It's no secret - I love sports. I love the competition, the athleticism and the drama. I love everything that happens inside the lines and I try my best to avoid all the stuff that happens away from the arena. Normally I am numb when it comes to raising salaries, owners crying poverty and of course criminal activities. But then something like this happens and I can't help but feel increasingly jaded.
Venoy Overton, arguably my favorite Husky for the past two years was suspended for the Pac-10 Tournament after being charged with furnishing alcohol to a minor. Look, I knew this was coming. I have my sources that told me Venoy was the player who was being investigated in January for an alleged sexual assault. At the time I decided to let things play themselves out and trust that our legal system would work itself out. When the sexual assault charges were then dropped my initial reaction was that the player was getting special treatment. Our legal system was founded on innocent until proven guilty, but when it comes to public opinion you're guilty until you can prove yourself innocent.
If I want to be completely honest here, I have to admit that race played a role in my thinking. Ok, maybe it's not completely race, but more like culture. Basketball is quickly becoming an inner-city game. Venoy went to inner-city Franklin High School, has tats covering his body and his face always says that he is ready to jump you. On the court I love his intensity; I love how is able to get under his opponents skin and I love his passion. Yet if I saw him off the court I would probably feel uncomfortable. When my boy Gorman calls UW a bunch of thugs, I always defend the Dawgs and call him out for his racist comment. The fact is though, and I hate to admit it, I could never really defend Overton.
Still, even though I knew Overton was probably got away with something because of his status, I tried my best to not let it bother me. I decided to focus on the team and forget the rest. Then when I read the news report in the Times yesterday I was definitely saddened. Not because the Huskies are losing a key member of their team, but because he was once my favorite player on the team. Having previously listed him in my Man-Crush List I now feel slimy.
Here are the night's events as being reported by the Times. Two 16-year old girls met Overton on Facebook. They decided to meet up with Overton at a local McDonald's before going back to Overton's sister's apartment. On the way Overton bought some alcohol. Once at the apartment, one girl performed a sex act on her own will. The other girl then followed, saying that she thought compelled into the sex act because of who he was. A few days after the night, the girl filed a complaint against Overton. Charges were then dropped by the prosecutor after her story did not match up with the other girls or the two other males in the room.
The public will never know how factual this account is, but let's for a second assume that it is accurate. Let's assume that no law was broken in relation to the sex act - the bottom line is that Overton supplied alcohol to minors and then had sex with them. I don't want to judge...I really don't, but as a father, I cannot help but feel disgusted by the entire evening. I know situations like this occur all the time in college. Kids get drunk. They hook up. Sometimes they regret it afterwards. The difference of course is that they can be considered adults. Overton, who I'm sure is able to meet a lot of college girls because of his status on campus decided to hook up with 16 year olds after supplying them with alcohol? It's not only pathetic but it's straight up disgusting.
The ironic thing to me about this whole situation is that we are not even a week removed from Brandon Davies being kicked off the BYU basketball team for having sex with his girlfriend. I think the sentiment around the nation is that the school should give him a break even though he knowingly broke the rules that he agreed to follow prior to taking his first class in Provo. "Give the kid a break...he was only doing what all red-blooded American boys do in college," people cried. Race cannot be an issue since both Overton and Davies are black - it's the situations that are completely different. A 22 year-old athlete who had sex with two minors (even though age of consent in Washington is 16, I still consider them minors) after giving them alcohol vs a 20 year-athlete who had concentual sex with his college age girlfriend. No way anyone can defend Overton on this one.
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Taking all the emotion out of it, this obviously has a huge effect on the team. While BYU is rallying around Davies, I have this feeling that the Huskies won't be able to rally around Overton. I mean, they are completely different situations. From a personnel standpoint, we no longer have a pest on defense. We no longer have a shut-down perimeter defender and will need to rely on Isaiah to control the game even more. Overton provided an edge - others teams didn't like him and I think the rest of the team responded to his chippiness. We always seemed to play a little harder (often a little more out of control) when Venoy was on the court - now someone else is going to have to step up and light a fire under the defense's ass. While we may be the 3rd highest scoring team in America, it's our pressure defense that jump starts everything. I know he will be back for the NCAA Tournament, but that won't matter if we don't get there. We cannot afford a third loss to WSU.
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