George Huguely had by all accounts an excellent upbringing. A product of a reasonably affluent, two-parent home in Chevy Chase, Md., he received good marks in school, attended the elite Landon Preparatory School in Bethesda, and was characterized by the lacrosse coaches of his youth as a light-hearted teammate, a prankster, and a breath of fresh air who could rally his team. He also demonstrated a thoughtful side, publicly defending former teammates embroiled in the Duke lacrosse rape allegations, and demanding that people not rush to judgment, but instead allow due process to take its course. A senior at the University of Virginia, Huguely is an Anthropology major, and along with being a member of the No.1-ranked lacrosse team in the country, is the vice president of Operation Smile, helping raise money for operations on children with facial disfigurations such as cleft palates.
A glance at his school photo shows a kid with a goofy haircut and obnoxious yet harmless stubble. A handsome enough guy, sure. At 6'2", 209 pounds, he's a sturdy young man. Huguely is not the face of rage, murder, or violence. He's the face someone associates with success, privilege, and the potential for ambition. None of that really mattered when he kicked in Yeardley Love's door early Monday morning, shook her violently, and slammed her skull repeatedly against the wall of her apartment. Love was found in bed hours later by her roommate, motionless and in a puddle of her own blood.
The community in Charlottesville is still trying to sort out reality. Huguely is being held in prison on charges of First Degree Murder while his attorney calls Love's death a tragic accident. Police are still amassing evidence from Huguely's apartment, including a blood-stained jersey, laptops, and letters to Love. At this point, there seems no question as to what happened. So, all that's left to do is to ponder why it happened, and how we could have seen it coming. Reports have now surfaced that this light-hearted prankster was, like so many college athletes, the panel on this blog included once upon a time, a hard drinker. Police were forced on at least one occasion to subdue Huguely with a stun gun and charge him with public intoxication.
Does this mean that Huguely would inevitably wind up killing someone he loved? No, not at all. This isn't a child torturing pets or a 20 year old professing schizophrenic thoughts or anything of that sort....but it certainly does indicate that George Huguely, like pretty much any male college student, had his flaws and had a potential for episodes of violence. Virginia's athletic director has claimed surprise at Huguely's run-ins with the law, and claims that he was never informed of such episodes; but I am skeptical that it would have mattered. And this is the frightening aspect for parents. Yeardley Love's mother and father had done seemingly everything they could do to ensure that their daughter would receive a quality education and have a problem-free young life on her way to adulthood. She attended Notre Dame Prep in Cockeysville, Md., and like Huguely, enjoyed a childhood of safety and affluence. She was a scholarship athlete at one of the best universities in the country; and was weeks away from graduating, being done with UVA, and venturing onward from Charlottesville. Everyone interviewed about her has described her as warm and caring, and not the type of person that solicited danger. Her family had already purchased their tickets. What more could Yeardley Love's father have done to protect her?
As Huguely awaits prosecution for his acts, much will be done to investigate his motives, his anger, and anything that could be used to explain why he did what he did. His attorneys will likely try to explore whether he has some heretofore undiagnosed disorder-some sort of rage that is magically triggered when he drinks, perhaps-that will spare him a 1st degree murder conviction. They might look to his past to see if he was exposed to systematic violence. Hell, they might even put the sport of lacrosse on trial as Mike Nyphong almost did during the Duke rape scandal.
While attorneys look to the past to find their reasons, Virginia must now look to the future to find its lessons. It seems likely that the reaction will be to warn students once more the dangers of drinking too much, to remind them of the importance of notifying authorities if they see any trouble signs in their friends, and to let them know that counselors and therapists are available to them at all times if they are feeling depressed, hurt, or angry. As a natural reaction, safety and security measures will probably be examined. I can't even imagine how surreal this situation must be for the men's and women's lacrosse teams, but they'll probably form a strong solidarity from all of this, and the men's team will no doubt come under a similar kind of scrutiny that the Duke team did; though their coach will probably not be ridden out on a rail.
