During the past few weeks, the Ohio State athletic department struggled with making a decision over if they should fire, suspend, or do nothing to their embattled head football coach Urban Meyer. Meyer found himself in hot water over the suspicion that he knew about domestic violence allegations against one of his longtime assistants.
While this process played out, Ohio State fans protested and held rallies in favor of their coach but not the victim. They claimed that since Meyer did not commit the domestic violence that he had no duty to act morally and ethically in reporting the situation. Imagine prioritizing victories so strongly for a school that you likely never attended that you would advocate that the man enlisted to mold young men should not be held to a high standard. Imagine the punishment a player of Meyer's would likely receive if he were connected in some fashion to domestic violence.
Fans spewed vitriol at the reporter, because how dare he point out that their messiah condoned domestic violence? They, like many who hear of a woman's claim of sexual or domestic assault, doubted her truthfulness and went after her character. They advocated towards how in the past domestic violence and issues of that nature would not have been an issue.
Imagine caring so much over a couple meaningless wins a year that you would feel comfortable posting such things on social media, showing the world the bad look of you supporting domestic violence. Meyer will come back in week four at home vs lowly Tulane and the Ohio Stadium crowd will give him a standing ovation, just like Josh Hader received in Milwaukee and other athletes have received in the face of being substandard humans. While he receives a standing ovation, the battered soon to be ex-wife of Meyer's ex-assistant is likely to be accosted in Columbus.
The Ohio State saga shows a troubling trend. As someone who is a huge sports fan, it is hard for me to admit that at the majority of major schools athletics ranks ahead of education. Had a professor turned a blind eye to domestic violence allegations, they likely would have undoubtedly been fired without a week's long investigation and the news would have been lucky to make a back page blurb, let alone the front page. Athletic facilities grow as educational buildings remain stagnant because when you turn on a TV you see the football stadium or basketball arena. The majority of alumni donors do not care to see the communications or math buildings.
It seems safe to say that had Meyer been a coach at a MAC or Sun Belt Conference school, he likely would have been fired. Had he been fired Ohio State likely would have found a new coach at the same level as Meyer as they are such a coveted job. Had he not shown the ability to beat his rival Michigan like his assistant beat his pregnant wife, he would have likely been fired.
Ohio State deliberated and for a moment it seemed that they just might select morals and ethics over victories but they waffled. Had "The" Ohio State fired Meyer they would have shown that their academics and character were paramount to athletic success, they would have shown compassion to women around the world having pain inflicted at the hands of a man, and they would have shown that their face of their institution should not be a man who has shown that the only good thing he does is win football games.
We love sports because it gives us an escape from the deteriorating world around us. We don't like when sports reminds us of reality. We don't like being reminded of racial or sexist inequalities. However, if we truly wish to see a better world we need to end that status quo of doing the minimum and rewarding people for being slightly less than horrible.
