Robservations: Collegiate sports chock full of nuts
Some people are crazy about sports, and some sports people are just plain crazy.
Case in point: The strange tale of Florida State quarterback Wyatt Sexton.
Wyatt, in case you haven’t heard, was taken to a Tallahassee hospital by police officers on Monday after being found acting strangely in the middle of the street and telling the officers he was “God.”
His father said on Thursday that doctors have told him Wyatt hadn’t been abusing drugs, but did not disclose the nature of his son’s problem.
I’ve got an idea. Maybe the boy’s crazy.
But at least he’s not as crazy as Carlton Dotson, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday for the 2003 murder of teammate Patrick Dennehy.
During the investigation which ultimately led to Dotson’s arrest, he told police that people had been threatening both he and Dennehy, leading them to purchase guns for their own protection.
He also admitted that people were trying to kill him because he was, in his own words, “Jesus, the son of God.”
In my college days, everyone admired the star athletes, and guys on the football or basketball teams relished the attention. They knew they were, literally and figuratively, the “big men on campus.”
But claming you’re God? That’s taking things a little far, isn’t it?
Maybe I’m wrong, but I recall as a young lad playing baseball from right before the old school year ended until right before the new school year began.
Even as recently as five or six years ago, you can look back through past editions of this sports sections and see summer leagues lasting at least until late July.
But these days, especially in the city leagues, the prevailing sentiment seems to be “get ’em through by the Fourth.”
The number of teams has dwindled, the number of games is less, and the length of the seasons have been shortened by almost a month.
It seems the only number that doesn’t get any smaller is the cost of participating.
Tuesday afternoon this reporter was on hand to witness something I hadn’t seen in quite a while — a Pioneer football team dominating its opponent.
Granted, it was a seven-on-seven “passing league” game, which is basically the same kind of touch football everybody plays in their backyard. The only real exception is the teams in passing league name and memorize their plays, rather than drawing them on the ground like we did as kids.
But nonetheless, Tuesday afternoon’s game against Lebanon was definitely football. It was definitely high school football, and it was definitely Warren County High School football.
And Warren County won. As Stan Lee would say, “Nuff said.”
Could it be a sign of good things to come this fall? Let’s hope so.