# So Are College Football Students Above the Law--Or Just at Florida State? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641 "2014-11-14T20:08:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/1 "2014-11-14T20:08:32Z")
We had a discussion of Jameis Winston at Florida State: > **[ESPN is reporting no charges for FSU's Jameis Winston.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=709640)** > > A relief for FSU fans. In the future I hope this guy is more careful. Learn from the pro athletes and musicians. Have witnesses around that can verify the sex was consensual. It may be embarrassing to have friends in the next room but that’s the sad... The New York Times reports another case–about a hit-and-run accident: > [@](#): > > In the early-morning hours of Oct. 5, as this college town was celebrating another big football victory by Florida State University, a starting cornerback on the team drove his car into the path of an oncoming vehicle driven by a teenager returning home from a job at the Olive Garden. > > Both cars were totaled. But rather than remain at the scene as the law requires, the football player, P. J. Williams, left his wrecked vehicle in the street and fled into the darkness along with his two passengers, including Ronald Darby, the team’s other starting cornerback. > > The Tallahassee police responded to the off-campus accident, eventually reaching out to the Florida State University police and the university’s athletic department. > > By the next day, it was as if the hit and run had never happened. [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/sports/ncaafootball/for-an-fsu-football-player-a-hit-and-run-becomes-two-traffic-tickets.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/15/sports/ncaafootball/for-an-fsu-football-player-a-hit-and-run-becomes-two-traffic-tickets.html?_r=0) But surely everyone agrees that the success of the football team is much more important than a trivial thing like this??? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/2 "2014-11-14T23:03:57Z")
As a former Tallahassee resident, I’m mainly amused that the footage of crash apparently also had apparently had footage of an unrelated crime happening at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/3 "2014-11-14T23:43:25Z")
The real tragedy is that the poor kid has to work at Olive Garden. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/4 "2014-11-15T05:19:09Z")
Large national newspaper sends a team of “journalists” to a southern college town to live for 12 months and all they come up with is a specious accusations of a hit and run, BB guns, and Burger King soda fountains. Exactly what they went to J-School for, right? Never mind ISIS, budget deficits, war, famine, Al Qaeda, and Ebola this is the important story! Specially as it relates to this case, > [@](#): > > The article states that TPD offered seven other similar cases in which a hit and run was not charged So this is routinely done in Tallahassee. Everyone in Tallahassee has thought the TPD was completely inept, _different from corrupt_, since forever. But you send a big-time newspaper there and look for incidents and do FOIA on FSU football players and you will find them. Just as you would in Happy Valley, Tuscaloosa, New Orleans, The Plains, Athens, etc. etc. So yes, Water is Wet. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/5 "2014-11-15T05:32:40Z")
- Why don’t we send the NYT to Oklahoma to find out why the 5 Star RB who broke a [woman’s jaw because he punched](http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/video-of-incident-involving-oklahoma-rb-joe-mixon-shown-to-media.html/) her so hard isn’t sitting in jail and why no one from the football town will release the tape? Hereis one salient reaction: Guerin Emig @GuerinEmig Have seen Joe Mixon tape a 3rd time. Mixon punch knocks victim to floor immediately. She’s down for :30, stands, wobbles, helped to chair. - Why don’t we go to Tuscaloosa to find out why a football player with [4 ounces of weed and $6,000](http://www.al.com/news/tuscaloosa/index.ssf/2014/10/alabama_football_player_caught.html) in cash in his dorm room wasn’t arrested? - Or why don’t we go on the plains to find out why a QB, Nick Marshall, whom was thrown out of one university for stealing [from a teammate](http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7537124/georgia-bulldogs-dismiss-nick-marshall-chris-sanders-sanford-seay) goes to another and gets pulled over [with pot and only gets a traffic ticket](http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11205708/auburn-nick-marshall-cited-marijuana-possession) and only has to miss a half of football? Yet the mob screamed and cried when Winston only missed a half for cursing (later changed to a full game because the FSU Admin are cowards) - Why don’t talk about Zach Mettenburger [pleading guilty to sexual assault?](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/387574-ex-uga-qb-mettenberger-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-battery) Or he’s white so it’s cool? Basically if you want to play big-boy football, this shit goes on ( **STFU Notre Dame your coach fucking killed a boy** ). It’s easy to attack FSU right now because: 1. They just keep winning 2. Drives ratings ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/6 "2014-11-15T06:07:18Z")
