"We" can put the MAC on the national stage
The perfect storm is brewing in the media these days. Jamison Winston, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and others have brought bad behavior in sports to the forefront.
With that in mind, the MAC is in a position to take an ethical stand, and show that at least one college sports conference still puts academics and ethics ahead of wins and losses.
Thomas Rawls was convicted of a felony this week. He plea bargained away two other felonies and was convicted of only felony larceny. He will be sentenced in 3 weeks and faces up to 4 years in prison. The minute that verdict came down the AD and Coach at Central Michigan University announced that Rawls would be eligible to play against Toledo in the upcoming week.
The MAC has always set itself apart by putting "true student athletes" on the field. Sadly, this flies in the face of that tradition.
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With that in mind, how can "WE" change this culture of corruption?
In this age of social media the news is often created by regular people and not the so called professionals. There's a philosophical thought that I'm sure you've all heard. "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
We're the MAC. Nobody pays attention to us, nobody hears the bad or the good news. So how to do we change that, and how do we put the MAC on the map as the gold standard of college football ethics?
It will take a collective effort of dozens here and dozens from other effected MAC programs. Here's how it could work.
1. It begins with getting the Toledo fan base on board. They need to know, that they're team will be facing a team with a convicted felon, awaiting sentencing. This felon, also happens to be their only hope of defeating Toledo.
2. Next you go to the message boards of every team who will face the convicted felons team and alert them to the same issues. This includes independent message boards, the MACbbs boards, as well as Rivals and Scout boards where they exist.
3. THIS ONE IS KEY. Inundate the MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, with your concerns. "What a black eye on the MAC. Is this what we want the MAC to stand for. In light of Jamison Winston and the Ray Rice controversies, do we want to have a convicted felon who is awaiting sentencing on the field?"
4. Email, twitter, facebook Terry Foster at the Detroit News. The Toledo Blade, as well as papers in Muncie, DeKalb, and Buffalo. Alert them to this, and alert them to your disappointment.
5. Email, twitter, and facebook sites related to MAC football programs, as well as MAC coaches, MAC school presidents, and MAC AD's. Alert ESPN, who will be broadcasting the game. They love this kind of stuff.
6. TV loves video, and there is video of this poor 62 year old lady having her purse snatched and her card used by the CMU starting RB. Stations in GR, Kalamazoo, Detroit, as well as TMZ, ESPN, CNN, etc. should be made aware that there is video out there that can be obtained.
7. The key is to get this to blow up on social media and let it take on a life of its own. Once that happens the media feeding frenzy will follow.
8. This one would totally put the MAC on a national stage. It would be on ESPN's top ten plays of the day. Lee Corson would be talking about it on College Game Day.
It starts with Toledo. The first play that Rawls is on the field the opposing teams (we'll start with Toledo) defense runs to the sidelines on the snap, letting Central Michigan run unencumbered for a touchdown. I think Scott Pelly on the CBS Evening News would be playing this footage, praising these teams for standing on ethics in sports.
So there's the plan. Add anything you'd like to it, and if you're volunteering to do one of these tasks please let us know so we don't get too many people doing one task. I'll begin by emailing and twittering Steinbach.
Dear John,
It has come to my attention that my beloved Rockets will be playing this Saturday against a team starting a convicted felon who is awaiting sentencing. I for one am appalled that a conference that prides itself on having "true student athletes" would approve of this. I for one, can not be a party to this and will not be attending the Toledo game. I am outraged to the point that I have forwarded this news to the Toledo Blade, the Detroit News, and the ESPN3 broadcast team who will be doing the game. Hopefully, this doesn't get blown out of proportion, but in light of the Jamison Winston and Ray Rice issues, I can see how the media might latch on to this and give the MAC a black eye.
Hopefully, you and your staff can get a handle on this so something akin to the Roger Godell situation doesn't crop up.
Sinceraly,
Gunnar Spredthwerd
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"We" can put the MAC on the national stage