The NFL has come under heavy scrutiny over the past decade, finally, for the deplorable judgment and behavior of some of its players. Along with the measures I outlined in my last post, part of Roger Goodell's arsenal is the threat of levying fines against teams who knowingly sign on troubled players. This puts the onus on organizations to do their homework and make damn-well sure that they know what they're getting into when they offer a football player millions. As a result, teams employ scores of private investigators, front office personnel, counselors, consultants, and behavioral specialists when they evaluate draft prospects and potential free agents. Today, no one wants to have any quirky surprises or colorful past-life experiences that might taint or affect a player's conduct. Great players like Warren Sapp, Randy Moss, and Michael Oher (of "The Blind Side" fame) saw their draft stock plummet amid concerns of their childhood, past activities, and/or rumors of drug use. The NFL tries to do the impossible: predict the future.
Set against this backdrop, Jeff Ireland, the Miami Dolphins' general manager, has been raked over the coals for asking troubled former Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant whether his mother was a prostitute.
Give that a second. That was the only thing that newspapers initially put in their headlines. That a smug, heartless white guy working in the front office of a NFL team asked a poor kid whether his mom had been a hooker. Now for some context: Dez Bryant's mom gave birth to him when she was 15. She spent time in jail during his youth for selling crack cocaine. There were rumors at the rookie scouting combine that Bryant's father had been a pimp. More than one source has reported to Sports Illustrated that upon Ireland asking Bryant what his father did for a living, Bryant responded "he's a pimp." Ireland then asked what Bryant's mother had done for a living, to which Bryant allegedly responded, "she worked for my dad." Now, you COULD surmise that 1+1 doesn't always equal 2, and you could also see how a logical follow-up question after this MIGHT JUST be: "Your mom was a prostitute?"
Many have said this line of questioning was irrelevant, insensitive, and in poor taste. Ireland himself has apologized and said that he exercised "poor judgment" in asking Bryant that question. (Truthfully, Ireland could have found this out by asking other people rather than Bryant directly.) Bryant claims he was upset by the question. Bryant's mom is angry that her past keeps being brought up; though let's point out it's the recent past. She was arrested again for crack-related offenses in 2009. But let's focus on the question. In my opinion, it was ENTIRELY relevant. And, when in the business of trying to predict the future, these questions are extremely necessary.
Dez Bryant's major marks against him had nothing to do with his ability. He's a physically imposing presence with incredible hands and a superlative instinct for making huge plays. He also was suspended for 11 games last season for lying in the face of the NCAA when asked a very simple, very direct question. Bryant's judgment and maturity was again called into question when he showed up for his all-important pro day at Ok. St., where all the NFL scouts were waiting to see what he could do, without cleats. That's right, on a day when he was trying to secure his future in professional football, he did not bring football shoes.
Bryant grew up in an incredibly difficult environment and was exposed to things that George Huguely probably never even contemplated. If indeed Bryant's father was a pimp, and his mother a prostitute, it would behoove teams to know how he might react to certain off-field environmental factors or stimuli. Therapists could possibly theorize that Bryant might have trust or anger issues toward women, or might have an inappropriate attitude toward sexual contact and impulses. When we consider the Ben Roethlisberger fallout, and the recent insinuations that maybe his repeat head trauma has something to do with his behavior, HOW would it be inappropriate to try to head potential warning signs off at the pass?
The danger, of course, lies in castigating young men who have tried their hardest to rise above their meager or maybe violent beginnings, and have truly done things throughout their lives to better themselves and escape the pitfalls that claimed many of their friends. There are no doubt scores of NFL players past and present who would fall into that category. It might be unfair to make a blanket assumption that every player with an unsavory past will prove to be a menace to society. The reality is, we really just don't know. Granted, repeat offenses are pretty good indicators of future propensities, but in the case of Dez Bryant, I've never heard of him doing anything violent or criminal; regardless of to what societal factors might render him predisposed. In the case of George Huguely, we're slowly seeing police try to unfurl what might have actually been a slightly violent history in college, but nothing happened that would have led people to widely suspect him capable of such brutality. But since we never can really know, we sure as hell should not BLAME Jeff Ireland for trying to do his due diligence in asking obvious background questions.
Because now we know. And knowing is half the battle.
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