The KU Double Standard

Several University of Kansas football and basketball players were involved in two separate fights over girls on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and someone even got pushed down some quite steep stairs behind Budig Hall by one of the Morris twins.

And all they got was a slap on the wrist.

Three basketball players (not included: the twins) issued a "formal apology" this morning, but the only punishment that we know about is that the basketball players had to start their "boot camp" two weeks early.

Herein lies the rant.

Are you serious, Bill Self? Two weeks of practice? That's your punishment for illegal activity? Pushing someone down stairs, especially the horrendously steep ones behind Budig, is a jail-able offense. And instead of getting arrested or getting kicked off the team (both of which should happen), they have to practice a little more.

Bull crap, I say.

There's a serious problem at KU. The basketball players, and even the football players to some degree, are invincible and worshiped. They can do no wrong, they are better people than the rest of the students, and they are given special treatment right and left.

Don't get me wrong, I'll still root for the Jayhawks during any game, no question about it. I'll still try to make it to a football game this season or a basketball game later.

But the treatment they get is sickening.

I lived in the Towers for two years, and all I saw of these guys was them thinking they were the big dogs on campus. They would throw parking tickets on the ground. They would have fights in the parking lot (yes, this has happened before). They would expect people to know who they were, and if they didn't, the players would be upset or even offended. I worked at the Towers, and the players were the worst residents. They would steal lockout keys for months on end. They would have parties with booze and pot every week. The Morris twins even shot someone with a BB gun.

And what's happened as a result of all this?

Nothing.

Extra laps, maybe.

But mostly, nothing.

They are made to be gods at KU, and if you try to punish them, you are accused of being anti-KU or something. I swear, it's like the McCarthy era.

I'm not anti-KU. But the only right thing to do at this point is to kick everyone involved off the team. No questions, no whining, no formal apologies. Let them know the consequences of acting like a bunch of thugs. If any other student had shot someone with a BB gun, they'd be expelled in a day. If any other student had pushed someone down the stairs in a fight, they'd be sent to jail and heavily punished.

What's the standard here, Bill and Mark? What will it take, Lew, to punish an athlete accordingly? What will it take? A death, maybe? Something you can't bury?

Let's not let Lew and his cronies bury this one, KU fans. Pester him, call him, wait outside his office. Demand action, and let them know we won't stand for these ridiculous double standards anymore.