Texas Tech swaps its soul for a QB. It learned by watching Maine Dems | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Texas Tech is defending the right of QB Brendan Sorbsy, an admitted gambler, to play.
- Maine Democrats chose Graham Platner despite his Nazi symbol and abuse allegations.
- The column argues institutions trade integrity for short-term political or athletic gain.
College sports is degrading so fast, it’s hard for any particular indignity to stand out. When a prominent coach sanctions anything short of murder, though, that breaks through.
Texas Tech University is marshaling its clout and wealth to protect the playing eligibility of transfer quarterback Brendan Sorbsy, who, a couple of stops ago, gambled on his own sport and team. That was once the unforgivable sin for an athlete, but Sorsby found a Tarrant County judge willing to order the NCAA to allow him to play in the upcoming season.
What’s the big deal, Tech coach Joey McGuire wants to know?
“As a society, we’ve been OK with other things that happen and allowing players to play, and this has been the one thing uniting people that we’re against,” he told a group of Tech boosters June 10 in Houston. “It’s crazy – it’s not murder, it’s not beating somebody.”
You’ll break your neck trying to see how low McGuire just reset the bar. But he’s just following the example set in politics.
Maine Democrats have decided that Graham Platner, someone who decided to permanently mark his body with a Nazi symbol and who faces several credible and recent accusations of abusing women, is the state’s best choice to be a U.S. senator. As McGuire might say, hey, he didn’t kill anybody.
These stories seem unrelated. But they represent the elevation of glory, victory, fortune and personal or political agendas over integrity and standards.
Sorsby and Platner mark the complete triumph of narrow, individual, legalistic arguments. If you can find the finest thread to pull, yank it with all your might. If the whole jersey or brownshirt unravels, that’s someone else’s mess to clean up.
Our institutions are increasingly susceptible to such abuse in part because so few leaders are willing to reach beyond themselves to protect them.
Where are Maine Democratic leaders, the party’s other senators or powerful party eminences such as Barack Obama to say: This candidate cannot bear our standard? Where are major campaign donors saying: Not another dime until you jettison the SS fan?
Where is anyone in power in Texas to tell Tech leaders not only that they are wrong but that they will damage the institution long-term for what will probably be a modest short-term gain? Is Sorsby really the difference between Tech making the college football playoff last year and winning it this year? What about the incredible distractions and constant suspicion to be borne by innocent athletes trying to do it the right way?
Gov. Abbott could tell Texas Tech ‘no’ on Brendan Sorsby
Gov. Greg Abbot never hesitates to reach deep into university systems when he sees something political he does not like. Why isn’t he on the phone telling Tech’s chancellor or the chairman of its Board of Regents — an Abbott appointee, like all regents everywhere — “I will not let you do this to this vital Texas institution”?
Attorney General Ken Paxton actually managed — of course — to go one notch worse. He vowed Thursday to defend Tech in court if other Big 12 conference universities follow through on ideas such as refusing to play against a school with a potential game-thrower in the starting lineup.
The number of colleges that would do what Tech’s doing in the same situation is probably shocking. Success at the height of college athletics is valuable enough to engender any manner of scummy behavior. Demanding that Tech or anyone be the first to draw the line is a huge ask.
But the attempts to turn this vice into virtue are just too much. McGuire explained that his quarterback is “recovering from an addiction,” as if Tech is suddenly on the cutting edge of rehab.
I can’t believe it falls to me to explain this to a major college coach, but here goes: If the outcome of the game is suspicious because one of the most important players has admitted to placing himself above his team numerous times, the golden goose of athletics will die. The entertainment value of sports is spontaneity, the idea that nothing is scripted. If that disappears, viewership will dwindle, sponsorships will dry up and, ironically, even bettors will shy away, knowing they can’t beat a fix.
Would McGuire permit his kicker to shank a field goal attempt late with a six-point lead in a game with a seven-point spread to make his bet? Why not? He’s not killing anyone.
McGuire attempts to wrap Sorsby in the patois of recovery and portray his program as a West Texas outlet of the Betty Ford center. Even if it were, it’s not prudent to hire a recently recovering alcoholic to manage a bar.
Sorsby has never even taken a single snap for Tech. He’s at his third college in five years. Would he show such loyalty to the institution? Sorsby may be a great quarterback, but no one is indispensable.
What would Maine gain by electing Graham Platner?
Similarly, what does Platner bring to the table that Mainers can’t resist? He is not a person of significant achievement. There’s no reason to believe he’s especially positioned to win, except for the untested theory that he will generate interest among angry socialist-inclined Democrats.
And for what would Maine sully itself? To beat veteran Sen. Susan Collins — perhaps the most liberal Republican in the Senate anyway. If Democrats flip the seat, it might help them eke out a 51-49 majority for as little as two years. What exactly can they do with that power in a still-divided government that makes the tradeoff worth it?
And yes, we have a rough mirror image of Platner in Texas with Paxton. Republicans here ousted an accomplished conservative Senate leader, John Cornyn, in favor of the corrupt, personally flawed Paxton. His most passionate supporters can at least articulate a reason. They see Paxton as having stood up to the “swamp” and being willing to “fight” whatever bogeyman they want vanquished at the moment.
Paxton has never found an actual principle that would stop him from giving them what they want. He’s not as effective as they think and does not merit the label “conservative.” But at least you can see how his supporters get to where they are.
Here’s the problem for them, for Maine Democrats and for Tech: Senators and quarterbacks will come, and they will go. Integrity, once lost, is not so easily replaced.
