This won't go away.

The BYU and Brandon Davies saga just won't go away.  Davies is now getting support from a few famous athletes.  Tim Tebow voiced his support in a diplomatic matter, saying that everyone deserves a second chance.  He told the Orlando Sentinel that "There should be a punishment, but I don't know that he should maybe ... I don't know. I don't even know the situation, but I just always think about giving people a second chance. Maybe he deserves one, but I don't know the situation."   It appears to me that Tebow started to comment and say that he didn't deserve the punishment he got, then thought twice about it before he finished his sentence.  Then tried to cover his tracks by saying he didn't know the situation.  Come on, seriously??  If you have a TV or get a newspaper, you know the situation.  This has been all over ever news outlet in America, how can you not know about it?  And IF you don't know about it, you shouldn't be commenting on it in the first place.  But it gets better!  Amare Stoudemire goes on to play the race card, posting this on Twtter: "Don't ever go to BYU, they kick a Young Educated (Black)Brother OUT OF SCHOOL. The kid had premarital sex. Not suspended, Not Release. Wow!"  Do your homework before you speak dude.  He was not kicked out of school.  He was just suspended from the team.  And why does it have to be about race?  BYU is a "Christian" school.  This is one place I would never expect someone to use RACE for a reason to do anything.
This just goes reiterates what i've been blogging about for the past few weeks.  This is why things have got so far out of control as it is.  We all put winning on a higher pedistal.  We are willing to lie, cheat, compromise our moral values just to win.  Far worse than this goes on at probably every institution in America.  From grade school, to the professional level.  Sports and winning is everything.  I grew up in a community that put sports above all else.  During my Senior year in High school, we played a sub-state championship at Little River in a blizzard, and Sub-State basketball championship at St John with similar weather.  They were willing to risk everyone on that bus' life for a football or basketball game.  I remember riding home from St John that night.  My aunt Donita was driving the bus, and could not see anything.  She had to open the window and look outside the window several times to see where she was at.  What if that bus had went off in a ditch or something?  Both nights we had NO business being on the roads.  Some things are important, but NOTHING is so important that we should risk a human life.  This "honor code" violation used to be more than an honor code at a school.  It used to be a way of life for most people.  Not in my, or probably my parents lifetime, but there used to be a time when pre-marital sex was forbidden.  No one even thought about it until they were married, not engaged, married.  I, along with anyone who reads this would be a hypocrite if they said they didn't break this "code".
The United States of America is the greatest country in the world.  But what I wonder is this: "What would America be like if more learning institutions in this country had BYU's honor code, and actually had the balls to stick to it?"  It's one thing to have it, but it's another thing to actually stick to it.  As I said last night, it would have been very easy for the coach, athletic director, or someone else to "look the other way" until after their "dream season" was over.  But they put honor ABOVE winning and did the right thing.  And several days and games later are still sticking to their guns.  They have not succumbed to puplic speculation and criticism and gave him a pass and let him back on the team.  BYU and their coach should be commended for this.  I bet there is not 1 single coach in college basketball that has not broken a rule, looked the other way, etc.  You get my point.
I know it seems like I pick on KU a lot.  It's not a matter of picking on them.  Every college in America has done something wrong.  Tom Creen inherited a mess that Kelvin Sampson left him at Indiana.  5 Ohio State football players will start next sason on the bench.  I am just most familiar with KU's situation is all.  What would the landscape of Kansas basketball be like if Bill Self was an honest man?  One of the key contributors in the National Championship season shouldn't have even been on that team.  They faked a HS transcript to make him elligible to play college basketball.  This season, Josh Selby was suspended for half the season for "recruiting violations."  Would KU be contending for a national championship if Bill Self and Kansas University had done the right thing and removed those 3 players from the team?  I'm betting no.  They put winning above morals.  Again, I'm not picking on KU.  There are other universities that have done similar acts, and FAR more that we don't know about or hear about.  Let me ask you this question.  "If you were a student at BYU, what would you want them to do?"  Would you want them to do what they did, or would you want them to look the other way so your team could win a national championship?
As far as Davies' violation is concerned, he knows the rules.  Every student and student athlete at BYU knows the rules.  BYU takes everything on their honor code very seriously.  It's what makes them who they are.  To them this is just as serious as beating on a woman.  He could and probably would receive the same punishment for having a cup of coffee or skipping church.  It does sound a bit frivelous and extreme, but that's what BYU is all about.  That's what makes them who they are.  And if you do not like it, then there are tons of other schools in the country.  If you don't like their honor code, play ball somewhere else.  By him making a commitment to that team, he made a commitment to the honor code as well, and he knew it from the beginning.  He knew once he started his "act" that he was breaking the rules.  No one made him do it.
What impresses me about this whole situation how well Davies has taken all of this.  He could be all over the press, claiming he was treated unfairly, trying to make BYU look bad.  Look at Amare's comment.  What would he have done if this had happened to him?  He'd be all over the news, playing the race card, "dissing" BYU, playing the "pitty card".  Davies has not made a peep.  He has acknowledged his violation, apologized for it, and accepted his punishment.  He's not playing the race or pitty card.  He's taking responisbility for what he did and accepting his punishment and handling the whole thing with dignity.  Amare Stoudemire and Tim Tebow could learn something from this.  If he wanted pitty and support, he'd be asking for it.  He is making the best of the situation and moving on.
I have not been a BYU fan this season.  I have believed all along that they were overrated.  As far as the team is concerned, one player should not make that much difference.  Did KU loose without Little or Taylor? Did Purdue loose without Robbie Hummel?  Did Duke loose without Irving?  Those teams may not be as strong without them, but they are still winning.  All three of those teams are in the discussion for a #1 seed.  Davies suspension clearly weakened BYU's lineup.  New Mexico came into Provo and crushed the Cougars.  I think BYU is a good team, but that's all.  I didn't think before, and definately don't now that they should be in the discussion with the great teams this season, such as Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Texas, Purdue, or Duke.
I'm not saying North Carolina is perfect by any means.  But I have always been a Roy Williams fan.  Yes, even when he was at Kansas.  I think he is a great coach, and has been very successful.  I like watching his teams play.  His style of basketball is fun to watch.  Coach K made a comment in his post-game press conference about UNC's fast break offense and how they were unable to stop it.  This is what made him so successful at Kansas as well.  But, that's not what got my attention.  At the beginning of the game CBS noted that North Carolina pays tribute to their seniors by letting them start.  All 4 Seniors of North Carolina's roster, 3 of whom are walk-ons got to start the game.  Not just the 1 that's played all year, ALL 4.  He didn't even call a timeout right away, he let them play until the first break in the action, which was a foul several minutes into the game.  When Williams was at Kansas, he did the same thing.  And this wasn't an average team like Texas A&M, this was the #4 team in the country.  That's the least a coach can do to show their appreciation and support for those kids support, loyalty, and hard work they put in for 4 years.
But, back on track, how great of a story would it be if BYU did make a run to the Final Four?  This plot is the thing that movies and fairy tales are made of.  In a fairy tale would, the person does the right thing, then in the end is rewarded for it.  After what's transpired over the past week, there is not a more deserving team than BYU.  They should be rewarded for doing the right thing and what better reward would it be to cut down the nets at the Final Four in Houston?  Will it happen, probably not.  This is not a fairy tale world.  People who do the right thing in this world get screwed.  People who lie, cheat, and basically break every code in BYU's honor code win national championships, play for NFL or NBA teams, have success and get everything they've ever wanted in life.  People are willing to compromise their morals and everything they believe in to get what they want.  That's the REAL world we live in.