Despicable reaction to Pata's murder
I'm upset at my coach for his ineptitude in play-calling and recruiting. I'm upset at my team for their lack of production and the immaturity of some in the face of frustration. And I'm upset at those few fans who shamed us all by reducing their dissatisfaction to unmitigated anger in the form of profanity-laden reproach and spitting aimed at players and recruits after the game.
I find all of that despicable.
But nothing as close to despicable as something I read this morning. A writer at MSNBC has demanded that, at the wake of Bryan Pata's killing, Miami not be allowed to go to a bowl. I would never taint my blog with the entirety of that bile disguised as a column, but among the horrible things this columnist says stands out this contemptible quote:
And so, it really doesn't matter why Pata was shot or by whom. He played for the Hurricanes. He died violently. If it happened at Ohio State, we'd be shocked. But at Miami, a lot of people will say it's not even a surprise: when you recruit thugs, such things happen.Please take the time to read that again. He is basically saying that Bryan Pata was asking for it and literally saying that all that matters about his murder is that he played for the Miami Hurricanes. To call this rude and insulting would be a gross, consummate understatement.
Grassy has responded to the writer succinctly:
My cousin said it best when, in his letter to this writer, he commented that the columnist's "poison pen" was in high gear:You owe the entire University of Miami, it's football team, its alumni, and most importantly, the family of Bryan Pata , an immediate apology. Your "story" is nothing more than biased vitriol about a program and a person you know nothing about. Bryan Pata was a fine young man by everyone's account - a Christian who did not party or drink. He was a team leader and well-respected by everyone on the UM campus and his former HS coaches. To disparage his memory by somehow implying that his MURDER at his OFF-campus apartment, being shot in the back of the head no-less, had anything to do with an on-the-field fight several weeks ago (for which he had no part by anyone's account) or any other incident in the recent or remote past, is just despicable. [...]
The University of Miami is a fine academic institution. It is rated as a top-50 school and consistently has one of the top GRADUATION rates for it's football players nationally. Check the facts for yourself. You owe Bryan Pata, his memory, his family and the entire UM family an apology for your disparaging commentary. I believe you will be receiving more mail in the near future regarding this issue. MSNBC should stick with politics, not sports. However, I'm not sure that you know much more about reporting that from an unbiased viewpoint either.
The fact of the matter is, Bryan Pata is dead. His family, his teammates, his community must mourn, and this disrespectful sideshow of a column should not be our focus.It must take a special individual to jump at the opportunity to use a young man's death to accelerate your career. Keep up the good work.
Dennis Dodd, who has been critical of the Canes at times, wrote an appropriate piece on Bryan Pata and the Hurricanes:
Football doesn't count anymore. It's hard to think some stupid computer or asinine poll.
Bryan Pata is dead.
It's hard to think about anything except the Miami defensive lineman's family, the UM football team and coach Larry Coker. A depressing season turned tragic when Pata was murdered Tuesday night.
This is no time to pontificate about the danger of guns or even whether Saturday's game against Maryland should be played. The only thing I can think about is how that bullet not only killed a great kid but tore through Miami.
The Hurricanes are loved in South Florida. No matter what criticisms there are of the program, Miami is the biggest success story in the sport in the past 30 years. The Hurricanes changed the way we looked at college football -- because we could not look away.
They were/are entertainers, mostly great kids. Colorful players with colorful coaches. We wanted to be around them because they were anything but boring.
I remember suggesting that the Miami dynasty was over before the Virginia Tech game last year. Whether or not it was, wasn't the point. It was an opinion. I expected holy hell if they won. You don't write something like that, then not show up. Apparently, coaches made copies of the column and passed it out on the plane on the way to Blacksburg. Of course, Miami won. I will take no credit. I did take a lot of grief.One assistant, on the field after the game, said sarcastically: "Nice pick." A team rep told me as I entered the locker room, "I don't know if you want to go in there." Another assistant undressed me in the locker room in front of everyone. I was told an offensive lineman "wanted to see me." The player good-naturedly turned to other writers and criticized those who doubted the 'Canes, knowing I was right at his side. The reaction was exactly what I expected. Miami has pride, but it didn't go over the edge. Never was one curse word uttered. Never did I feel physically threatened. It was their way of saying, "We're still here, deal with it." Virginia Tech had just found out.
