Last week, Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston was suspended for the first half of the game against Clemson for jumping on a table in the student union and yelling a sexually explicit phrase. Florida State's interim president Garnett S. Stokes and Athletic Director Stan Wilcox then suspended Winston for the second half after learning the quarterback misrepresented the events in the student union. Finally, someone at FSU had the stones to hold Winston accountable.
Winston is the same quarterback whom a fellow student accused of rape before he went on to win the Heisman Trophy and national championship, and who stole crab legs from a Publix Supermarket during the offseason. Even before he was the starting quarterback, Winston ran into trouble—along with other players—for shooting out the windows of an apartment complex with a BB gun. Another run-in with the law included a fast-food employee accusing him of stealing soda.
Up to this point, Florida State has shown that it only cares about winning. Winston has slowly upped his trouble with the law and the public because the university wasn't willing to intervene while Winston's troubles were small.
Head coach Jimbo Fisher and the previous FSU president and athletic director didn't even investigate Winston's rape allegation before it became public. The rape claim came in late 2012, but Florida State didn't open an investigation until earlier this month, nearly two years later. Winston didn't care when he climbed on that table in the student union because he already knew winning matters more to FSU than showing any moral fiber.
Winston proved how little respect he had for Fisher when he came out in full pads for the pregame against Clemson. His antics showed that he didn't care that the school suspended him for a full game. No, the Heisman winner just kept on trolling America each time the camera found him on the sidelines. The hard truth is Winston learned nothing on Saturday. His teammates bailed him out, and he will still be in the national championship and Heisman race.
Winston won't learn a lesson until he really ends up in hot water with the law or FSU finally gets fed up with his antics and ships him out the door. Universities and the NFL have been looking the other way with athletes for a while now.
Florida State won a national championship last season but had to sell its integrity and soul to win that crystal ball, and Fisher will keep selling it as long as the Seminoles keep winning. This type of victory isn't what sports are supposed to be about.
But times are changing, and the NFL is learning that the hard way with public backlash to the recent family-violence cases. Florida State has already reinstated Winston, so it is safe to say that universities have a long way to go.
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