When I decided to begin my own sports (ish) blog, it came with an idea that I had an interesting and fun perspective when it came to sports. I like making fun analogies that don't carry much weight and will best case give you a chuckle for your five minutes of reading. This, however, is not what I had in mind.
I spent a good chunk of my free time yesterday stewing over the news that Urban Meyer likely knew about, and lied about knowing about, employing a serial domestic abuser on his staff up until this year. I got into arguments on Twitter with fellow Buckeye fans, got called a Michigan fan, a "tough guy," and somebody that spewed "fake outrage" over calling for the firing of arguably the best college football coach in the country. Let's clear some things up:
1.) I am an Ohio State fan.
2.) Sorry, I'm not really tough. I have a stone face and somewhat muscle-ish arms, depending on how Baby Gap I wanna get with my t-shirt, but I actually complain about trivial things a great deal. I once slightly bumped my head and went to the ER, believing a headache was a concussion. I would make it 4 minutes without technology. If I were in Madden, my toughness would be like a 32.
3.) Fake outrage - hearing this story makes me angry. Angry that it happened at all. Angry that Zach Smith exists as a person and will likely never see the inside of a jail cell. I'm sorry, but if everything he is accused of being is true, then to me he loses his right to exist as a person. He should be locked up for life for what he did to that poor woman, amongst other things that I wish would happen to him. Angry at Urban Meyer for employing this monster at a job that pays him $340,000 a year to coach young, impressionable men. Even more angry for Urban blatantly lying to the media of his knowledge of what occurred in 2015.
It's labeled 'fake outrage' because honestly, I cannot do anything about this. I can share my views on Twitter, I can be and appear angry, but can I inflict real change? As a fan, I would like to think my opinion matters to the university, but I'm not naive. I have a limited platform on here. My posts average around 200 views, which isn't much, but it is something. I write this out of anger and frustration, call it fake, call it whatever you want. Like Courtney Smith, I feel helpless in this situation.
Here is what I am most angry about: People that say, "We don't know what happened, there is no proof against Urban." 99% of the time they are fellow Buckeye fans, which makes me sick. Sick. Here are the facts: In 2015, Urban's wife, Shelly, exchanged text messages with Courtney Smith, sympathizing with her and supporting her emotionally as she went through her divorce with her abusive, piece of shit husband. Smith sent Meyer pictures of her abuse, battered and bruised. Meyer insisted that she would, "have to tell Urb," which Smith encouraged. And that was it. No punishment for thecoach asshole. You could've checked police reports, where the police where called to the home multiple times. Courtney Smith filed for a restraining order as well. To leave it to higher ups is inexcusable. For a man making millions of dollars a year, in charge of molding the lives of young men, ignorance is not an excuse. And that's IF you believe he truly didn't know. He is, best case scenario, incompetent and thus incapable of leading young men.
He knew. Are you kidding me? His mentors even visited the home of Courtney Smith, encouraging her to not press charges, which makes me want to vomit. So let's get this straight - Urban's wife knew. Urban's closest friends knew. His mentor knew. For YEARS, yet you people want to give him the benefit of the doubt?!?! There is even more evidence that he knew that you could find by doing a quick search.
Here is what really set me off, however:
A little background: Zach Boren played fullback and linebacker for Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes up until 2012. He had a brief NFL career.
Imagine saying, to the victim of repeated domestic violence abuse, that this was an issue between the abuser and the abused. Her husband shows up at her house drunk at 2am, pounding on the door of the home she shares with young children, and we're to believe this is "just between these two" ? How about when she is killed, Zach, will it be just between those two then as well? People like this with opinions like this are part of the reason that women hesitate to come forward. Urban Meyer is a football hero, how dare he be forced to deal with real issues outside the relm of football! Sound familiar? Remember when we all chastised Joe Paterno for failure to come forward about information about little boys being raped in the showers? To quote 'Spiderman,' "With great power comes great responsibility." Urban Meyer would've left Uncle Ben disappointed.
Zach may not be an NFL star, but he is a man with a platform. He has nearly 25,000 followers, with over 3,000 people liking this post on Twitter to date. Imagine 3,000 people AGREEING with this egregious take. It is misinformed, irresponsible, and downright infuriating. When a woman suffers abuse at the hand of her husband, it should not be left between those two. No. I would hope that the abuser is jailed, but if not, at the very least publicly shamed, forced to give up every privelage that comes his way. If I had it my way, Zach Smith would be branded 'ABUSER' across his forehead so everywhere he went, people knew exactly who they're dealing with.
As if I weren't angry enough, he tweeted this:
Actually, Zach, everything that has been reported has been strictly facts in the form of text messages and police reports. Brett McMurphy, the journalist that broke the case, did so with not an opinion piece, but with a detailed list of events and pictures. It's on Facebook, feel free to check it out.
