What's the Fuss Over the Orange Pride?
By Scott Burks
Have any of us spent time on a college campus?
Have any of us seen college athletes
(especially football and basketball players) being swarmed by scores of
co-ed hotties?
If you all answered "yes" to both questions,
you all would see the silliness of this alleged recruiting violation against
the University of Tennessee's football program.
To recap,
the NCAA was engaged in a wide-ranging
investigation into how Tennessee recruits its players and into the 75-member
campus recruiting group, Orange Pride, most of which are female hostesses.
While the bulk of the violation stem from the Orange Pride being away from
campus and at prep football games attracting potential recruits, the idea of
using females to recruit athletes is nothing new.
I am willing to bet that Tennessee is not the
only school that does this. You can't tell me that UNC, Duke, Florida,
USC, and LSU get all those blue chip recruits by the mere mention of their
program name. Speaking of UNC, they have a hostess group called the
"Carolina Blues"!
Former Texas Longhorns players Roy Williams,
Vince Young, and Cedric Benson have all said that the women are among the
biggest thing they missed about being in Austin, Texas. You do not
think the hostesses in Austin had anything to do with that?
Think about the movie "He Got Game".
Remember when Jesus Shuttlesworth was being entertained on campus by two
buxom blondes in a dorm room? Don't think that other recruiting visits
on real college campuses do not go in a similar fashion.
Here's the deal: when blue chip players at
football-mill high schools around the country are being evaluated by
colleges, the competition for their consideration is fierce. And what
tends to get young dudes to making rash decisions: sex, sex, and MORE sex.
That's where the hostesses come in. So just sit back, take a chill
pill, and let these young guys enjoy the "previews" of what being the big
men on campus is all about.
Last I checked, sex is undefeated and untied
(ask Tiger Woods). So let the boys be boys!!!
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