Granger: From Bad to Worse
Here’s what you do when you screw up, whether it’s as a 4-year-old or on the job or playing defensive tackle for the Oklahoma Sooners. You mind your manners and go low-key. Pick up your toys, or get extra work completed and don’t complain, or work hard and stay out of trouble and be very humble.
DeMarcus Granger failed to last a week of getting back in the headlines. He failed to appear for an arraignment in a Tempe, Ariz., courtroom on his misdemeanor charge of shoplifting, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Granger, Tempe police said, stole a coat from a store in a mall during the Fiesta Bowl trip. Bob Stoops sent Granger home.
I don’t know what is the fine for shoplifting, but it can’t be much more than a plane ticket back to Arizona. Granger fouled up royally; he embarrassed himself and his team and his school, and if he was interested in taking responsibility, he should have found out how to get this over with immediately. Which obviously is pay the fine.
College athletes sometimes have a problem with responsibility. Most have been pampered since they were young teens and can have difficulty adjusting to real life. Kansas basketball player Brandon Rush failed to appear in traffic court a couple of months back, and KU coach Bill Self talked about how players have to accept responsibility for their actions.
I don’t know Granger’s financial situation. I don’t know if he can’t come up with the money to pay his fine. If not, then he’s in a bind. But it’s a bind he created.
Bob Stoops didn’t kick off Granger from the team. But now that he’s made headlines two weeks running, I wouldn’t blame Stoops if he said, good-bye.
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