Call it fake outrage, call it me being a Michigan fan (lmao) but don't just support somebody because they coach for your football team. We have to do more to show that these people are in the minority. If all I can do is make a blog that 100 people will read then so be it. I would just rather do that than nothing.
I spent a good chunk of my free time yesterday stewing over the news that Urban Meyer likely knew about, and lied about knowing about, employing a serial domestic abuser on his staff up until this year. I got into arguments on Twitter with fellow Buckeye fans, got called a Michigan fan, a "tough guy," and somebody that spewed "fake outrage" over calling for the firing of arguably the best college football coach in the country. Let's clear some things up:
1.) I am an Ohio State fan.
2.) Sorry, I'm not really tough. I have a stone face and somewhat muscle-ish arms, depending on how Baby Gap I wanna get with my t-shirt, but I actually complain about trivial things a great deal. I once slightly bumped my head and went to the ER, believing a headache was a concussion. I would make it 4 minutes without technology. If I were in Madden, my toughness would be like a 32.
3.) Fake outrage - hearing this story makes me angry. Angry that it happened at all. Angry that Zach Smith exists as a person and will likely never see the inside of a jail cell. I'm sorry, but if everything he is accused of being is true, then to me he loses his right to exist as a person. He should be locked up for life for what he did to that poor woman, amongst other things that I wish would happen to him. Angry at Urban Meyer for employing this monster at a job that pays him $340,000 a year to coach young, impressionable men. Even more angry for Urban blatantly lying to the media of his knowledge of what occurred in 2015.
It's labeled 'fake outrage' because honestly, I cannot do anything about this. I can share my views on Twitter, I can be and appear angry, but can I inflict real change? As a fan, I would like to think my opinion matters to the university, but I'm not naive. I have a limited platform on here. My posts average around 200 views, which isn't much, but it is something. I write this out of anger and frustration, call it fake, call it whatever you want. Like Courtney Smith, I feel helpless in this situation.
Here is what I am most angry about: People that say, "We don't know what happened, there is no proof against Urban." 99% of the time they are fellow Buckeye fans, which makes me sick. Sick. Here are the facts: In 2015, Urban's wife, Shelly, exchanged text messages with Courtney Smith, sympathizing with her and supporting her emotionally as she went through her divorce with her abusive, piece of shit husband. Smith sent Meyer pictures of her abuse, battered and bruised. Meyer insisted that she would, "have to tell Urb," which Smith encouraged. And that was it. No punishment for the
He knew. Are you kidding me? His mentors even visited the home of Courtney Smith, encouraging her to not press charges, which makes me want to vomit. So let's get this straight - Urban's wife knew. Urban's closest friends knew. His mentor knew. For YEARS, yet you people want to give him the benefit of the doubt?!?! There is even more evidence that he knew that you could find by doing a quick search.
Here is what really set me off, however:
A little background: Zach Boren played fullback and linebacker for Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes up until 2012. He had a brief NFL career.
Imagine saying, to the victim of repeated domestic violence abuse, that this was an issue between the abuser and the abused. Her husband shows up at her house drunk at 2am, pounding on the door of the home she shares with young children, and we're to believe this is "just between these two" ? How about when she is killed, Zach, will it be just between those two then as well? People like this with opinions like this are part of the reason that women hesitate to come forward. Urban Meyer is a football hero, how dare he be forced to deal with real issues outside the relm of football! Sound familiar? Remember when we all chastised Joe Paterno for failure to come forward about information about little boys being raped in the showers? To quote 'Spiderman,' "With great power comes great responsibility." Urban Meyer would've left Uncle Ben disappointed.
Zach may not be an NFL star, but he is a man with a platform. He has nearly 25,000 followers, with over 3,000 people liking this post on Twitter to date. Imagine 3,000 people AGREEING with this egregious take. It is misinformed, irresponsible, and downright infuriating. When a woman suffers abuse at the hand of her husband, it should not be left between those two. No. I would hope that the abuser is jailed, but if not, at the very least publicly shamed, forced to give up every privelage that comes his way. If I had it my way, Zach Smith would be branded 'ABUSER' across his forehead so everywhere he went, people knew exactly who they're dealing with.
As if I weren't angry enough, he tweeted this:
Actually, Zach, everything that has been reported has been strictly facts in the form of text messages and police reports. Brett McMurphy, the journalist that broke the case, did so with not an opinion piece, but with a detailed list of events and pictures. It's on Facebook, feel free to check it out.
Call it fake outrage, call it me being a Michigan fan (lmao) but don't just support somebody because they coach for your football team. We have to do more to show that these people are in the minority. If all I can do is make a blog that 100 people will read then so be it. I would just rather do that than nothing.
Comments
Post a Comment