John Shipley: Time for Gophers to send a real message

[BleedGopher]

per Shipley:

How many idiots does it take to ruin the reputation of an athletics department? Minnesota is dangerously close to finding out.

Another very public sexual misadventure, this time involving as many as six Gophers football players, has re-opened an ugly wound that just won’t seem to heal over in Dinkytown.

“We have over 700 student-athletes, so you’re talking about a handful of students that put themselves in these situations,” athletics director Mark Coyle said Thursday.

By my count, it’s 10 since late February, when three men’s basketball players were suspended for their roles in a sex act posted on the social media accounts of point guard Kevin Dorsey — who has since transferred. Ten is a small fraction of Minnesota’s student-athlete population, but they have made a big, ugly noise.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/03/john-shipley-time-for-gophers-to-send-a-real-message/

Go Gophers!!

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

How many idiots does it take to ruin the reputation of an athletics department?

Considering the local media I think they decided a long long time ago..... no matter what happens.

 

[upnorthkid]

Per the National Sexual Violence Resource Center: One in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college (i). Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police (o).

People act like this **** doesn't happen because many don't realize the rate at which this happens. There's a reason that the entire university and many throughout the country have instituted sexual awareness training (and the U is REALLY pushing this at multiple levels right now) and it's because this has finally hit the public eye somewhat and people are finally being confronted with this through a number of big cases. This is not a Gopher athletic-centric thing and the numbers nationally speak to that. But god forbid the media report the actual data rather than just sensationalize certain stories that fit their agenda

 

[nsmike]

This is from Wikipedia A false accusation of rape is the intentional reporting of a rape where no rape has occurred. It is difficult to assess the prevalence of false accusations because they are often conflated with non-prosecuted cases under the designation "unfounded".[1][2] However, in the United States, the FBI Uniform Crime Report in 1996 and the United States Department of Justice in 1997 reported that 8% of the rape accusations had been through investigation determined to be false, a rate higher than that for any other indexed crime. I would think that in case involving athletes it would be somewhat higher. With these kinds of statistics I don't believe throwing kids of teams based on accusations is a good idea. The Smith situation is a 'Red Herrring", the fight happened, that was verified, so Smith was dismissed.

 

[GophersInIowa]

So he thinks it should always be guilty until proven innocent?

The Smith situation was different like nsmike said. Not only do they know for sure it happened, it sounds like this isn't the first time it has happened.

 

[Section2]

Per the National Sexual Violence Resource Center: One in 5 women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college (i). Rape is the most under-reported crime; 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police (o).

People act like this **** doesn't happen because many don't realize the rate at which this happens. There's a reason that the entire university and many throughout the country have instituted sexual awareness training (and the U is REALLY pushing this at multiple levels right now) and it's because this has finally hit the public eye somewhat and people are finally being confronted with this through a number of big cases. This is not a Gopher athletic-centric thing and the numbers nationally speak to that. But god forbid the media report the actual data rather than just sensationalize certain stories that fit their agenda

I'm skeptical of the unreported sexual assault numbers. Those that compile those numbers have an incentive to inflate them, because they are not reported they can't be verified, and from what I've seen, can include things like unwanted kissing, like a guy misreading signals and leaning in for a kiss. This isn't "data". The one in 5 women has also been completely debunked.

That's not to say there isn't a problem, I believe there is. But don't oversell the problem and destroy your credibility, that harms both actual victims of assault, and the wrongly accused.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

So he thinks it should always be guilty until proven innocent?

The Smith situation was different like nsmike said. Not only do they know for sure it happened, it sounds like this isn't the first time it has happened.

Here is the deal, the perception is that the Gophers are not good at football.... and being not good at sports pretty much means you're guilty of other things.

AP can run really well, so it is ok that he fathers tons of kids he doesn't care for and beats a few others.... because TDs.

Ben Roethlisberger cut it close but fortunately he won more games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11bW317sFk

 

[upnorthkid]

I'm skeptical of the unreported sexual assault numbers. Those that compile those numbers have an incentive to inflate them, because they are not reported they can't be verified, and from what I've seen, can include things like unwanted kissing, like a guy misreading signals and leaning in for a kiss. This isn't "data". The one in 5 women has also been completely debunked.

