Great Article - Respect for Honor Code From Florida Press

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-bianchi-byu-sex-honor-code-ncaa-20110323,0,1827010.column" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Good read.

Jay Drew had a article yesterday about some sports reporter from the Orlando Sentinel who was asking some pretty aggravating questions about Brandon Davies and the Honor Code. It seems that this reporter, Mike Bianchi, was out to start a fight. Jay's article is here, Tone of honor code questions causes stir, angers some, at BYU/Florida news conferences.



When I read Jay's article, I thought this Bianchi dude was just some pot stirrer trying to see how much trouble he could stir up. Here are questions he asked:

Mike Bianchi started the line of questioning by asking BYU coach Dave Rose why school officials could not have just let Brandon Davies' honor code violation "slide" and allow him to play.



...



He later asked Florida's star player, Chandler Parsons, how shocked he was when he learned BYU had kicked Davies off the team for having premarital sex, and how many Gators would be off the team if the school had that same rule.



...



According to Patrick Kinahan of KFAN radio in SLC, at least one high-ranking BYU official was not amused by Bianchi's line of questioning, with one calling them "ridiculous" and out of line.

Well, after reading Jay's article, I wasn't amused, but then one of the comments had a link to Bianchi's article after he had asked these leading questions. I live next to Orlando and went to the link, fully expecting to read a bunch of crap and cause more unnecessary stress in my life. but I was pleasantly surprised.



No premarital sex? What if Gators had to live by BYU honor code?



Here are the last several paragraphs in his article.

This is why BYU advancing to the Sweet 16 is so remarkable and so refreshing. Here's a program that enforced a rule that many believe is archaic, theological extremism. Seriously, how long would any of us have lasted in college if we had to live by the "no premarital sex" edict? Sadly, I would have probably been eligible up until my junior year — not because of my high moral standing but because of my lack of game.



How easy would it have been for BYU to do what all other big-time institutions of higher earning would do — sweep Brandon Davies' transgression under the rug and keep right on rolling toward a national championship? It's not like he beat up his girlfriend; he had consensual premarital sex with her. Still, he broke the honor code and BYU administrators did not bend the rules just because he is a star athlete. They suspended him for the rest of the season. If this had been an SEC football program, he might have been suspended for the first quarter of the spring game.



"I do understand and I respect the fact that it's hard for others to understand," BYU coach Dave Rose said when I asked him why Davies wasn't allowed to slide. "But our players and students at BYU are committed."



In contrast to coaches like Tressel and Pearl, Davies did not lie when he was asked about breaking the honor code. He now wears street clothes and roots on the Cougars from the end of the bench. He has accepted his penance and apologizes profusely for "letting my teammates down."



Maybe he did let his teammates down, but in the process Brandon Davies and BYU accomplished something that is almost impossible to do these days.



They lifted college athletics up.

Yes it is a good read. Surprisingly positive & understanding. I was very surprised by their tone. Good find!!! Sweeeeeet.

8)



Go Jimmer!!!!

The article is pretty good, but the questions were across the line and inappropriate. A lot of the national media is also calling him out on it.



ESPNAndyKatz Andy Katz

by cougarcornercom

This was embarrassing journalism. Can't believe these questions were asked of Fla and BYU: http://es.pn/hOqd6U" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hey, who added MY thread to IowaCougar thread. This is totally wrong and dastardly. It should have been the other way around. I don't want to be associated with somebody from Iowa.....but then again who would want to be associated with me.



Oh poopie....just forget about the whole thing. Please continue to do what my children do best and with supernatural skill, ignore me.



:~( :~( :~(

He probably could and should have asked those same questions is a better way.

I don't understand why this is a big deal.



I wasn't there, but I don't see the harm in asking open, honest questions - in any venue of life. You aren't forcing people to answer you, and as long as the reason for questioning it isn't slanted, I don't see the harm in it. Essentially asking the Florida player "how many of you guys don't have sex?" is a little over the top, I agree. I don't think that we get to challenge the premises of undeveloped kids, that is for parents to do until they get out in the world.



Is it unfair and inappropriate questioning every time Bronco goes on "The Jim Rome Show" and gets asked how he is doing so well "with the disadvantages of recruiting with the honor code?" No. It's not. So why is it unfair to ask someone, "How would you deal with the situation that they are dealing with?"



ESPECIALLY when open and honest questions make people decide things about themselves, and their surroundings. People's moral standings should be questioned from time to time, in appropriate situations.



Where is the OUTRAGE about Jimmer being asked, "What would you do if you saw a strip club in New Orleans?" That was a much more intrusive question in my mind, than anything else asked that I have read.



Especially when one of the persons asked (U of F AD) was asked about this, he is in a position to be asked about stuff like this and Urban "Warden" Meyers football program, and their 52 felons on an 82 man roster. Like, let's not even limit it to *consensual* sex. How many of your current football players would be in violation of a code like this for having non-consensual sex? That's a good place to start.



I don't see it as a bad thing to ask open questions, when you aren't slanting things one way or another.



(Obviously, how things are asked - tonality, phrasing, pauses - can change the meaning and context of what is being said. But from what I read on this particular subject, things seem pretty harmless.)

urroner wrote:
Hey, who added MY thread to IowaCougar thread. This is totally wrong and dastardly. It should have been the other way around. I don't want to be associated with somebody from Iowa.....but then again who would want to be associated with me.



Oh poopie....just forget about the whole thing. Please continue to do what my children do best and with supernatural skill, ignore me.



:~( :~( :~(

I was first! You must have spent too much time creating your thread, and I beat you to it! Can't you see my picture flying through the air at super-speed? Quick, short, and to the point. :P