The Sting

It’s no secret how I feel about TCU.

So when the story broke this week about the drug arrests at the TCU campus, I was inundated with people asking me if I was happy to hear this news, especially in the wake of their move to the Big XII.

Will I make TCU a punch line because of it? Probably. In my defense, I've made "Book 'em Horns" jokes along with everyone else.

Is that nice? Not really. Is it fair? Maybe. Despite the serious nature of the incident, it happened. You'd have a hard time convincing me that any of those kids were dealing drugs under duress.

But am I happy about it? No. The fact is, it made me very sad.

I’m happy to spout out about what I don’t like about TCU. I’m happy to demonstrate, with quotes, the reasons I don’t care for Gary Patterson. But I’m not happy to hear about a six-month drug sting investigation breaking at TCU, leading to over a dozen arrests including those of four football players.

I'm not happy about what happened this week for many reasons, but most are completely selfish.

I don't like the fact that it happened in our conference, and I don't like anything that could lead to an excuse for why the TCU program doesn't succeed. I don't know if the five players who failed the drug test will be removed from the team along with the four arrested for dealing. I don't know if there are more arrests or expulsions coming. But I don't want to hear that the reason TCU doesn't beat Texas or Oklahoma this year is because of those holes left in the team. Or because the University is having to recover from the off-season scandal. I don't want to hear that recruits are unjustly discounting TCU because of alleged drug use that was allegedly out of the control or awareness of the athletic department or the administration.

I want TCU to lose because they're not as good as their opponents.

Look, it doesn’t surprise me that college football players (at TCU or any program) take recreational drugs. To be so high profile in college sports, there must be overwhelming access to these vices and pressure to party. I’m sure it happens in every school, everywhere. And with such instant ‘reporting’ (think Michael Phelps) via camera phones, Twitter, Facebook and everything else, I’m surprised we don’t hear more about it. I mean, look at one of my own burnt-orange-people, Ricky Williams...he clearly loves his pot. I don’t think this is a problem exclusive to TCU.

It did surprise me that there were players dealing. I have to believe that with so much on the line, with a program that’s made so much progress in the last few years, those players must have been immersed in a pretty protective culture to believe that they were untouchable. The statements made by these players showed such arrogance that they were above reproach either because of 1) who they were or 2) who they were with.

Though proven false, Tanner Brock’s comment that he could only point out 20 or so kids on the football roster that would pass a drug test, and the implication that even if he failed a drug test he would be okay because they can’t kick the entire team off the team showed such blatant arrogance that it made me very sad.

To hear that a top recruit turned the program down because of the alleged rampant drug use in the locker room made me very sad. But only because I'd rather the top recruit turn TCU down for reasons like they don't want to wear purple, they don't want to be known as a mascot that my cat could eat, or that they want to play for a coach who protects them, rather than exposes them.

This Football Girl isn’t happy about what happened at TCU, and for purely selfish reasons. There's no need to even ask.