Wisconsin fans are looking forward to a date with the Music City Bowl, but in light of recent events, how can one root for this team? Any unit will have its share of bad apples and regrettable incidents, but such things have become the trend on the Wisconsin Badgers football team.
Freshman receiver Ernest Mason's latest incident has become the quintessential reason as why the Wisconsin football program is worthy of disgust. Mason allegedly beat and threatened a girl in the Southeast dorms. And what is his punishment? He gets to skip practice for two days!
Forget about Mason, though. He is not the biggest problem. The way the Athletic Department handled this case is completely inexcusable. A rule was passed earlier this year saying that any athlete who was involved in such an incident would be immediately suspended, with the chance to appeal. Mason appealed immediately and was reinstated in two days. Anyone who has so much as looked at the Peterson Building knows the UW-Madison bureaucracy does not work this efficiently. This reform is a fraud, much like the
oble"" reputation of our Athletic Department.
So now Mason and his teammates learn nothing from the mistake and go on thinking they are above the law. Behavior like this is moving Wisconsin into the ranks of notoriously dirty programs like Florida State and Head Coach Barry Alvarez's alma mater Nebraska, which allowed its running back to play in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl despite reportedly throwing his girlfriend down a flight of stairs. It is not worth falling into these depths.
UW also has a contemptible collection of boosters whose donations to the school are based on the team's performance and this often influences what the school does, so it is not all on Alvarez. It is ironic that those who would see Wisconsin at its best are showing complete negligence in using their money to bring out its worst. Bet none of them is the father of Mason's victim.
UW students deserve better than a program with such misplaced priorities.
