ESPN article on Joe Mixon situation

[aubiefifty 17,487]

espn.com

 

We should have been outraged before the Joe Mixon tape

Andrea AdelsonESPN Staff Writer

Two years ago, Joe Mixon punched a female student so hard that he broke four bones in her face. She needed her jaw to be wired shut. The feeling on the left side of her face did not return for months.

These are facts. They have never been disputed, by the star Oklahoma running back or the woman he punched, fellow OU student Amelia Molitor. And these facts should have been all we needed, enough to trigger horror and outrage, not only at Mixon's actions but also at the way Oklahoma responded.

Mixon served a one-year suspension, which was basically just a redshirt season. Molitor went without eating solid food, or laughing, or smiling, as her face healed. He still got to be Joe Mixon, Sooners scholarship athlete. She became another version of herself entirely, temporarily disfigured, broken and, in some cases around campus, blamed.

 

Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon addresses reporters during the lead-up to last season's Orange Bowl. AP Photo/Joe Skipper

A surveillance video showing Mixon throwing the punch existed, although it took years of wrangling in court for it to be released to the public. But key decision-makers at the school -- namely, coach Bob Stoops, athletic director Joe Castiglione and school President David Boren -- had seen the tape, and they still decided a one-year suspension was sufficient.

When the tape came out on Friday, more condemnation followed, as if the words Molitor had spoken meant nothing without the actual video proof that she got punched so hard that her face smashed against a table and broke.

But should it really take a video to reinforce the idea that what Mixon did has no place in our society? The video gave us the truth in a way that words cannot: visceral, unvarnished, ugly. Cameras don't lie.

Words? Well, they can be twisted. They can be misinterpreted. They can be wrong. In cases involving violence against women, they're too often treated as just words on the pages of a police report, with skepticism as the first reaction to an accusation.

This is just one of the many reasons so many victims fail to report crimes against them. Their words will be parsed, questioned, analyzed and sometimes thrown back at them. These words too often result in name-calling, anger, nastiness, blame and ostracism. That sort of hostility is what Molitor encountered, even though she had facts on her side.

Mixon hit Molitor on July 25, 2014, just one day after the NFL suspended Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice two games for punching his then-fiancée and dragging her body out of an elevator. The details were sickening on their own. But the weak suspension only undermined the NFL's stance given the severity of what Rice did, therefore undermining any woman who has been a victim of domestic violence.

A video of Rice's punch existed and became public that September. Though Rice's actions in that elevator had been widely reported, the video presented a devastating picture that words simply could not. The Ravens cut Rice and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Although he has since been reinstated, Rice has not played another down in the NFL because that video was released.

The following summer, former Florida State quarterback De'Andre Johnson was suspended indefinitely after he was arrested for allegedly punching a woman at a bar in Tallahassee, Florida. When video surfaced showing Johnson throwing the punch, Florida State kicked him off the team. He has since committed to play for coach Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic.

Then, earlier this year, video surfaced showing then-incoming Mississippi State freshman Jeffery Simmons beating a woman during a fight. Mississippi State allowed Simmons to join the football team anyway.

Mixon, Johnson and Simmons are still enjoying the opportunity to play football on scholarship, sending a message over and over again that implies violence against women will be tolerated.

What has made the Mixon case so hard to believe is the way Oklahoma administrators reacted. The video release crystallizes that even more.

Stoops, Castiglione and Boren had all the facts in front of them after Mixon's arrest. Mixon pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and didn't serve any prison time; he's currently facing a civil suit from Molitor. That should have been enough to warrant a dismissal from the team. They'd seen the words and the video, a double whammy of evidence that they somehow stomached enough to allow Mixon to keep his place on the team.

 

They have been roundly criticized for that choice, especially over the past 36 hours. But really, they shouldn't have needed a video to tell them that Mixon lost the privilege to represent their institution of higher learning as soon as he punched Molitor. In a statement released Friday, the university said, "Mr. Mixon has apologized for his actions, and the university hopes that it is an indication that he has learned from his mistakes. We are an educational institution, where we hope young people will learn from their mistakes and chart a better future course."

Yes, Oklahoma is an educational institution, but playing football is not a right, and neither is playing football on scholarship. After rushing for 1,183 yards and scoring 13 touchdowns, Mixon emerged this year as a star and a face of the Oklahoma football program, and of the school itself. Now Mixon and Sooners supporters will head for New Orleans and the Allstate Sugar Bowl, with another top-10 finish there for the taking.

