A Goober Does Sociology

This morning, I happened across a thought-provoking piece in the New York Times written by Sheryl Gray Stolberg that attempts to explain why political sex scandals occur almost exclusively to male office-holders. The simplest answers--that men outnumber women in Congress by a margin of greater than 4:1 and that positions of political, economic and social power long-held by men may increase a need for a "quick-fix" self-esteem boost enabled by meaningless intimacy--are addressed in Stolberg's piece but ultimately cast aside in favor of a type of moralistic argument that illustrates, in conjunction with several recent high-profile scandals running wild in the media, the necessity of a public myth that our pop culture heroes still possess the possibility of being motivated completely by altruistic means.

Stolberg quotes Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, who states, "The shorthand of it is that women run for office to do something, and men run for office to be somebody." To selectively quote Walsh here may do a disservice to the research conducted by the Center. Certainly, in reality, there are men and women present in the current Congress who have to defy this simple dichotomous explanation of the motivations of the sexes in politics. Yet, Walsh's statement illustrates vividly the optimistic American belief that our politicians can be altruistic servants of the common good, as originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers. In those days, the Presidency wasn't a position one aspired toward, it was a grave responsibility that was assumed as a kind of selfless public service. Washington didn't step down in 1796 to go on an extended tour of lucrative speaking engagements, and in some ways the statement made by Walsh and the outcry against Jonathan Edwards' current campaign finance scandal (leaving the despicable nature of his personal infidelity out of the equation) indicate a revulsion to the current career-minded politician and a nostalgic desire to return to the days when servitude and integrity were placed before advancement.

A few weeks ago, I posted a review of David Foster Wallace's long essay "Up, Simba" to this blog in which the author grappled with this very issue much more adeptly than I could hope to. Arguably, the sex scandals of the past few weeks have only intensified Wallace's observations about the salesman mystique of the modern American politician, and Walsh's piece published this morning throws a gender-specific slant on the kind of nostalgic hope present in the American public that politics can still be self-less and not ironically self-aware.

It occurred to me, as I was reading Walsh's article, that politics are not the only arena in which we (both the public and those in positions of fame) cling to perhaps outmoded archetypes. The current scandal at Ohio State, already covered on this blog and to the point of nausea in the sports media, contains all the elements of similar scandals occurring in the political arena. Jim Tressel cultivated a public personality of selflessness and virtue, while accepting a salary bloated to levels of Solomon-like excess and turning a blind eye to the ethical violations of his athletes. The current year-long backlash against LeBron James (of which, I admit, I am a passionate participant) is fueled by some kind of ancient code of honor that honestly should never have lasted past the free agency era in any sport. Collectively, as a society, we are aware of these virtuous archetypes and use them as helpful narratives to keep us from becoming, as this past week's episode of South Park so poignantly reminded us, "cynical assholes."

We need these symbols of unquestioned virtue in all aspects of our culture, whether true or false, to keep us from believing that our society is in an apparent moral and spiritual decline. And, certainly, there are instances in which the narratives prove true. At the same time, we should not allow a comforting story to obscure the truth about ourselves and what the world around us has become because we are afraid to admit the consequences brought about by social media, frenzied election cycles, or the unrelenting pursuit of wealth in a global capitalist economy.

THE Ohio State Blackeyes

As news of Jim Tressel's resignation broke this morning, I believe I was somewhere around Paducah, Kentucky fleeing the cicada-infested Middle Tennessee Valley for the friendly confines of Kansas City for the summer. Luckily, I picked up a feed of ESPN Radio and the Colin Cowherd morning program somewhere in between three guys trying to sell me Drano in Spanish and an angry and misguided evangelical pastor explaining the inherent sin present in miniature golf on the AM radio dial in rural Kentucky. Cowherd conducted several thought-provoking interviews this morning (as he is, I'll admit, wont to do) in response to the resignation, and the positions of three men in particular ran the gamut of the subsequent public response I have gleaned from perusing the sports blogosphere.

As expected, Kirk Herbstreit came quickly in defense of both the program and Tressel. Arguing that Tressel's actions (or, rather, inaction) was inspired be a conscious effort on his part to "protect his student-athletes," Herbstreit further went on to say that both the coach and the team would be able to land on their feet, and Ohio State would still have a successful year with a QB who is likely to take a shelling from the local media for driving out an extremely popular head coach and an interim head coach who has zero experience in the position at any level, and certainly not as head coach of one of the premier programs throughout Division I college football. In other words, Herbstreit gave the predictable interview of a hopeless, partisan fan--the same illustration of either a subconscious or poorly hidden favoritism that often bleeds into his work for Gameday throughout the college football season on ESPN. I will grant Herbstreit, however, the honor being the least senile of the two-man broadcasting team of himself and Brent Musberger for Saturday Night Football. But that's a lot like bragging about being more sane than the guy who has shoes made of pennies on the street corner and still believes in the tooth fairy.

Robert Smith (not "Close to Me" or the guy who killed Mecha-Streisand, the former stand-out running back for the Minnesota Vikings in the early 90s and current college football analyst for ESPN) went to the other end of the spectrum, painting Tressel as a lone disingenuously pernicious influence on the sanctity of college football that needed to be dealt with in this manner. To his credit, Smith admitted that the kinds of infractions that allegedly occurred at Ohio State are probably occurring simultaneously at institutions throughout the country. However, Smith argued that Tressel's blatant disregard for protocol showed favoritism to his starters, rather than a genuine attempt to protect all of his student-athletes from the disciplinary hand of the NCAA, and that his lie of omission exceeded by degree numerous other recent and historic violations of NCAA rules.

To his credit, Colin voiced his own opinion as somewhere in between the unquestioning reverence of Herbstreit and the jilted antagonism of Smith, both Ohio State alums. As the old saying goes, this is likely where most of the truth lies. More will inevitably come to light as the investigative piece on Ohio State athletics is published in Sports Illustrated in the coming weeks and the NCAA intensifies its probe into the program (ESPN is already reporting the NCAA will launch a separate investigation into potential individual violations by Terrelle Pryor). As just another in a series of high-profile blackeyes for college football in recent years, however, Tressel's resignation and the subsequent sanctions on the Ohio State program simply illustrate a sign of the times in college athletics, and illustrate (just as South Park so brilliantly did last week) the lack of easy answers in the designation between amateur and professional as determined by the NCAA.