellenberger since Tunsil knew the rules, it’s all his fault. Because if Mr. Kellenberger had been 21 and offered a car to drive and was told it would be fine after working hard and not being compensated he would have said “NO, THAT’S AGAINST THE RULES!”
 
Laremy Tunsil is to blame, but he’s not the only one at fault. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the cigar puffing old men talking about what idiots these kids are for taking compensation for their hard work.
 
College football has serious issues like sexual assault, domestic violence, and fake academic programs to contend with, but the NCAA is focused on loaner cars.
 
I love college football, but this system is rotten and needs to change. The first step should probably be the dissolving or changing the NCAA so that it can be a useful and competent organization.
 
I’m an Alabama fan, and I wish Tunsil was going to be on the field tomorrow night. A change won’t come in time for Laremy Tunsil, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t come as quickly as possible.

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