The date is Feb. 10, 2016. I sit in my dorm room in Knoxville with steam coming out of my ears.
I have just finished typing a quick update on the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Nashville involving six unnamed University of Tennessee students, several former student-athletes, a few current administrators and one close friend.
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In case you haven't heard by now, this lawsuit claims that the University of Tennessee and its administrators have taken a lackadaisical approach to several cases of rape reported across UT's campus, especially when prominent Tennessee athletes are involved.
The lawsuit states that the university's administration has taken "deliberately indifferent" action in dealing with such harsh circumstances. It also states that several football players assaulted former Vol wide receiver Drae Bowles after he helped the woman who accused former Tennessee players A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams of rape. He took her to the hospital and supported her decision to report the incident to the proper authorities.
When I wrote about this earlier, I was pinned against the wall by my journalistic responsibility.
I couldn't put my own opinion into any part of the matter. Instead, I was forced to write as a professional.
Now, I get the chance to write on this matter as a man.
Firstly, let me state that I was taught to respect women, bar none. It doesn't matter how hard they hit or what they do — you never hit back.
You let them claw your eyes out before you take any physical action in response.
Secondly, you don't force yourself on anyone. Ever. You don't convince yourself that it's OK or tell yourself that it'll be fine. You're a big shot, right? You're a guaranteed first-round draft pick. What are they going to do?
Turns out they'll do a whole lot if you give them the chance, and that's exactly what we've seen unfold thus far in this specific circumstance.
Using one's physical stature to intimidate another into doing something he or she doesn't wish to do is the dictionary definition of bullying, and it isn't something that should be taken lightly.
A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams, as well as other former Tennessee athletes, dragged their own names through the mud when they committed these acts.
Curt Maggitt is a different story altogether.
Or, he was, at least in my book.
Maggitt has always seemed like a happy, respectable guy, at least in front of the camera; but in this case, that simply isn't so.
After the incidents, Maggitt and other Tennessee players confronted Bowles about his reporting the incident to the authorities.
As a result of Bowles' report, A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams would miss out on the following season and consequently the NFL Draft.
Their careers would be long gone, and Tennessee's defensive performance the following season would decrease exponentially.
In pursuit of violent revenge, Maggitt and other players assaulted Bowles — not once, but twice — and Bowles later transferred to UT Chattanooga.
This isn't something you can make up.
This isn't a story you can close with a goodnight kiss in order to erase it from your children's minds.
This is a story of the people that our nation, myself included, look to as heroes and how such prominence can cause one to fall from heights he or she never even imagined.
It's also the story of a guy I know well, and his attempt to improve what was already a terrible situation.
It's the story of brotherhood (or lack thereof) and the true colors of a team that will threaten one of its lesser-known in an attempt to avenge the loss of its best-known.
The group of players that assaulted Bowles drew a line in the sand, and they were on the wrong side.
To an outsider's point of view, he stands alone.
But what that outsider wouldn't know is that the rest of this university and Bowles' community at home stand with him, and so do I.
This is bigger than football. It's bigger than any one season or any one life, and on behalf of the University of Tennessee, I would like to say the following:
Drae, I've looked up to you since I was in elementary school. Your values have never changed, and you're the same person today that you've always been. For that I respect you, and for that I thank you. You're the first in a long time to say that anything remotely related to rape or physical abuse is not OK.
It's not OK, and it never will be.