At the end of the night, I had even more respect for the 'Canes. I wrote what I wrote. They played and won. End of story.
I think now how that locker room hurts, how Pata's teammates will feel his death for the rest of their lives. How the greatest success story in the past 30 years must deal with another death. There have been four deaths of Miami players in the past 10 years.
This is my sympathy card, 'Canes. You are a great program stocked with great people. Thoughts and prayers to the Pata family and Hurricane football.
I look forward to talking football with you again, if that's ever possible. Right now, football doesn't count.
5 comments:
So not only is he a classless asshole, but he is also spineless bastard.
His column has been edited to remove some of the more inflammatory comments. Now, I agree such drivel shouldn't be circulating the globe under the guise of professional journalism, but once it was out there, canes fans reacted. Better to have never said it at all.
But now there's no reference to those reactions and outsiders coming in late to this story could claim Canes fans are exaggerating.
Even though I said I wouldn't taint my blog by reprinting it in its entirety, here it is. The world needs to know what kind of an asshole this guy is and he shouldn't be allowed to hide behind an html editor:
"
Celizic: In wake of killing, 'Canes should not go to bowl
Don't cancel season, but Shalala needs thorough review of football program
OPINION
By Mike Celizic
Updated: 11:32 p.m. ET Nov 7, 2006
Some free advice for University of Miami president Donna Shalala: This time, look at the tapes.
And while she's looking, Shalala should declare a moratorium on postseason football this season at the very minimum. This is not a team that should be thinking about bowl games. It is a team that should be thinking about what's important.
Things like life itself.
That shouldn't be hard in the wake of the shooting death of defensive end Bryan Pata on Tuesday. Few details are known about why he was shot or whether the tragedy is in any way related to any of the other troubles to befall the Hurricanes' football program this year. Nor is there anything to link it to the historic image of Miami football as a haven for thugs, the tickets of admission to which are arrogance and attitude.
But there is no question that the institution needs to take a very long, very hard look at where it came from, where it is and where it hopes to go.
Last summer, safety Willie Cooper was shot in the buttocks while standing in his yard. His teammate, Brandon Meriweather, fetched his own gun and returned fire. Outside of Miami, that barely drew any notice. Fans were too busy screaming for coach Larry Coker to be fired to worry about a back-up defensive back.
Then, during the season, the ugly and inexcusable brawl against Florida International on Oct. 14 was dismissed with little more than a "boys will be boys" by Shalala. Lamar Thomas, a former player and analyst on local broadcasts, did get fired for his on-air comments in support of back-alley beatings, but Shalala didn't see Thomas' attitude as one endemic to the program. But, then, she didn't look.
She can't let Pata's murder pass with the same non-reaction.
A lot of sports fans might be surprised to know that Miami is an exclusive and excellent private school with tuition to match that has pretensions of becoming one of the nation's elite universities. The reaction is predictable when the school's most visible program — the football team — carries such a negative image.
And so, it really doesn't matter why Pata was shot or by whom. He played for the Hurricanes. He died violently. If it happened at Ohio State, we'd be shocked. But at Miami, a lot of people will say it's not even a surprise: when you recruit thugs, such things happen.
This is what Shalala said after the brawl with FIU:
"I believe that the young men we have recruited for our football team are young men of great character. But they did a very bad thing. This university will be firm and punish people who do bad things. But we will not throw any student under the bus for instant restoration of our image or our reputation. I will not hang them in a public square. I will not eliminate their participation at the university. I will not take away their scholarships. It's time for the feeding frenzy to stop. These young men made a stupid, terrible, horrible mistake and they are being punished."
