Is new honest and integrity commercial false advertising?

By Bill Miston

Last weekend, I was watching the Illinois-Missouri game at home; enjoying the last, first game of my collegiate career. It was during this game that a Big Ten Conference commercial came on that made me puzzled and somewhat angry.

What the commercial showed were football players wrapping up, getting ready for battle on the gridiron. The narrator described what it meant to be a Big Ten athlete and student – carrying themselves with honesty, integrity and good sportsmanship.

But what I found ironic was that, while this commercial promoted all that is good and should be expected of athletes and fans, I couldn’t help but think how these attributes are not being applied, or so it seems to the athletes.

On Aug. 23, The Daily Illini reported that Jamar Smith will remain an Illinois student and will be on the University basketball team for the 2007-08 season, but will be redshirted.

Get in trouble once, shame on you. Get in trouble twice, shame on me. Or not…

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In the past years, it seems far too much leniency has been granted to student-athletes when incidents have occurred.

For those who don’t know what the Jamar Smith incident is, I will summarize it for you. Smith, 19 at the time, drank a lot of alcohol, got behind the wheel of his car last February with teammate Brian Carlwell. Smith then crashed into a tree, severely injuring Carlwell. Smith then drove back to his apartment and left Carlwell in the car because he believed that he was dead. Bystanders called police. Smith’s BAC was .176.

After the accident, Smith sat out the rest of the season, but was allowed to sit on the bench for the final home game, which some did not agree with. When Weber was asked why Smith was on the bench, he said it was because “He’s part of our basketball family.”

On May 24, Smith was convicted of a felony and served 15 days for DUI. He will be on two-year probation, subject to random drug and alcohol tests and must complete nearly 100 hours of community service. I don’t think shooting hoops in the park counts toward that number.

There is clearly a double standard that is held for athletes. A standard that says it’s okay to do illegal things.

Athletes gone bad have been in the news often, and here at Illinois, there has also been a trend of incidents, from Luther Head and Rich McBride to Jody Ellis and Derrick McPhearson. After all of those incidents, the basketball players were allowed to stay on the team; I guess Ellis and McPhearson weren’t part of the family.

Sure, as students and as humans, we all make mistakes. Mistakes are how we learn what is right and wrong, good and not good. But when we keep on making the same mistakes over and over, or when we almost kill someone, serious action needs to be taken. The idea that breaking the law is okay will be spread if we keep allowing our athletes to be law-breaking role models.

I know if I got into a similar accident, I know I would not have had the same leniency that was given to Smith, Nicole Richie or Paris Hilton.

It seems that as students, we get the short end of the leniency stick when it comes to making bad decisions, but athletes, get the green light (slow down, Jamar). I may be generalizing and stereotyping all athletes, but as a student-athlete, you have a luxury to be going to this great university, most likely on scholarship, to play a sport.

That sport and scholarship IS a luxury. And as students, we are “given” the luxury to give this great university our money to have the opportunity to go to this school.

Practice what you preach. If we are to be honest, have integrity, courage and good sportsmanship, and claim that honesty and integrity should be held up by the schools to everyone – if there is a breach of that, there should be a removal of the luxuries afforded to that student.