Dein erstes Forum » games.Because of their SEC rivalry game

Two years ago, Joe Mixon punched a female student so hard that he broke four bones in her face. She needed her jaw to be wired shut. The feeling on the left side of her face did not return for months.These are facts. They have never been disputed, by the star Oklahoma running back or the woman he punched, fellow OU student Amelia Molitor. And these facts should have been all we needed, enough to trigger horror and outrage, not only at Mixons actions but also at the way Oklahoma responded.Mixon served a one-year suspension, which was basically just a redshirt season. Molitor went without eating solid food, or laughing, or smiling, as her face healed. He still got to be Joe Mixon, Sooners scholarship athlete. She became another version of herself entirely, temporarily disfigured, broken and, in some cases around campus, blamed.A surveillance video showing Mixon throwing the punch existed, although it took years of wrangling in court for it to be released to the public. But key decision-makers at the school -- namely, coach Bob Stoops, athletic director Joe Castiglione and school President David Boren -- had seen the tape, and they still decided a one-year suspension was sufficient.When the tape came out on Friday, more condemnation followed, as if the words Molitor had spoken meant nothing without the actual video proof that she got punched so hard that her face smashed against a table and broke.But should it really take a video to reinforce the idea that what Mixon did has no place in our society? The video gave us the truth in a way that words cannot: visceral, unvarnished, ugly. Cameras dont lie.Words? Well, they can be twisted. They can be misinterpreted. They can be wrong. In cases involving violence against women, theyre too often treated as just words on the pages of a police report, with skepticism as the first reaction to an accusation.This is just one of the many reasons so many victims fail to report crimes against them. Their words will be parsed, questioned, analyzed and sometimes thrown back at them. These words too often result in name-calling, anger, nastiness, blame and ostracism. That sort of hostility is what Molitor encountered, even though she had facts on her side.Mixon hit Molitor on July 25, 2014, just one day after the NFL suspended Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice two games for punching his then-fiancée and dragging her body out of an elevator. The details were sickening on their own. But the weak suspension only undermined the NFLs stance given the severity of what Rice did, therefore undermining any woman who has been a victim of domestic violence.A video of Rices punch existed and became public that September. Though Rices actions in that elevator had been widely reported, the video presented a devastating picture that words simply could not. The Ravens cut Rice and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Although he has since been reinstated, Rice has not played another down in the NFL because that video was released.The following summer, former Florida State quarterback DeAndre Johnson was suspended indefinitely after he was arrested for allegedly punching a woman at a bar in Tallahassee, Florida. When video surfaced showing Johnson throwing the punch, Florida State kicked him off the team. He has since committed to play for coach Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic.Then, earlier this year, video surfaced showing then-incoming Mississippi State freshman Jeffery Simmons beating a woman during a fight. Mississippi State allowed Simmons to join the football team anyway.Mixon, Johnson and Simmons are still enjoying the opportunity to play football on scholarship, sending a message over and over again that implies violence against women will be tolerated.What has made the Mixon case so hard to believe is the way Oklahoma administrators reacted. The video release crystallizes that even more.Stoops, Castiglione and Boren had all the facts in front of them after Mixons arrest. Mixon pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and didnt serve any prison time; hes currently facing a civil suit from Molitor. That should have been enough to warrant a dismissal from the team. Theyd seen the words and the video, a double whammy of evidence that they somehow stomached enough to allow Mixon to keep his place on the team.They have been roundly criticized for that choice, especially over the past 36 hours. But really, they shouldnt have needed a video to tell them that Mixon lost the privilege to represent their institution of higher learning as soon as he punched Molitor. In a statement released Friday, the university said, Mr. Mixon has apologized for his actions, and the university hopes that it is an indication that he has learned from his mistakes. We are an educational institution, where we hope young people will learn from their mistakes and chart a better future course.Yes, Oklahoma is an educational institution, but playing football is not a right, and neither is playing football on scholarship. After rushing for 1,183 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns, Mixon emerged this year as a star and a face of the Oklahoma football program, and of the school itself. Now Mixon and Sooners supporters will head for New Orleans and the Allstate Sugar Bowl, with another top-10 finish there for the taking.So if youre an Oklahoma fan, what exactly are you cheering for? Swell Traveler Sale . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Discount Swell Bottles . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. http://www.swellbottlesnz.com/ .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. Swell Bottle Nz Liberty .J. -- Josh Cribbs was in the Pro Bowl in February and out of a job six months later. SWell Bottles Nz .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. The ACCs athletic directors did not reach a decision Friday concerning the leagues future conference-scheduling requirements, a source told ESPN.The ADs held a conference call Friday morning to discuss whether to remain at eight conference games but play two non-ACC Power 5 teams or go to nine league games with one non-ACC Power 5 school.ACC teams currently play eight league games. Notre Dame?is also required to play an average of five ACC teams annually.A new scheduling format is required by 2019 because the ACC Network will be launching that year. ESPNs new deal with the ACC requires the ACC to either expand the league schedule to nine games and play at least one nonconference Power 5 opponent or remain at eight ACC games and play at least two nonconference Power 5 opponents.The nine conference games plan would affect?Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech?and Louisville?the most. The four ACC schools have annual rivalries against SEC opponents (Clemson-South Carolina, FSU-Florida, Georgia Tech-Georgia and Louisville-Kentucky), meaning that in the season when they had Notre Dame on their schedule, 11 of their 12 games would already be determined, so they could only add one nonleague game.ddddddddddddThe Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten, starting this year, all have nine conference games. The SEC has eight league games.Last month, ESPN spoke to the ACCs coaches, and only Miamis?Mark Richt favored a nine-game league schedule, while Syracuse?coach Dino Babers said he preferred eight, but he wasnt against nine games.Because of their SEC rivalry games, Clemsons Dabo Swinney, Florida States Jimbo Fisher and Georgia Techs Paul Johnson were predictably the most vocally opposed to nine conference games.I like the [nonconference] flexibility to go play Georgia, Texas?and Notre Dame, Swinney said. Thats one of the ways we built our program. With nine conference games, theres not enough flexibility.Johnson said nine conference games might be good for TV, but its not good for football.Richt, the former Georgia coach who is in his first year at Miami, was blunt about his preference.If Im at Georgia, Id want eight conference games, Richt said. If Im at Florida State, Id want eight. At Miami, I want nine league games. ' ' '