COLUMN: Some of our jockies aren’t so cocky
A couple of months ago I wrote a column entitled “A Note to All Our Cocky Jockies.” Along with the end of the basketball season came the end of the careers of a couple of players I have become big fans of.
I would feel like an ingrate if they left the school with my previous column as the only good-bye I had offered.
In that column, I grouped the whole team into one category based on the negative actions of a select few. I stand by much of what I wrote, and an apology for the entire column would be insincere.
The reaction to the column was a bit overwhelming for a beginning journalist. I received scores of letters and comments, both positive and negative. Some made me feel like I should write for Sports Illustrated. Others made me lock my door at night. I was glad the picture next to my column was a fuzzy, black and white one.
One letter came from Utah State quarterback Jeff Crosbie. Crosbie personifies the “non-cocky jocky.” For Crosbie, a married family man, it would probably be near-impossible to be a cocky jocky while changing diapers.
I met with people in the Athletics department and the basketball team. Some of those I talked to made a very positive impression on me. Don Verlin, an assistant basketball coach, was the classiest guy I have met in the time that I have worked at The Utah Statesman.
Rance Pugmire, USU Athletics director, also did a good job at making his point without being unreasonable and contentious.
I told them how I felt and why I wrote what I did. However, they made some good points that I felt like I, as a journalist who’s job is to accurately report, should mention.
To say that most of the basketball team, and most of the athletes in general are jerks, would be false.
For example, I have never heard a negative thing about departing seniors Brennan Ray and Tony Brown. They were here when I got here, and memories of Brennan Ray flooring an opposing player with a hard (but legal) screen, or of Tony Brown hitting every shot inside of the half-court line, will linger in my mind as good ones.
Ray always reminded me of Kurt Rambis of the Lakers or Bill Hanzlik of the Nuggets. Ray would pester someone all game long and then when his opponent finally lost his temper and was called for a technical foul, Ray would have a look of complete innocence on his face. That’s a talent. He’ll be missed.
Along with Ray and Brown, I would add Desmond Penigar, Toraino Johnson and Chad Evans as guys who I would set up with my sister for a blind date. These are only the ones I have personally met, seen or heard specific positive stories about. This is not to say there are others worthy of the recommendation for the blind date with my sister.
Another area where I attacked student athletes was in their performance in the classroom. I was quickly informed from many sources that student athletes have a higher overall GPA than the general student population.
I think we all recognize whom I speak of when we think of the cocky jock who comes in late to class with their cell phone ringing and a look on their face that says “OK, I’m here, so you can start now. If you’re lucky I might listen.”
However, for every one of those there are 10 normal students who we probably don’t even know are student athletes.
Some of the positive letters I received were actually from student athletes saying they hoped my message would reach those it was intended for.
On the other hand, let’s not throw all of the athletes into the same pile.
The Olympics showed me how offensive this can be in the way it portrayed Utah residents. Friends who have called me since the end of the Games were surprised to hear I was still married to only one wife, but disappointed that I had become “Utah-ized” in my love for green Jell-O and fry sauce.
For those athletes who have not succumbed to the jock, or the Utah stereotype, I’m sorry.
But if you still think you are the sun with the planets revolving around you, you still come to class late and pay no attention, and on top of all of that you love green Jell-O and fry sauce: You create these stereotypes and I am talking to you.
Clark Jessop is a
sophomore majoring
in broadcast journalism.
He can be reached at
clarkjessop@cc.usu.edu