Monday, July 19, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 5 Ve W POIN u Bottom line: more to the Demetrius Smith stogy A reader called to my atten- tion that my story ("Smith's ath- letic scholarship terminated," 7/6/99) led him to believe it was only about another "thug" who got into trouble. Because of cer- tain legal and ethical constraints, the article was written as bare- boned, and accurate, as possible. After receiving the feedback, d owever, I think it's time to start utting some meat back on those bones. This is probably not the first occasion that an athlete has been portrayed as "troubled" without all the facts coming to light. Therefore, a little background information is in order. This way, everyone interested in Michigan football can be privy to the same story I got when I visited Demetrius' home in Calumet Wark, Illinois. Everyone will be able to sit on his mother's light- blue couch and look at Demetrius' pictures on the wall. She, and they, tell the real story. While playing football in high school, Demetrius took advantage of everything his eventual 6-foot-2, 245-pound *rame would give him. He excelled on the field, and in the classroom - the many awards he received throughout the years speak to that. He also spent a lot of time meeting and talking with chil- dren, which he still does. All the while, Demetrius managed to avoid any problems with the law, according to his mother. When the time finally came, se was recruited by many of the top programs in the nation. They included Tennessee, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Ohio State, to name a few. I'm sure Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr knew all about this when he traveled to the south side of Chicago a little more than two years ago to recruit Demetrius. Surprisingly, Carr hasn't spoken to Demetrius' parents, Diane and Robert, since. From then on, any contact was made via offensive coordinator Mike Debord, whom the family believes is forced to do whatever is instructed by Carr. It was Debord that told Diane Smith her son's scholarship had been terminated, without credi- ble reason - or any reason at all, for that matter. On June 23, allegations of a six-person embezzlement ring from an Ypsilanti K-mart sur- faced. Smith's name was includ- ed - as well as two other Michigan football players- and the story quickly became nation- al news. Five days later, Diane Smith received a phone call from Debord. She said Debord told her "they no longer wanted him (Demetrius ) on the team," and as a result, his athletic aid would be withdrawn. Common sense asks, why wouldn't a "student-athlete" (a position interpreted as vulnera- ble by many universities, and the NCAA, in a ploy to protect them) be given the simple cour- tesy of notification in person? Would the athletic depart- ment have handled it differently if the incident involved a starting player (i.e. - James Whitley) on the chopping block? Just check next season's roster, as well as local police records for the answer to that one. So what was the big problem with Demetrius Smith? The only proven problem was that, during spring practice, he was indefi- nitely suspended by the team. The athletic department said it was because of "team rule viola- tions." Although they would not elaborate on what rules Smith violated. As far as the recent embez- zlement incident is concerned - after a three-week investigation by the Washtenaw County Sheriffs office - Demetrius remains as guilty of stealing from K-mart as you and I. Sadly, the same can't be said of the other two players involved, as they have already been issued felony warrants for their arrests. Since receiving the school's official letter of notification, Demetrius' family has regularly been trying to contact Athletic Director Tom Goss for some answers. All they want is a sim- ple explanation - not second hand information. Bruce Madej, the University's associate athletic director for media relations, told me that Mr. Goss would be responding to the family's plea. So far, it hasn't happened. And I don't see it happening. Now Demetrius finds him- self in a position that is utterly familiar to too many athletes in college; on the outside looking in. On July 7, The Daily Southtown - a subsidiary of The Chicago Sun Times - printed a story about how the local star from Richards High School had his Michigan foot- ball scholarship taken away. Whether Demetrius' neigh- bors will ever hear how his story plays out is anyone's call. Most likely, they probably won't. And that, deplorably, is a result of a system that doesn't consider anything other than the bottom line. "They ruined my life," Demetrius said during a phone conversation recently. This, to me, seems to be the real bottom line. - This viesrpoint was writ- ten by Daily sports witer Steve Rom. When time - or at least the media - stands still SW e live in a media-controlled culture that possibly America's most popular president, is obsessed with celebrity. whose name is mentioned every time my birth- Sure, it's shallow and can be misleading - day, Nov. 22, rolls around. The man who but that's what my generation has grown up inspired thousands of college-aged students, with and its implications don't disturb me as both then and now. The man whose death much as they probably should. I fight for the deserved the media stand-still and "where I latest copy of low-brow People magazine when was when I heard the news" moments etched waiting at the hairdresser's. I watch into the memories of nearly everyone anything on the no-brow E! televi- alive at the time. sion network with little shame. With the disappearance of a son, it And I've been watching a whole is a little bit harder to remember the lot about John F. Kennedy, Jr's dis- * father. So who can blame the