Wave of Destruction

Alright Wahooze fans I’m going to divert from my usual UVA topics and go right at something that is devastating me to watch unfold. This may sound like a rant and may sound a little ridiculous at points but I need a forum to let all this out and I hope you find this interesting.

This is parents weekend. That's my brother who passed
out from the South Florida heat earlier in the game.
Good Times

As some (most?) of you know my first love in college football was the Miami Hurricanes. They played with such a swagger and reckless abandon that appealed to me so much when I was little that I couldn’t help myself. I would be lying if I told you that one of the main reasons I ended up at Miami was being able to be a part of that football tradition. I talk more junk than anyone and that team fit perfectly with their beatdowns and showboating and all I wanted was to go somewhere where I could fell like at badass. At that time I was a 165 pound white kid from the suburbs, about as untough as you can get, and The U was the perfect fit.  They would kick your ass and let you know about it.

No Snitching Right Uncle Luke?

That being said I knew their rise was not without turbulence. I knew people like Luther Campbell were hanging around the program and probably doing some unsavory  things to hold onto these players and keep them at Miami, and when I arrived there we were anything but the badass team that they had been in the past, and ended the season with a 48-0 drubbing at the hands of UVA, on a side note the only good part of that game for me was the seat I stole from the orange bowl. But we had hope. We had a new AD and a new coach that was going to be the savior of a program, a man that could get rid of the skeletons in the closet and recruit Miami the responsible way, who could recruit with just the natural advantages that the school provided. It was all there to do it the right way. You have a beautiful campus with brand new facilities and a history of success and NFL success, as well as the notoriety of being THE place for South Florida recruits to assemble and rep the entire area to the rest of the country. Randy Shannon was supposed to be that guy to restore the U the responsible way and Donna Shalala was supposed to be the overseer to make sure that it happened. We put our faith in them to oversee this and to do it responsibly and man were we wrong.

Today my faith in that entire school and athletic department got crushed, and boy does it hurt. I feel lied to, almost taken advantage of and it sucks. The people we were told were doing the right thing were not only not stopping the problem, but were facilitating it. We were told that this was going to be different and sold on a new program with upstanding young men and coaches that followed the rules. A team we could be proud of while it was still kicking the crap out of people and running their mouths while they did it. And it was all for naught. This whole façade has been ripped down by this story and I think this is going to get much worse before it gets better.

This stinks, real bad. This is big and it has been covered up by some high up officials. This leads me to conclude that the hammer is about to be brought down on the U. I would be willing to be that the death penalty, or maybe even something worse, is on the way. They have pictures of Donna Shalala accepting a donation from this guy. That is damning in the worst way. The NCAA is most likely going to cripple one of the most storied and significant programs in their history just because some jock sniffer got shafted by the friends that he bought.

This brings me to Nevin Shapiro. This guy looks like a fool who is pissed that the players whose friendships he bought were not actually his friend. If the guy is trying to become a sympathetic figure and fall on the sword to expose the corruption of the football program because he had a change of heart in jail I want to call bullshit on that right now. This guy paid for all this stuff in exchange for the ability to be seen with these guys. What he should have seen as a business deal he took as friendship. You’re telling me you think you can identify with the Miami football team? You’re a transplanted New Yorker living in South Florida. If those guys saw you on the street and you weren’t you they’d never interact with you at all, unless they were kicking your ass. They were your friend because they knew they could get stuff, and once your part of the deal ran out, so did theirs. And now you just look like the kid that goes and whines to his parents after everyone stops playing with him in the sandbox. And it’s going to end up taking a program and the university down.

Let’s get one thing straight. The Miami football program is more than a football program. It is the lifeblood of that school and the pride of that community. If you think the 757 produces football talent go down to the 305. When I was a freshman down there we went to the orange bowl to watch the city championship game between Booker T. Washington, then number 4 in the nation, and Miami Northwestern, then number 1 in the nation. Easily the best game of football I’ve ever seen full of rivalry and tenacity to the extent that I have never seen. Those kids laid it all on the line out there to beat each other and it made them the best in the country. And where did all of those kids end up? Miami. Miami football was the great aspiration. It was something to work towards. It was a way to unify everyone in that city in support of its players. Look at the success they had in the 80s and 90s. Lock down South Florida and give those kids a sense of pride in their area and watch them explode. When the Canes are rocking Miami is a unified front. It doesn’t matter if you’re from Opa Locka or Liberty City or Overtown you love the Canes because that’s where everyone from the city went. It’s a common ground. And now it’s going to be destroyed.

But it also is going to be a huge blow to the university. Yes the top kids academically are going to focus on school but you’re a fool if you don’t think a good football program helps boost the academic level of your school. Applications skyrocket when the football program is on a tear and it’s because you want to be a part of that. You’re not going to get the next kid who designs a plane at your school but you’re bound to get more smart kids who can go on to do other things. Miami has renovated nearly every building on campus since the 90s started and most, if not all, of that can be contributed to the success of the football program and the notoriety it gave the school. I can promise you without football I would be nowhere near that school.

Et Tu Sebastian?

So congratulations everyone, you have successfully ruined Miami football forever. I hope you feel good Mr. Shapiro, because you have done more damage to a community than you can possibly imagine. Everyone needs to go. EVERYONE.  And Donna can lead the way. I think Al Golden could turn it around, but why would he. I suspect the death penalty will be coming shortly and there will be a flood of coaches in South Florida waiting to scoop up that talent. I can think of one school around here that could use a Sean Spence, or a Stephen Morris. A storm is brewing my friends, and it is going to be big.