Here we go again. Former MSU basketball star and Golden State Warrior Jason Richardson joins a long list of Spartan athletes who have had their run-ins with the law.
Richardson will stand trial for the alleged April 29 assault of his former girlfriend.
His former teammate and now Portland Trailblazer Zach Randolph lost about $125,000 after fighting with a teammate. And joining Randolph in true off-the-court Spartan fashion are Scott Skiles for substance abuse, and even the golden-boy himself Mateen Cleaves, who partnered up with Andre Hutson to get an alcohol-related misdemeanor.
But the Spartan basketball players aren't the only athletes causing trouble. Football players Eric Knott and Damon Dowdell both have sexual assault charges in their past; Dawan Moss has drunken driving and obstructing an officer to his name; Plaxico Burress got caught with an open-alcohol beverage; Dimitrius Underwood's past includes slicing his neck, being arrested for robbing a man in a wheelchair and dabbling between stints in the NFL and mental asylums. And of course there's Jeff Smoker who took a sabbatical from the gridiron last fall and entered rehab for substance abuse.
Unfortunately for us Spartans, the list goes on, further tarnishing the reputation of this university.
The athletics department needs to start questioning who they recruit. An MSU diploma gets devalued thanks to these athletes, but they go on to make millions in the pros.
The athletes come here pressured to be role models and, unfortunately, many of them screw it up. What this university needs is role models in and out of the playing arena, such as MSU basketball guard Chris Hill who maintains close to a 4.0 grade-point average.
Sports such as swimming, crew, golf and field hockey all have athletes who keep high academic standards, but they aren't the ones recognized for them.
Other universities that compete with us in basketball and football, such as Duke and Notre Dame, hold their athletes to higher standards, on and off the field or court.
While Spartans everywhere have enjoyed poking fun at Chris Webber and his debacle at that school down the road, the Wolverine scandal isn't much worse than the trouble athletes get into here.
The athletics department and the university need to stop bringing in athletes who are embarrassing.
When MSU recruits these people, talented as they may be, officials need to ask themselves if the athlete would be enrolled into the university if they didn't play their respective sports.