media for appearance into the unforgiving being melodramatic. There's no empir- Atlantic Ocean, where he, his gor- ical way to measure the "importance" geous wife (for the record: bottle of news, and celebrity culture rules. blond) and her sister met near-cer- I was not alive when president tain death. Kennedy was shot. I did not witness Virtually every television station his son's infamous salute first-hand, has cleared its schedule to broadcast EMILY JFK Jr.'s disappearance does not endless footage of fruitless coast ACHENBAUM remind me of his father. guard boats as TV anchors wait tire- DIAMON t IN As I get sucked into the reports lessly for any tidbit of news. It's iI 1 on 1o sprinkled with commentaries by incredibly monotonous and overdone William Safire on the Kennedy family - but oddly fascinating. "curse," the discussions of east coast weather What kind of person do you have to be - and flying visibility and JFK's mediocre what kind of life do you have to live - in order grades at Brown, I am struck more by the loss for your death to garner undivided national of potential. It is hard to believe that human attention? life is fragile. Itsis hard for me to think that I There are very few public figures which I won't live to be eighty and that all my family think have enough clout to validate total dom- members and friends won't live that long as ination of television. John-John wasn't one of well. them. Like his father, JFK was so young and so He had, in some senses, barely begun to live full of potential - poised in a position to make his life. Unlike many of his relatives, he was an impact on the rest of the world with his life not a politician, and did not have a glorified - only to be snatched away. history of public service. JFK Jr. launched a I may not remember the day JFK was magazine, gave speeches, married well - he announced missing. But I will remember the was successful, but not truly outstanding. loss of what could have been - human poten- What seems to be troubling our country the tial, never allowed to take full flight. most is not the specific loss of JFK but of the - Emily Achenbam can be reached via link he provided to the past - to his father, e-mail at emilylsa@umich.edu. China bomb announcement elicits fear for future One of the most interesting things about race. American scientists began serious neutron humans is that the same qualities that make bomb research in the 1970's but Jimmy Carter us what we are can simultaneously separate us pulled the plug on the project in 1978. When from ourselves. The ability to think technologi- Reagan came to power, he decided that the neu- cally is the first of these things that comes to tron bomb did indeed have a place in his vision of mind - most of our greatest achievements and the United States' future and he resurrected the follies have been technological. This past week program in 1981. was particularly noteworthy in the cata- Being relatively ignorant with logue of human triumphs and failures: regards to the respective arguments for On the 'glass is half-full' side: The nuclear deterrence and disarmament, I periodical Science reported that scien- don't really feel qualified to advocate a tists at the Hewlett-Packard Co. and the solution to the problem. I just hope one University of California-Los Angeles . side is right, and that the right side wins. have figured out a way to make com- Otherwise young people, perhaps with puter components on a molecular level the help of the life-prolonging practices using a chemical process. The research medical science will yield in the coming might eventually lead to machines with years, will live looking forward to a few 100 billion times the computing power nuclear holocausts of at least of today's best personal computers. NICK Hiroshima/Nagasaki proportions in On the 'glass is half-empty' side: A WOOMER their lifetimes. Chinese Government angered by the 1, -i) With the glaring exception of math- United States' allegations that it had i ''N ) ematical proofs, there seems to be a rule stolen our nuclear secrets released a that once someone figures out how to statement saying that it had developed the neu- do something, eventually a lot more people will tron bomb or "enhanced radiation" device. This is be able to do the same thing. Can anyone honest- a weapon that is detonated above a target and kills ly expect that a human will never be cloned? all living things under it with a massive dose of There are people who are already planning to do radiation within a radius twice the sze of that of it. Likewise, can anyone really expect only a a standard ten kiloton nuke. The "benefit" of a select few responsible super-powers to develop neutron bomb is that it only destroys living things nukes? It is just plain naive to think that at least a - weapons and buildings can usually withstand few rogue nations won't be able to do what we did the blast. more than 50 years ago 50 years from now. I don't So instead of building telescopes to exploring care how intense the developed world's scrutiny is the universe or curing diseases, many of the cen- or how many embargoes it places. tury's finest scientific minds have taken up the Not to be a fearmonger, but this appears to be noble task of figuring out how to build a bomb one of those situations where there really isn't that kills exclusively other people on a mass much to protest or complain about. Pandora's scale. Box may very well have already been opened- It would be real nice to blame it all on the you just have to sit, wait and see what happens. Chinese, but the fact of the matter is that their - Nick Woomer can be reached via e-mail at efforts are just aresponse to ours during the arms nwooer@umich.edus. " i' - [SEND LETTERS TO TUE EDITOR TO daily.Letters@umich.cdu.