I am a mom. I couldn’t tell you what NIL stands for or how college athletes are paid. But I do know this: college football is in trouble.
I remember when college kids who played sports were called student-athletes, not athletes who happened, incidentally, to be students. Student-athletes were looked up to and held to a higher standard. They had the discipline to excel in both academics and athletics.
I attended the University of Tennessee game against Texas. I was appalled and embarrassed for both universities as I witnessed the explicit acts by Texas players Colin Simmons and Raleek Brown. We in Tennessee are darn proud to be a part of a community where education is used to change lives. We collectively have let our kids down by allowing such
unacceptable behavior while calling it humor. We have lost ourselves.
ESPN reported that fans are overreacting and that this was no big deal. I think the opposite is true. I think we have raised a new generation of UNDERreactors. The line has become so blurry that we no longer recognize when we cross it. Tolerance for this behavior does not build better people.
I care about these kids, their coaches, and their communities. Let’s get back to admiring and expecting integrity alongside athleticism. When education and character are no longer at the heart of college athletics, we have lost far more than a football game. We risk losing the very generation college athletics are meant to shape.
Wendy W. Black, Gainesville, Georgia
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee-Texas game showed why college football is in trouble | Letter