So if you're an Oklahoma fan, what exactly are you cheering for?

thought this might ride in the football section since we are playing the sooners in a couple of weeks. suddenly i do not care much for the sooners. in fairness i bet there are some really outraged sooner fans as well.......

 

[abw0004 10,139]

Well one thing I hope everyone can agree on with Gus is how he handles situations like these.  He would never let this guy on campus ever again if Mixon was on Auburn's team.

[tomtomwde 22]

 True but it's even worse with the visual aid.  

I've seen first hand what happens when a man hits a woman.  so much could have been to prevent that event and I doubt anything really has changed for him 

[Tiger 8,835]

Sigh, what did people think it looked like?

 

Shame on Bob Stoops though he truly gives no effs.

[milehighfan 1,240]

Well, whether Mixon was sincere in his apology or not, no woman will ever have to worry about getting punched or assaulted by Mixon.

[Auburnfan91 1,408]

5 hours ago, Tiger said:

Sigh, what did people think it looked like?

 

Shame on Bob Stoops though he truly gives no effs.

Yep. Sadly it seems to be a problem among quite a few coaches. They only care about winning, everything else like a player getting in trouble, no matter what it is, is something most coaches don't want to deal with and many take the easy way out and do the bare minimum for punishments.

[doc4aday 1,887]

Surely Mixon will not play in bowl game much less any games in the future. I think we need to make a statement and tell bowl officials that we will not take the field with Mixon in uniform, or participation in any bowl activities.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

11 hours ago, doc4aday said:

Surely Mixon will not play in bowl game much less any games in the future. I think we need to make a statement and tell bowl officials that we will not take the field with Mixon in uniform, or participation in any bowl activities.

Not going to happen.  Most you can expect is people booing him when he's on the field... until he scores for Oklahoma and then all will be forgiven for most fans.

[doc4aday 1,887]

3 hours ago, lionheartkc said:

Not going to happen.  Most you can expect is people booing him when he's on the field... until he scores for Oklahoma and then all will be forgiven for most fans.

abusing women is about the worst thing a human being can do except abusing children. I hope Carl and company will make tackling mixon a priority with as much pain as they legally can get by with all game.

[tiger88 934]

22 hours ago, milehighfan said:

Well, whether Mixon was sincere in his apology or not, no woman will ever have to worry about getting punched or assaulted by Mixon.

??? Maybe I am missing something. How would we know this?

[AU-HANDLEY-TIGER 205]

Oklahoma's AD should step in and tell Mixon he's done, wasn't he suspended a game for an altercation with a parking attendant this year as well? He obviously has issues and the NFL is looking at another Ray Rice.

[keesler 5,934]

16 hours ago, AU-HANDLEY-TIGER said:

Oklahoma's AD should step in and tell Mixon he's done, wasn't he suspended a game for an altercation with a parking attendant this year as well? He obviously has issues and the NFL is looking at another Ray Rice.

What?  The incident happened in JULY 2014 - the OU Administration including the coaching staff knew and have known all along what happened and they chose to allow Mixon remain on scholarship and play ball for OU.  This Mixon news is old, why would the AD step in now, 2 years later and tell him he's done?  

[C'viewTiger 242]

12 minutes ago, keesler said:

What?  The incident happened in JULY 2014 - the OU Administration including the coaching staff knew and have known all along what happened and they chose to allow Mixon remain on scholarship and play ball for OU.  This Mixon news is old, why would the AD step in now, 2 years later and tell him he's done?  

I have to agree. As much as what the guy did is despicable, he has served his punishment (maybe a joke of a punishment but he served it.) Now if the punishment administering body (AD/Coach/etc.) were to be held accountable for the punishment not fitting the crime, I'm all for seeing them held accountable. jmo

[WarDlowe 39]

10 minutes ago, AU04ever said:

I have to agree. As much as what the guy did is despicable, he has served his punishment (maybe a joke of a punishment but he served it.) Now if the punishment administering body (AD/Coach/etc.) were to be held accountable for the punishment not fitting the crime, I'm all for seeing them held accountable. jmo

If they hadn't seen the video I would say yeah, go ahead and tell him he's done.  But they had, all of them, all the way to the university president.  That's what makes this so despicable.  They'd seen this and still allowed him to come back, so at this point it is the administration that needs to be held accountable for their decision.  The only positive from how this was handled was the message it sends to the rest of the CFB world that you will have a ton of fallout if you handle it this way.  Maybe that will cause universities to handle it APPROPRIATELY from the get go rather than risking whether all the information will get out and cause them to have to deal with the backlash.  