That's not to say there isn't a problem, I believe there is. But don't oversell the problem and destroy your credibility, that harms both actual victims of assault, and the wrongly accused.

To be honest, I agree it's a problem but think that the current push is what needs to be done (taking coursework) versus going crazy and removing everyone accused from the school. In regards to the data, it is what it is. We will never have a solid number because of the non-reporting so you will get 2 sets. The actual incidences of proven assault and the number of self-reported with the data falling somewhere in the middle in theory. Sexual violence is a problem. It happens. What I'm saying is that this is not a football team or basketball team issue and it is not a new issue. It is coming to the forefront now because of media coverage and yeah it should be addressed. Vilifying every single person accused is not the answer. Dragging every case into the public eye is not the answer. Doubting those making every claim is not the answer.

 

[DLguy]

One interesting thing here is that Shipley is a known Badger grad. He takes every possible opportunity to "expose" the U. Funny since he most likely supports guys like Bo Ryan and Barry Alvarez who are no saints.

 

[zman]

And here I thought this thread was going to be about sending a message Saturday and pounding on Purdue. Oh well.......

 

[tikited]

And here I thought this thread was going to be about sending a message Saturday and pounding on Purdue. Oh well.......

Yep. I thought it was going to be an article that puts the Goph's in a no win situation. Don't lose and win by an amount that satisfies the writer.

 

[BarnBoy]

One interesting thing here is that Shipley is a known Badger grad. He takes every possible opportunity to "expose" the U. Funny since he most likely supports guys like Bo Ryan and Barry Alvarez who are no saints.

His bio says university of Iowa.

John has been a reporter and editor with the Pioneer Press since 2001, covering everything from major league baseball to the Winter Olympics -- including stints as beat writer for the Twins, Wild and Minnesota Gophers football team. A California native and Chicago-area high school graduate, he previously was a reporter and editor at the Cedar Rapids Gazette and Des Moines Register and is a graduate of the University of Iowa.

 

[GhostofBronko]

His bio says university of Iowa.

Don't be so naive. What better cover for a wily Badger fan than to attend Iowa to cover his tracks.

 

[DLguy]

My bad. I just know that Shipley constantly piles on about the U, and knew it was a rival school.

 

[3399]

Clearly, Shipley is a troll.

per Shipley:

How many idiots does it take to ruin the reputation of an athletics department? Minnesota is dangerously close to finding out.

Another very public sexual misadventure, this time involving as many as six Gophers football players, has re-opened an ugly wound that just won’t seem to heal over in Dinkytown.

“We have over 700 student-athletes, so you’re talking about a handful of students that put themselves in these situations,” athletics director Mark Coyle said Thursday.

By my count, it’s 10 since late February, when three men’s basketball players were suspended for their roles in a sex act posted on the social media accounts of point guard Kevin Dorsey — who has since transferred. Ten is a small fraction of Minnesota’s student-athlete population, but they have made a big, ugly noise.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/11/03/john-shipley-time-for-gophers-to-send-a-real-message/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Catechol]

per Shipley:
“We have over 700 student-athletes, so you’re talking about a handful of students that put themselves in these situations,” athletics director Mark Coyle said Thursday.

I don't know if there was some other context to this statement, but regardless it's a pretty terrible way to frame sexual assault/indiscretion. Saying it's not so bad because only 10 out of 700 student athletes are involved comes across as minimizing the problem.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I don't know if there was some other context to this statement, but regardless it's a pretty terrible way to frame sexual assault/indiscretion. Saying it's not so bad because only 10 out of 700 student athletes are involved comes across as minimizing the problem.

It is putting it in context, not minimizing the problem.

Often because of the spotlight people falsely think that student athletes are more likely to do these kinds of things and that stigmatizing them when in fact they're no more likely than the general student population to have these kinds of things occur. An AD is there to do a lot of things including support the athletes who don't do these things / fund raise for them and that can be hard when people think the student athletes have more of a problem with these kinds of things.

 

[goldenboy]

I get that Shipley is a columnist and not a reporter, but is it too much to ask that he provide us something other than his opinion? Why should I believe he isn't full of BS. How often do these kind of things happen to college student in general? Are we to believe that athletes are involved at a greater rate the non-athletes? Or the U has a bigger problem than other universities? Just not much of value in the article. Do some work, Shipley, and make your articles worth reading.