Shalala infamously confessed to not even viewing the tapes of the incident. That was beneath her dignity and not worth her time. Instead, she let others watch and report back. When they did, she suspended 11 players for one game — against Duke. Two others were suspended indefinitely. This for one of the worst scenes major college football has ever witnessed.
Miami apologists told us that we shouldn't hold the sins of past Miami teams against the current players. These are different guys and different times.
Maybe they are, but there's no way to say that with certainty. And there won't be a way until Shalala orders a complete review of the football program, including asking why it exists at all.
If Pata's death is to mean anything, it is up to Shalala to make it so. No one else has the power to do so. No one else has more incentive.
The picture presented by Miami football is not worthy of a university, with or without pretensions. The president can say that the image isn't deserved, but you don't get to be known as thug school without doing something to earn it. And you don't get rid of that image simply by telling people not to think that way.
Shalala herself can't possibly know how the image grew and why it continues to hang over the team and the campus like a toxic cloud. If she did, she'd have done something about it. But to do that, she has to take it seriously. Her inaction after the FIU embarrassment proved she doesn't.
She should now. She needs to know about the culture surrounding Florida high school football, a culture that too often includes gangs and violence and turf and guns. She needs to learn why that is allowed to happen and why her university doesn't do more to change it. She needs to grasp that some of her players keep guns and aren't shy about using them.
She needs to ask what this team is doing to advance the ambitious academic goals of a great school.
She shouldn't cancel the season. That's unfair to the sport and the opponents. But she should refuse to allow this team to go to a bowl game. It hasn't earned the right to celebrate.
And before Coker — or his successor — signs another recruit, Shalala should demand to know: How is this young man going to represent our school?
© 2006 MSNBC InteractiveMike Celizic writes regularly for MSNBC.com and is a freelance writer based in New York.
URL: msnbc.msn.com/id/15612674/
"
These are the edits he is hiding behind:
After this:
"That shouldn’t be hard in the wake of the shooting death of defensive end Bryan Pata on Tuesday. Few details are known about why he was murdered or whether the tragedy is in any way related to any of the other troubles to befall the Hurricanes’ football program this year. Nor is there anything to link it to the historic image of Miami football as a haven for thugs, the tickets of admission to which are arrogance and attitude."
...he added this:
"It's too bad that's even considered, because by all accounts, Pata was a popular player on campus who was murdered at his apartment. He's described as a great kid, a "guidance counselor" to other players on the football team. He's no thug."
And what appeared in the original as this:
"And so, it really doesn't matter why Pata was shot or by whom. He played for the Hurricanes. He died violently. If it happened at Ohio State, we'd be shocked. But at Miami, a lot of people will say it's not even a surprise: when you recruit thugs, such things happen."
...was changed to this:
"And so, unfortunately, Pata's murder will be lumped in with these other incidents, because the school's football program already has a negative image. If it happened at Ohio State, we’d be shocked. But at Miami, a lot of people will say it’s not even a surprise: When you recruit thugs, such things happen."
From Greg Cote's blog:
It didn't take long.
I mentioned in today's column on the Bryan Pata tragedy that some writers and commentators would kneejerk and lazily lump this with previous UM football controversies, placing it neatly in line right after the FIU brawl.
Sure enough, on MSNBC.com today, a person named Michael Celizic opines under the headline, "In wake of killing, 'Canes should not go to bowl game." Celizic is a New York-based freelance writer, which means he can't find steady work. [Empahasis mine] Find his commentary here.
I don't agree UM should eliminate itself from a bowl, or not play Saturday's game at Maryland in the wake of this tragedy. But it isn't that opinion that bothers me about Celizic's piece -- it is the implication that Pata being killed is somehow the fault of the UM football program. There is even a suggestion Pata somehow was to blame, as the story ends with an admonishment that Miami needs to ask itself, "How is this young many going to represent our school?" when recruiting athletes.
