Jarboe emails come pouring in

Another week of emails, and this week, it’s all Josh Jarboe. Most were received after Bob Stoops dismissed Jarboe from the OU squad. Some were sent before that decision was made.

Richard wrote, “Impressive. I didn’t realize Mr. Tramel wielded so much influence with player personnel at OU. Coach Stoops dismissed Jarboe on the heels of Mr. Tramel’s article rather than risk follow-up articles ad nauseam regarding the precarious state of the program. Would some sporting event please happen soon; football season, OKC NBA team name announcement, anything so sportswriters won’t have to surf YouTube for articles. I’m going to closely watch Jarboe’s career to see if Tramel’s, I mean Stoops’, decision was the right one. What DID writers do for inspiration before the internet?”

We spent a lot less time answering goofy emails.

Gary wrote, “I understand that OU football players are in a public arena which holds them to a higher standard. I have worked in mentoring programs for teens since I was 18. I have always been involved in youth ministry. My concern is with how the media seems to be taking a ‘righteous’ approach and condescending tone to this situation. I never write and correspond about situations like this, but this particular situation has my heart deeply troubled. I am by no means saying that he should not have been dismissed from the team. Allow me to outline a few points while everyone at The Oklahoman applauds the loss of an educational opportunity and dream for a young man. 1. It is a most distressing double standard when there was a young man, Ben Habern, also in the video. I suppose the world would just rather justify him by saying he wasn’t rapping, but he was part of the celebration or he wouldn’t have been recording the rap. What happens to him now. Absolutely nothing! 2. It is amazing that everyone is lauding that the lyrics are horrible and profane but this is the same lyrics that your children parade and listen to on radio stations and the same lyrics that we allow our children to listen to on MTV. But where is the outcry from the parents about the source of profane laced lyrics and moral deprivation gone? I’ll tell you where it’s gone. Absolutely nowhere, because Oklahomans and Americans really don’t care until it makes them feel superior to someone else and allows them to point a finger toward another person. 3. How indifferent we are to remember our own pasts. The peace and love movement was strong and getting high was the thing to do, so we now relay these stories in classrooms with jokes and a sense of cultural growth. But we are less tolerate of those that are different than us culturally and quick to blame society’s problems on a symptom and not the root. Reminds me of why America was so slow to condemn slavery and Jim Crow. Because the poor who had no reason to want to keep Jim Crow and segregation were made to feel that they were better than somebody and they should want to keep it that way.”

Pretty interesting essay on 21st century American society. Just one problem. It didn’t include the word “gun.” Jarboe was dismissed not because of the video, but because of the gun conviction. He took a gun to school, and Bob Stoops took a huge gamble by giving him a second chance. The video was a very small infraction, but it toppled Jarboe over the edge, because he already was on the edge. The knucklehead who filmed the video and put it on YouTube did not have a gun charge. So he’s probably running 500 stadium steps a day for two months. The thing to remember is that this is a business decision as much as anything else. Bob Stoops is not Jesus Christ. The Lord can leave the 99 and go search for the one, but a football coach can’t do that. He’s got to watch out for the 99, and HIS boss, the president of a university, has to watch out for a whole lot more than that. I applaud work in youth ministry. But if a kid brings a gun to a youth service, a youth minister and a church has very little choice. It must lay down the law. No more guns, and no more indiscretions. Otherwise, there would be no more youth ministry. Of course, if your ministry is in the heart of the culture that created such brazen disregard for responsibility, maybe it’s different. But Bob Stoops works in an environment that can’t tolerate that culture. A college campus is set up to be a great melting pot of ideas; it is not set up to be a great melting pot of behaviors.

Kerry wrote, “I for one hope that Jarboe wasn’t sent home packin’. I hope they frisked him first and disarmed him. OK, that wasn’t as funny in print as it was in my head. Huh, I wonder if Jarboe had the same thought. Anywayyyy, I still can’t believe that some OU fans think he shouldn’t have been dismissed from the team. That it was no big deal. I keep wondering how the VT fans feel about it? Would they have a problem with a gun toting recruit rapping about killing people? Something tells they would and that EVERYONE else should!”

Kerry, I guarantee you Gary didn’t think it was funny.

Larry wrote, “You’re 100 percent right about Stoops’ decision on Josh Jarboe. Couple of quick points. 1. If Jarboe had simply been punished by running stadium steps, it would have sent the message not only to the team but to the rest of the country that gang culture was acceptable at the University of Oklahoma. I’m sure other players would have put out their own rap videos, and it wouldn’t have been too long before we had gang signs being waved on the sidelines. 2. Bonner defended Jarboe by saying he’s a good kid and that rapping like Jarboe did was common on his team. Yes, gang culture is present in schools in lower socio-economic communities these days, and Jarboe may very well be a good kid. But the line has to be drawn that gang culture is not acceptable at OU, and that’s what Coach Stoops did. A really important decision.”

Again, the rap was silly. The gun conviction was scary.

Ron wrote, “Great job on this Jarboe article. Once again you hit the nail on the head. I agree that most everyone deserves a second chance, but it was obvious after this guy turning right around after his firearms conviction was reduced, he shows what he is about with this violence toned video. I see Stoops is not bringing this turd here after all. I about fell out of my chair when I read that Stoops had said “Kick a guy off the team for what he says?” If he had overlooked what he had done as clearly stated in this rap video, it would have been a slap in the face to every OU student and student athletes past and present (including my own daughter) who attended that university to get an education. Once again I commend you for telling it like it is.”