Will it Ever End?

My last entry was written prior to newspapers and news broadcasting companies getting their greasy little paws on the Initiation scandal.  Salve Regina University is being criticized for a lack of disciplinary action in the matter.  The three-game suspension was moved to a five-game suspension, ridiculously enough.  This means that the men will have to win four out of five conference games left in order to even make the playoffs.  With teams such as Roger Williams to play, this is going to be quite a challenge, but I have faith that they will be able to pull it off.  Of course, yesterday we discovered that four men were kicked off the team.  It is still unknown whether the four men will be expelled from the school.)  Three of those men were starters and one is nationally ranked among Division Three players.

You’re probably asking yourself what could possibly have happened to influence Salve’s disciplinary action; the news could not have been the only reason that greater action has been taken, right?  Apparently a couple sophomores were walking back to their dorms with a junior; the sophomores were wearing shirts that had racial slurs on them and they happened to pass by a group of African-American men.  One of the sophomores was punched in the face and when he hit the pavement, his head was kicked in.  Help came before anyone else was hurt.  The junior that was with the two sophomores is one of the players that was kicked off the team; no one knew that he played such a large role in the Initiation until the new roster was submitted.

Yesterday was the men’s first practice in a week.  This means that all of the punishments must be the final punishments, so I am currently waiting to hear about the expulsions.  The Salve student body does not seem to be too amused by this incident; a car zoomed by our practices (we were on the big field and the men were on the practice field) with a kid leaning out the window screaming, “YEAHHH GO HAZING!”

I fully support the men; it was just 15 months ago that the women’s team underwent such a scandal; the school just kept it hush-hush when it was us because it wasn’t a big deal, just a few pictures.  The men’s first game will be a week from Saturday against New England College and their first home game will be Wednesday October 17th against Roger Williams, our rivals.  Hopefully Salve students will get over themselves and support the men.

On a happier note, the Salve women won our first away game at Regis College, lifting us to 4-3 within conference play.  We’re gearing ourselves up for an all-out battle against #2 ranked Gordon College on Sunday; hopefully we come out on top.  A big win like that would definitely lift our confidence for teams like Endicott and Roger Williams.

Scandal.

The Salve Regina University athletic department should be ashamed of itself.  Last year, a total of 17 alcohol violations were committed by athletes.  This year, the athletes have already committed over 50.  (Of course, the men’s soccer team accounts for a good number of these, seeing as each member has been tagged with at least one violation this year due to Initiation.)  And now that I mention Initiation, I am pleased to inform you that it looks as though the three boys will be safe from expulsion, but I would guess that they have been kicked off the team.  The remaining members of the team have fulfilled 2/3 forfeits, all three games being ones they should have won.

The women’s team finally managed to pull a win, keeping us undefeated at home in the Conference (3-0), although we have yet to win an away Conference game (0-3).  The good news is that if we can keep at least a .500 season, we should be able to safely make playoffs, and hopefully have an easier seed in playoffs (because honestly, who wants to lose to Endicott in the first round?).

The Yankees will be taking on the Cleveland Indians this year for the playoffs – my 2 teams. Go Yankees – but go whoever wins!!!

Not so hot.

September 27, 2007.  This day happened to be one of the worst days ever in the history of Salve Regina University.  But then again, things won’t start getting better for me until after Saturday… the day of the much feared and dreaded LSAT.  However, I think it’s safe to say that the entire men’s soccer team has it worse than me right now.

It all started Saturday night, when the men decided that it was the perfect night to initiate the freshies onto the team.  And it was all in good fun, until they sent the underclassmen back to campus.  One of the freshman got to his room and became ill.  He wound up having a hot date with the toilet in his suite.  You would think that in his own room, that would be safe.  But the RA’s made their rounds and found him, hunched over and hugging the pot.  The kid was smart.  For the good of the team, he said nothing.  It was as though Initiation had not happened – it was just a normal night on the town for him as far as the RA’s were concerned.  Of course, when an athlete is written up, the coaches have to take action against him/her.  His coach deemed an 8 game suspension to be a worthy punishment for his actions.  Poor freshman.

Of course, it never is so simple.  It can’t be.  At such a small school, news travels fast.

Move ahead to Wednesday, September 26.  The coach finds out about said Initiation.  Coach is pissed (after all, it is his first year with this team).  Coach suspends the entire team for 3 games (Thursday, Saturday and Wednesday).  And that is still not the end of it.

Three upperclassmen: James, Andy and Manny (names slightly changed out of respect for the players) held initiation at their house.  Andy and Manny are both juniors (one 21 and one 20) and James is a senior (21 yrs old).  The three are charged with distribution of alcohol to minors and face expulsion from the school.  In fact, the three men were not allowed to set foot on campus today; Manny missed an exam and review for an upcoming exam.  God only knows what the other two may have missed.

Extreme punishment?  I think so.  Yes, they made a mistake, but don’t we all?  It was just one year ago that my soccer team (the women’s team) was in trouble for Initiation, and women’s lacrosse was caught half a year ago.  No one faced expulsion.  In fact, we were only suspended from one game.  I will be the first to admit that Initiation is a bad idea; when I was initiated 4 years ago I was not excited at all for it – I was scared.  But things happen at college, especially with athletes.

I’m not saying that there should be no consequences.  They deserve to be suspended from a game or two.  But expelling a kid from school at the beginning of his senior year is just ridiculous.  In order to do such a thing, the school must have more concrete rules.  These poor guys are one day behind on their schoolwork, which can add up to a lot at a university.

I know one thing for sure: my team will not be doing an Initiation this year; we didn’t last year and we never will again.  We learned our lesson when we lost games that we should never have lost due to suspensions.  The other teams should have learned from our mistake, but I guess sometimes you have to experience the problem yourself before you can take anything out of it.

I hope to see the three of these kids around campus (meaning that they will not get expelled).  They’re good kids – they just messed up one time.  And they’re all amazing soccer players; just last week Andy was named as a National D3 Player of the Week.  I don’t know what will happen to them once everything is decided: If they are allowed to stay can they play soccer?  Will James and Andy lose their captainship?  Or will they be completely expelled from school?  I guess you will have to stay tuned to hear their fates.