I live in a city that is beyond obsessed with their collegiate sports.  I’m not a big fan, but I haven’t been able to miss the mess that the Ducks football team has become.  I think at last count 6 of their players have been involved in the criminal justice system this year. 

The star quarterback and another player (he was so unimportant he was kicked off the team immediately, but the qb is ‘a unique player’ and his case ‘warrants careful consideration’) got busted stealing laptops from a frat.  Another important player stands accused of beating up his girlfriend.  These are just three of the four cases in the last two months, but I’m highlighting them here because of what I heard on the radio last week. 

Driving back to Eugene, I was flipping through the stations and landed on the Donkey Show.  They play rock and roll and make obnoxious comments—typical.  They were discussing how rotten it is that these football players are role models, how they’re squandering their opportunities, and how stupid they are to do this stuff—typical. 

Then the one starts talking about how it’s really the star qb and the other laptop thief who have committed the worst, most stupid crime because “choking a chick is obviously bad, but it happens in the moment, without time to think about the consequences.  But when you pick up someone’s laptop and walk off with it, you have time to think about the consequences.”

Too typical.

 Choking someone is worse than stealing a laptop.  The justification of men’s violence against women has to stop.  It’s too common, it’s too accepted, and it’s not ok. 

About a month ago, Jackson Katz came to the U of O to talk about community approaches to ending men’s violence against women.  He has the most successful program in the country that works with athletic departments and athletes.  All of the U of O football coaches were invited.  None of them were interested.  I wanted to post his mini-video on my blog then, but, unfortunately, now’s as good a time as any.