Dear Mr. Celizic: Bryan Pata represented his school and himself exceptionally well, by all accounts. It's fine that you urge UM president Donna Shalala to fully investigate the football program "including asking why it exists at all," as you wrote. But to vaguely suggest that Pata's murder is just the latest example of a program run amok is an irresponsible shame.
A young man's grieving family and team deserve better.
Let's see: he's a classless asshole, a spineless bastard, and now, a lying f*ck.
This is his B.S. response:
"I've been vilified for opinions I've expressed, and I will be again. I accept that as part of the job and usually let the matter pass without further comment. But there is a serious disconnect between what I wrote about the murder of Bryan Pata and how my words are being perceived.
I'm particularly upset that many people feel that I implied that Pata was a "thug." I did no such thing. At the time that news of his killing broke and my editors asked for a column, I knew nothing about him and made that clear in my column. I also said that it was
impossible to say whether his tragic death was even connected to the football program. Later, my editors and I added another statement pointing out that it's a shame that some will conclude that Pata's death is in any way connected to Miami's reputation as a school that has fostered a thug mentality over the years.
If you actually read the column, it's not even about Pata; it's about the University of Miami and its president, Donna Shalala. Did I rip her? You bet. Was I critical of the football program? Absolutely. Did I bash Bryan Pata? Emphatically no.
But the point remains that Miami's football program has had a lot of
problems over the years, including this year's on-field melee with
Florida International University. My column said that Pata's death can be a catalyst to make Shalala look at where the program has been,
where it is, and where she wants it to go.
I should have used that word – catalyst. It is an agent that triggers a chemical reaction without affected by it. If Pata's death is to lead to something good, let it be the catalyst that moves the program in a new direction. He wasn't part of the problem, but he can be the agent
for a cure.
And there is a problem that begins before kids come to Miami. Look up
school violence and Florida on the Internet and browse away. Check a
page like schoolsecurity.com and search out the Florida entries –
there are a lot of them. Another Miami player was shot and lightly
wounded this summer. It barely made the news.
Pants get pulled, running backs get flipped, players get punched and more.
That fight between Miami and FIU was a gang brawl, a turf war. It
disgusted many but surprised few who follow such Miami grads as Jeremy Shockey and Ray Lewis.
There's nothing wrong with being tough, but there is a line that Miami has crossed too many times. I wrote that Miami is a fine institution that is working hard to become an elite university. It recruits great scholars with almost as much zeal as it recruits great athletes. But the football team is what the public sees; it is the face of the university.
Shalala should have done something after the FIU brawl, but she
didn't. Pata's death doesn't have to be related to anything that has
happened to the team for her to use it as a reason to do what should have been done long ago.
That's what I wrote. It's what I stand by.
"
We've read your column, and we know you're full of shit.
Here's the email I sent him and MSNBC:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Orlando Machado, Jr.
Date: Nov 8, 2006 11:51 AM
Subject: Bryan Pata
To: Celizic@yahoo.com
Cc: Sports@msnbc.com, letters@msnbc.com
"And so, it really doesn't matter why Pata was shot or by whom. He played for the Hurricanes. He died violently. If it happened at Ohio State, we'd be shocked. But at Miami, a lot of people will say it's not even a surprise: when you recruit thugs, such things happen."
What kind of despicable, classless, unprofessional human being says such a thing? You can't hide behind the phrase "a lot of people will say" when it is YOU who is the one saying it. Bryan Pata was a good kid and a victim of a deplorable act; his family, the school and the program don't deserve this baseless, disrespectful sideshow you have created.
And now that you have edited your column to soften your stance and erase the worst of your grotesque, vitriolic hyperbole, it is clear you are also spineless.
I hope apologies to Pata's family, his fellow players and the University are the last things I ever hear from you. MSNBC would do well to no longer publish your drivel.
--
Orlando Machado, Jr.
Post a Comment