[lionheartkc 6,150]

19 minutes ago, WarDlowe said:

If they hadn't seen the video I would say yeah, go ahead and tell him he's done.  But they had, all of them, all the way to the university president.  That's what makes this so despicable.  They'd seen this and still allowed him to come back, so at this point it is the administration that needs to be held accountable for their decision.  The only positive from how this was handled was the message it sends to the rest of the CFB world that you will have a ton of fallout if you handle it this way.  Maybe that will cause universities to handle it APPROPRIATELY from the get go rather than risking whether all the information will get out and cause them to have to deal with the backlash.  

I wish it mattered, but Mixon isn't the first of his kind. There have been plenty of other Div 1 football players who have committed atrocities, sometimes on tape, and still played ball, and their coaches have not suffered for letting them.  If we punished coaches for looking the other way, Saban, Mullen, and Fisher would be unemployed (I'd list Miles, but he already is), and they are just the coaches I could think of off the top of my head who prefer wins to building character. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Stoops speaks... http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18328194/bob-stoops-oklahoma-sooners-says-joe-mixon-suspension-not-enough-today

Sounds like some serious CYA but if he really does move forward with a zero tolerance policy, that is the best we can ask for. 

[Gowebb11 9,536]

One day maybe we'll get serious about violence in our society and start putting people in jail for assaulting others. 

[lionheartkc 6,150]

23 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

One day maybe we'll get serious about violence in our society and start putting people in jail for assaulting others. 

Too bad there isn't another Australia sized land mass that we could just send them all to.

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

1 hour ago, lionheartkc said:

Too bad there isn't another Australia sized land mass that we could just send them all to.

Antartica? Seems pretty miserable.

[AU64 10,122]

5 hours ago, keesler said:

What?  The incident happened in JULY 2014 - the OU Administration including the coaching staff knew and have known all along what happened and they chose to allow Mixon remain on scholarship and play ball for OU.  This Mixon news is old, why would the AD step in now, 2 years later and tell him he's done?  

Old news as far as OU is concerned.  Stoops has been getting raked over the coals on the talk shows today but that's about all that is going to happen IMO.  

Not that NCAA or college football worries too much about what is legal, but seems that further punishment might be considered to be in conflict with "double jeopardy".   Meanwhile,  I'm still waiting for Miss. State to explain how Simmons was able to play his first year after he beat the crap out of a woman laying on the ground. ..if you saw that video, it was about as bad ...maybe worse...IMO.      

 

[Sully to Beasley 643]

Why is this criminal not in jail? All he got was a slap on the hand, so what will stop this predator from hitting another woman? Maybe if this idiot was just a regular joe & not a college football player he would be wearing stripes and dodging prison gangs right now.

[AU-HANDLEY-TIGER 205]

22 hours ago, keesler said:

What?  The incident happened in JULY 2014 - the OU Administration including the coaching staff knew and have known all along what happened and they chose to allow Mixon remain on scholarship and play ball for OU.  This Mixon news is old, why would the AD step in now, 2 years later and tell him he's done?  

Oh sorry , didn't know there was a statute of limitations on doing the right thing. ?

And please read the entire post I was referring about the incident this season.

[tiger88 934]

Okay, I am going to say it. Mixon is a full fledged idiot. He is the most responsible person for what happened here, by far. However, the girl behaved like an idiot too. Mixon was obviously pissed and she pushed him then slapped/hit him in the throat. I'm guessing she was drunk? I am the first one to say don't hit a woman, but when a woman hits a man, it definitely increases the chances that she will be struck. The worst thing here for Mixon is she posed no real physical threat to him. He should have just removed himself from the situation, but he is obviously a blissfull idiot. 

 

[FoundationEagle 637]

On December 22, 2016 at 11:33 AM, lionheartkc said:

Stoops speaks... http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/18328194/bob-stoops-oklahoma-sooners-says-joe-mixon-suspension-not-enough-today

Sounds like some serious CYA but if he really does move forward with a zero tolerance policy, that is the best we can ask for. 

Lmao. Zero tolerance as long as we don't have to start it with this case Amirite?  Let's just start it later...sure. 

[I_M4_AU 8,285]

14 hours ago, FoundationEagle said:

Lmao. Zero tolerance as long as we don't have to start it with this case Amirite?  Let's just start it later...sure.