Read the entire article at ESPN
I think if one-third of your team's roster is ineligible for involvement in an academic cheating scandal, failing a drug test or any other sort of misconduct ; you have no choice but to let them play. How could you even conceive the idea of taking away their shot at a bowl game? The truth is, most of the kids on the roster will never see an opportunity like this again.
How often do college kids look for a short cut while in school? Often, and even more often do kids experiment with marijuana and occasionally other drugs. If players on the FSU football team made any of these mistakes, then punish them after the big game. Suspend them from a few regular season games next season, put them on academic probation or make them re-take the particular classes. Don't take away everything they've worked for with the snap of a finger.
You go to college to better yourself and to open a new chapter in life. This would most likely be the most memorable experience of their college careers. To take it away from them for a single mistake seems, well, heartless. Since when do kids in college not make mistakes? After all they've invested into school and the team? This is obviously a chance for the FSU authority to make a statement.
"Don't fuck with our policy or we will squash your future" I hate it when overzealous authority figures rule with an iron fist and no compassion!
It took an entire season of keeping on the up and up to make it to a bowl game. The situation would be totally different if it was a regular season game.
It's sad, the poor kids studied, trained and maintained focus all year long just to have all their work thrown away. What makes it worse, the man who probably made the final decision to leave them behind never saw this opportunity from a player's perspective.
