My mom woke me for breakfast to begin one of the busiest days of my week.
I approached my freshly poured bowl of cereal with the stress of my to-do-list weighing heavily on my soul.
It was already 10 a.m., which meant that I would have to push my scheduled game of freeze tag with the other neighborhood kids back by at least half an hour.
Consequently, the times I had allotted for building a pillow fort with my sister and taking an afternoon nap would definitely suffer because of my late start to the morning. I was even beginning to wonder if I would have time to watch cartoons before bed.
What a stressful day to be a 3-year-old boy. Little did I know that being a toddler would be the simplest existence I could ever imagine.
The world was straightforward as a kid, and determining heroes and villains in life was far from complicated.
For example, my mom was clearly a hero for letting me skip out on going to preschool from time-to-time to spend the day with her. Back then, the villains were also obvious, and I would have probably listed my nemesis as whichever antagonist appeared in the Batman cartoons that day.
Unfortunately, we grow older and learn the line that separates heroes from villains isn’t always clear.
This season, the LSU men’s basketball has had to overcome obstacles far beyond what anyone expected. The Tigers lost teammate Wayde Sims due to tragedy before the season began, and has recently had to deal with the challenge of being the NCAA’s public enemy No. 1 thanks to an ongoing FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting.
In the process, LSU basketball has lost coach Will Wade at the most crucial point in the season thanks to a rush of judgement from University officials after transcripts of an alleged conversation between Wade and convicted felon Christian Dawkins.
None of these hurdles have prevented the Tigers from advancing to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006. Yet, the focus of the media has rarely been on the mental toughness LSU’s players have and instead been on the “dark cloud” hanging above the program.
Somehow, we’ve found our way back to the world of children’s cartoons where there can only be one villain. This is especially mind-boggling when much of the remaining field in the NCAA Tournament is considered.
Take LSU’s next opponent, Michigan State, as an example. To some, the Spartans represent the hero that will finally slay the corrupt monster known colloquially as LSU basketball. To special counsel Bill Forsyth and myself, the Spartans represent an athletic department that “has fostered a culture of of indifference toward sexual assault, motivated by its desire to protect its reputation.”
Has the public already forgotten the horrible crimes of trainer Larry Nassar and the accusations that Michigan State’s athletic department conspired to protect its reputation before its athletes?
This news was released a mere three months ago and resulted in the president of the university being forced to resign due to felony charges. I’m not saying Spartans coach Tom Izzo or anyone involved with Michigan State’s basketball program shares guilt in any crime, but shouldn’t the accusations made against the athletic department also be a “dark cloud?”
The Kansas Jayhawks should be another team in hot water. Similar to LSU’s Wade, transcripts of text messages between Kansas coach Bill Self and an former Adidas representative revealed promises from Adidas to help Kansas land five-star prospects because Adidas believed that Nike was helping Duke and North Carolina in the same way.
In the fall, the attorney for Adidas argued that Self knew of illegal payments to players.
Fortunately for Kansas, Self is still coaching and Dick Vitale and the other national pundits aren’t waging a war with the Jayhawk fan base.
Again, I’m not directing claims of guilt or innocence toward Self, Kansas or even Wade. I am simply demanding consistency. Wade may have committed sins when building his program, but this NCAA Tournament isn’t exactly filled with saints.
When the Tigers take the court in Washington, D.C. on Friday, there will only be one villain. The networks will run chyrons on timelines of the FBI investigation pertaining LSU, and the commentators will discuss the alleged improper benefits made by Wade. The worst Michigan State fans may hear that night is a criticism of Izzo yelling at his players.
The bias will be clear, but that’s fine because many LSU fans have realized two important lessons in this FBI debacle. The world is far more complicated than we’d like it to be, and sometimes it’s fun to play the role of the villain.