Football. The word should be the sole definition of
“American tradition.” Parents enroll their boys in Pop
Warner leagues not just to play, but to learn character, discipline
and teamwork. Next to baseball, it is the consummate all-American
game.
But the recent sexual assault allegations at the University of
Colorado bring up a disturbing but very real picture of what this
very “all-American” tradition emphasizes: It’s
not OK to be a girl.
Amid all the hoopla over recruiting, alcohol and sex parties,
one very unsettling figure stands out in the lineup. Critics say
the only way the CU program will be able to surface from this
disaster is for heads to roll. I sincerely hope the first to start
rolling down the pristine Rocky Mountain campus is that of coach
Gary Barnett.
The way that Barnett has dealt with former CU kicker Katie
Hnida’s allegation that she was raped by a teammate during
the summer of 2000 is deplorable. Barnett is clearly a far cry from
what his players describe him, a man of “moral
fiber.”
“It was obvious Katie was not very good,” Barnett
said in response to a reporter’s question after Hnida’s
allegations ran in Sports Illustrated magazine. “She was
awful. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK?
There’s no other way to say it.”
What public figure would chastise Hnida’s skills in the
face of such a grave accusation? Apparently the same guy who is
“building character” in the young men of CU’s
football program.
It sends chills up my spine to know that a widely respected
coach would make such a callous, insensitive and boorish statement,
qualifying Hnida’s shortcomings with the fact that “she
was … a girl.”
If Barnett didn’t want Hnida on his team, he could have
rescinded the offer Rick Neuheisel, his predecessor, made to Hnida
to join the team as walk-on in 1998. But he didn’t. And now,
in the face of what has brought his career down faster than the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he is ignoring Hnida’s
allegations ““ namely that she endured a year of taunting and
harassment from fellow players, which culminated in nonconsensual
sex. Rape.
But she’s a girl, so somehow because “she
couldn’t kick the ball through the uprights” made it
acceptable that she allegedly endured a violation of a
woman’s most fundamental right to control her own body?
A real man ““ a real coach ““ first and foremost would
extend his apologies to Hnida and would fight to find out who
perpetrated the alleged crime.
Clearly Barnett does not fully understand sexual assault. He
clearly doesn’t know what rape trauma means for victims:
nightmares, withdrawal, detachment, irritability, numbness, the
inability to be alone.
“To trivialize the incident can be very damaging to the
survivor,” said Tina Oakland, director of UCLA’s Center
for Women and Men.
Barnett has not only trivialized Hnida’s allegations. He
has announced to another alleged victim that he will back any
accused player 100 percent against any charges.
Talk about blaming the victim.
Barnett could have capitalized on his personal connection to
Hnida to ensure Colorado’s program is a place of character
and integrity. Instead, his snappishly defensive comment reminds me
of the oft-true reproach: When there’s smoke, there’s
fire.
I feel for the Colorado team, because I’m sure the
majority of its members are good kids with good hearts. But if
allegations are true, there are some bad apples. And it seems
unlikely that seven women would come forward with such serious
allegations if nothing happened.
But what’s more disconcerting is the man leading these
players: the coach, supposedly building character, fostering
teamwork and upholding integrity. Firing him won’t change the
dirty secrets of college athletics, but it’s a start.
But what do I know? I’m only a girl.
E-mail Newman at enewman@media.ucla.edu.