So what you’re saying, **dgrdfd** , is that you went to FSU? That’s an odd way to brag. > [@dgrdfd](#): > > - Why don’t we go to Tuscaloosa… > [@Groucho](#): > > One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don’t know. > Then we tried to remove the tusks. The tusks. That’s not so easy to say. Tusks. > You try it some time. As I say, we tried to remove the tusks. But they were embedded so firmly we couldn’t budge them. > Of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa, but that is entirely ir-elephant to what I was talking about. Or he could have gone to Oklahoma and have a student-athlete knock them out with his bare fists. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/7 "2014-11-15T06:24:04Z")
I did not go to FSU. ---
**Author:** ![Batfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Batfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batfish)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/8 "2014-11-15T13:30:46Z")
> [@dgrdfd](#): > > - Why don’t we send the NYT to Oklahoma to find out why the 5 Star RB who broke a [woman’s jaw because he punched](http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/video-of-incident-involving-oklahoma-rb-joe-mixon-shown-to-media.html/) her so hard isn’t sitting in jail and why no one from the football town will release the tape? Hereis one salient reaction: > > Guerin Emig @GuerinEmig Have seen Joe Mixon tape a 3rd time. Mixon punch knocks victim to floor immediately. She’s down for :30, stands, wobbles, helped to chair. Joe Mixon was arrested and charged and received probation in a plea deal. The football team suspended him for an entire season. The video is a matter of public record and will eventually be released due to FOIA requests. No one, except you, as far as I know, has suggested that the Norman Police or the Cleveland County DA has acted leniently in the case. You can certainly make the case that the University of Oklahoma should have cut ties with player. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/9 "2014-11-15T13:38:56Z")
> [@dgrdfd](#): > > - Why don’t we send the NYT to Oklahoma to find out why the 5 Star RB who broke a [woman’s jaw because he punched](http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/09/video-of-incident-involving-oklahoma-rb-joe-mixon-shown-to-media.html/) her so hard isn’t sitting in jail and why no one from the football town will release the tape? Hereis one salient reaction: > > Guerin Emig @GuerinEmig Have seen Joe Mixon tape a 3rd time. Mixon punch knocks victim to floor immediately. She’s down for :30, stands, wobbles, helped to chair. > > - Why don’t we go to Tuscaloosa to find out why a football player with [4 ounces of weed and $6,000](http://www.al.com/news/tuscaloosa/index.ssf/2014/10/alabama_football_player_caught.html) in cash in his dorm room wasn’t arrested? > - Or why don’t we go on the plains to find out why a QB, Nick Marshall, whom was thrown out of one university for stealing [from a teammate](http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7537124/georgia-bulldogs-dismiss-nick-marshall-chris-sanders-sanford-seay) goes to another and gets pulled over [with pot and only gets a traffic ticket](http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11205708/auburn-nick-marshall-cited-marijuana-possession) and only has to miss a half of football? Yet the mob screamed and cried when Winston only missed a half for cursing (later changed to a full game because the FSU Admin are cowards) > - Why don’t talk about Zach Mettenburger [pleading guilty to sexual assault?](http://bleacherreport.com/articles/387574-ex-uga-qb-mettenberger-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-battery) Or he’s white so it’s cool? > > Basically if you want to play big-boy football, this shit goes on ( **STFU Notre Dame your coach fucking killed a boy** ). It’s easy to attack FSU right now because: > > 1. They just keep winning > 2. Drives ratings So exactly how many wrongs are you saying it takes to make a right? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/10 "2014-11-15T20:05:49Z")
I think that college football players do tend to escape punishment where others would be punished, and that at FSU apparently far moreso than any other current school, since the University makes sure the police never investigate alleged crimes no one can ever know what happened. But there is a larger college student population that I would argue does get away with stuff they shouldn’t. Rapes at frat houses, assaults, destruction of property, a lot of that gets punished meekly in comparison to what would happen if a 19 year old kid who wasn’t enrolled in college did any of those things. I think a 19 year old in college is often viewed as a kid, a 19 year old who isn’t, is recognized as the legal adult that he is. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/11 "2014-11-16T12:36:22Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I think that college football players do tend to escape punishment where others would be punished, and that at **FSU apparently far moreso than any other current school** , since the University makes sure the police never investigate alleged crimes no one can ever know what happened. Emphasis added. While I certainly am not proud of Tallahassee or FSU as this stuff continues to come to light, I think the bolded part is still in question. How many other schools have been subject to the kinds of investigative resources currently being focused on FSU? Until that happens at a number of major schools and nothing (or not as much) is found, I think that remains an open issue. Again, this is _not_ to excuse the embarrassing incidents that have come out so far, as mentioned upthread, two wrongs don’t make a right. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/12 "2014-11-16T14:14:14Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > So what you’re saying, **dgrdfd** , is that you went to FSU? That’s an odd way to brag. I think he’s saying that yes, “college football students” are above the law, and no, it isn’t just at FSU, it’s happening everywhere, and therefore it’s no big deal. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/13 "2014-11-16T16:00:03Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I think he’s saying that yes, “college football students” are above the law, and no, it isn’t just at FSU, it’s happening everywhere, and therefore it’s no big deal. Or something. …which sounds suspiciously like the “Democrats/Republicans do it too!” deflection gambit, which immediately raises suspicion about why he’s white-knighting Free Shoes U. It’s only natural to assume that he was obfuscating things because he’s trying to back his favorite football team. If he’s not a FSU fan it’s a really weird thing to say. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/14 "2014-11-16T17:02:23Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > …which sounds suspiciously like the “Democrats/Republicans do it too!” deflection gambit, which immediately raises suspicion about why he’s white-knighting Free Shoes U. It’s only natural to assume that he was obfuscating things because he’s trying to back his favorite football team. Yeah, how dare anybody make references to problems at Pedophile State, the University of Florida Gangsters, Texas Autograph & Monetize (and it’s recent franchise deal with the team in Athens), or any of the other schools that have been pointed out? FSU’s primary problem right now is not that we do it, it’s that we’re terrible at covering it up. No, FSU is the current black hat and thus it’s cool to demonize us right now. Fine, what goes around comes around and as soon as somebody else gets good, the vultures will circle. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/15 "2014-11-16T19:37:02Z")
Going to the topic question, no, it isn’t just FSU. It’s just that FSU is in some medias’ headlights now. Maybe they’re not doing as good a job of hiding stuff as other universities do. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/16 "2014-11-17T00:53:16Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Going to the topic question, no, it isn’t just FSU. It’s just that FSU is in some medias’ headlights now. Maybe they’re not doing as good a job of hiding stuff as other universities do. Ohio State is #1!!! _The_ Ohio State University, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/17 "2014-11-17T01:26:13Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > FSU’s primary problem right now is not that we do it, it’s that we’re terrible at covering it up. Ummm, isn’t the point of this pit thread that FSU has been pretty good at covering it [bad behavior of their players] up? > [@Zakalwe](#): > > No, FSU is the current black hat and thus it’s cool to demonize us right now. Fine, what goes around comes around and as soon as somebody else gets good, the vultures will circle. Is this something to be proud of? ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/18 "2014-11-17T01:57:45Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > Free Shoes U. That’s kind of outdated. Please update to Free Seafood U. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/19 "2014-11-17T05:07:04Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > Ummm, isn’t the point of this pit thread that FSU has been pretty good at covering it [bad behavior of their players] up? Well this latest one lasted about a month, so the cycle is shortening pretty quickly. > [@](#): > > Is this something to be proud of? A couple of post earlier I specifically said that I wasn’t proud of our behavior, I just can’t stand the self-righteous stone throwing from glass-house dwellers. Any time the microscope is applied, stuff is found. The whole system is corrupt and while FSU is part of the system (and thus corrupt), it doesn’t mean that FSU is worse than any other part of the system. In other words, hate the game, not the player. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641/20 "2014-11-17T05:39:22Z")
It’s more than just college, it’s part of the football culture, I think. [http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/\_/id/11886404/drug-enforcement-administration-stages-surprise-nfl-inspections](http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11886404/drug-enforcement-administration-stages-surprise-nfl-inspections) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-are-college-football-students-above-the-law-or-just-at-florida-state/704641.md?page=2)