First Jameis, now De’Andre:
The State Attorney’s Office released surveillance video today of Florida State University [FSU] quarterback De’Andre Johnson punching a woman at a bar last month.
State Attorney Willie Meggs said he decided to charge Johnson, 19, with misdemeanor battery after viewing the footage from the West Tennessee Street bar Yiannis on June 24…
The woman suffered bruising near her left eye, swelling of the left cheek and upper lip, and a small cut near the bridge of her nose, according to court records.
(Tallahassee Democrat, July 6, 2015)
Foremost, this assault speaks volumes about his upbringing. Because only a seasoned thug would punch a woman in the face for daring to question why he was not only jumping the line, but pushing her aside just to buy drinks at a bar.
Not to mention that any college kid with half a brain would think twice about compounding underage drinking by getting into a barroom brawl….
That said, this case is especially troubling given the unseemly precedent FSU quarterback Jameis Winston set. He, you may recall, was dogged by allegations that he raped a classmate during his freshman year in 2012. Except that:
A 2014 New York Times report found that ‘there was virtually no investigation at all, either by the police or the university.’ Winston went on to become the top NFL draft pick, and now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
(Huffington Post, May 13, 2015)
Unfortunately, this is entirely consistent with the privileges and immunities superstar college athletes have enjoyed since time immemorial. Which is why this freshman could be forgiven for thinking that, if Jameis could get away with raping a coed (allegedly), he could get away with punching one in the face. The dispositive, generational difference, of course, is that, if Jameis were caught on tape sexually assaulting his accuser, he’d probably be in prison today, not in the NFL….
In any case, given the misdemeanor charge, chances are very good that De’Andre’s superstar defense lawyer, Jose Baez (of Casey Anthony infamy), will be able to keep him out of prison. He’ll probably cop a plea and get off with a modest fine, anger-management classes, and a few hours of community service.
However, playing college Football, which he must do to follow Jameis’s checkered path into the NFL, is a far more doubtful proposition. Not least because, if FSU wants to retain what little institutional integrity it has left, it must expel De’Andre – even if it’s obliged to let the legal process play out first. But the Football team has no choice but to kick him off, immediately. And I fully expect it to do so, especially with legendary ex-Florida State University football coach Bobby Bowden speaking out against Jameis as follows:
I think it’s a consensus among Florida State fans and boosters that he was an embarrassment in a lot of ways to the university. He won a lot of ball games, and was probably one of the best football players that ever attended Florida State. But he hurt himself off the field.
(CBS Sports, May 12, 2015)
Granted, it takes no profile in courage for Bowden to say this after Jameis has won a lot of ball games and left. But even if FSU were to give him a Jameis pass … because he too could win a lot of ball games, one name explains why De’Andre will never be drafted into the NFL: Ray Rice.
In “NFL: Wife Beating No Worse than Dog Fighting,” July 26, 2014, and its follow up “Janay Made Informed and Liberated Choice to Stand By Her Man, Ray. Okay?” September 15, 2014, I commented on the extraordinary fallout, for Rice and the NFL, from the viral video of him knocking out his then fiancée, Janay. Even though he escaped criminal prosecution (because Janay not only stood by her man, but publicly defended him), here is the professional fate that has befallen him:
Former Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice is waging an unrelenting crusade to get back on the field nearly a year after being booted from the National Football League – along with his $35million contract – over a heinous case of domestic abuse.
Videos of the 28-year-old, two-time Pro Bowler’s workouts have been sent to NFL teams, as Rice crosses his fingers that executives will give him a second chance.
(Daily Mail, July 6, 2015)
Rice might well deserve a second chance. But viral videos promoting working out Ray cannot compete with that viral video of Ray knocking out Janay. (But God help her if he doesn’t get that chance, because life with him would probably be anything but domestic bliss….)
More to the point, though, if punching his fiancée in the face is making it this difficult for a proven superstar like Rice to get back into the NFL, punching a woman in the face will make it impossible for an unproven kid like De’Andre to get drafted in the first place.
Therefore, instead of banking on making millions playing Football, it behooves De’Andre to transfer to a vocational school to learn a trade that will earn him a living wage. I cannot overstate this distressing but prevailing fact:
[Most ‘student athletes’] not only graduate with degrees not worth the paper they’re written on; they actually enter college aiming to do nothing but make themselves more marketable to professional teams….
(“Ohio Buckeyes Trample Oregon Ducks to Win NCAA Football National Championship,” The iPINIONS Journal, January 13, 2015)
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