The jokes came easy Wednesday once details of Jameis Winston's latest immature episode started to surface, but none of them were as funny as the statements from Winston himself and a Florida State athletic department full of national title-level enablers.
Fewer than five months ago, those same folks were trying to whisk him away from reporters the day before the Heisman Trophy ceremony once questions about the sexual assault investigation that just concluded started coming his way. Though Florida State officials eventually realized their mistake and allowed Winston to complete the news conference, their instinct was to shield and protect rather than allow their then-19-year-old quarterback to feel the full measure discomfort that the circumstances demanded.
Now here we are again, and no one will suggest that walking out of a Publix grocery store without paying for $32.72 worth of crab legs and crawfish is anything close to what he was alleged to have done on Dec. 7, 2012. It practically goes without saying that one is a petty crime at worst; the other a serious, life-altering allegation for which there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the Seminoles' two-sport star.
But Florida State really couldn't do any better than a lame statement that amounts to little more than classifying this as the baseball team's problem while football coach Jimbo Fisher sits back and nods his head? And Winston couldn't do better than a statement through his attorney taking "full responsibility" for "a moment of youthful ignorance?"
Neither, of course, has any incentive to truly face Winston's behavioral issues with the seriousness they deserve. But here's who would: Corporate America.
With an antitrust lawsuit concerning the use of college athletes' names and likenesses working its way through the courts possibly headed for trial this summer, it is not hard to envision a world where a college athlete like Jameis Winston eventually earns the right to represent companies like Nike, McDonald's or even, yes, Publix in exchange for money.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/04/30/analysis-florida-state-fsu-quarterback-jameis-winston-crab-legs-shoplifting-citation/8526501/
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