FULMER CUP ENTRANT: NAVY

Considering Navy’s extremely good record when it comes to discipline and the like, coupled with the fact that these young men graduate to go protect our asses, I’d have to suggest we tread lightly on this.

I know Owens was the captain, but do any of Navy’s players really receive “star player” status? For you who don’t follow the program, it’s the system that makes it so effective (although their is a good deal of individual talent) I submit the fact that Navy used backup Brian Hampton effectively this year when Owens struggled.

Just my .02 as a Navy fan, considering I have not heard any other disciplinary problems out of the Academy or Owens in recent memory.

We’re treading very, very lightly on it for multiple reasons:

1. Service academy, and not Tennessee, for example.
2. Rape, which isn’t funny unless you’re watching Yellowbeard.
3. Nothing proven or decided yet.

Accd. to the linked article, three former football players at Navy did leave the academy after being charged with rape in 2001, though the outcome of the case isn’t mentioned.

Sexual Assault / Rape is a very real problem with big time college athletes in general – and especially at a service academy. It’s certainly worth the 8 points, but I’m not sure how “funny” it is.

I do know that if I was expecting “star QB” treatment in a case like this (Michael Bishop says hi) Navy is the last place I think you’ll see it.

Well, rape isn’t funny unless you are indeed raping a clown.

Dude’s gonna get thrown into the federal, pound-him-in-the-ass brig.

Do they want answers? Or do they want the truth? If so, can they handle it?

Orson/Stranko: Tread lightly on this subject or the Pennsylvania chapter of N.O.W. will be all over you like a bitch in heat.

Actually a technicality, but Owens’ eligibility ended in the Poinsetta bowl. The new starting QB was going to be determined in Spring practices. Hence, not quite sure that Navy should be entered in the Fulmer cup since Owens is technically no longer a part of the team.

Quick rule of thumb: if you’re innocent, demand a court martial; if you’re guilty as hell, scream for a civilian trial. Interesting to see which way Owens leans.

I thought it was only funny if you’re wearing a clownsuit. ?

Absurd. Treat this lightly because these kids go off to die for WMD, er, freedom? No thanks. I’ll say innocent until proven guilty, but I’ll match the military’s crime record with any major college athletics program. You say U of Colorado, I say Tailhook. In fact, shooting a gun in an apartment complex seems the least of what happens in some base housing (although the service academies seem to have better behavior). But still, what does “tread lightly” even mean? Is it OK for me to reflect on the cultures of sexual violence against women that permeate the military and athletics cultures in the U.S. just so long as I wear my team colors on Saturday and keep my magnetic yellow ribbon sticker on my SUV? I vote that Navy should be the current frontrunner for the Fulmer Cup.

With all duo respect, the situation is a good deal more complex then it appears. Rape is a serious accusation, but at the academy even “consensual sex” can get you kicked out. I don’t want to spread any rumors, but the discussions within the naval academy and other SA boards all affirm this. My invocation of the Naval Heritage and academy discipline is not meant to wave patriotism in anyone’s face, but to remind everyone that these men were cut above and chosen out of thousands to embark on something much greater then themselves. Cadet Owens is no different, and from what I’ve heard of his personality this is indeed out of character. Now you can sit there and talk about how PC you are and that he’s no different then any run of the mill SEC or ACC kid under the same circumstances, but the reality is that the Naval Academy doesn’t run on the same principles they do. With that being said I’d just like to affirm that if this is indeed rape and is proven, then I have no sympathy for Cadet Owens and extend my disappointment to the Academy. But for the time being, I’m willing to watch this situation unfold.

Regardless of the out come you can bet Owens will not be in the Navy anymore. All they have to do is prove that they had sex, regardless of whether or not it is rape, and he will be gone. Naval Academy Rules. If he is found guilty of rape, he will have a nice place in Leavenworth for a while.

Just for the record, students at the Naval Academy are called “Midshipmen”, or commonly called “Mids”. My giflfriend goes to the Naval Academy and she tells me that any woman who stands up for herself is mostly shot down by the administration there and labeled a trouble maker for the rest of her tenure there.

Either way this is a sad situation, and unfortunately we may never know what happened.

John Chile, with all due respect. The men of the Naval Academy are not a cut above. At least until they decide to forego the life of a squid and enter OCS to become a Marine. Maybe a SEAL is a cut above, but I’m pretty sure they don’t exist. Also, you know what Churchill thought about British Naval Traditions. They were in no particular order, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash…so maybe rape at the Naval Academy isn’t that far fetched.

P.S. This is all tongue in cheek, but the dudes at the Naval Academy are on the whole no more above commiting felonies than your average SEC or ACC chowderhead. I mean an appointment to the Naval Academy does require a congressional nomination.

John Chile, I’m a US Army officer. I’ve worked with plenty of West Point grads, and have run across an Annapolis grad or two. Most of them are great people, JUST LIKE THE OFFICERS WHO WENT OCS/ATTENDED ROTC. Going to the Academy doesn’t somehow make you “above” anything—if it’s proven he committed rape, then he deserves to go to Leavenworth. I’ve been to the jail(US Army Combined Arms Staff School was located there), and those cells ain’t no joke. There are plenty of Academy grads who’ve spent time there making big rocks into little ones.

Academy or ROTC/OCS, Officer or enlisted, there are plenty of shitbags in the Military—I’ve worked with a few. I’ve had a good friend raped and killed by a soldier in my unit. I’ve also seen soldiers do the kinds of things they make movies and write history books about. Bottom line, the military, INCLUDING the Academies, have all kinds—good and bad.

If she looks anything like that Jordana Brewster in the Touchstone Pictures blockbuster (in theatres NOW!), then to paraphrase Chris Rock, I ain’t sayin’ he should’ve raped her, but I understand.

Midshipmen Owens will definitely NOT be given “star QB” treatment. I graduated from USNA in the mid 1990s and while I was there our best receiver was caught on spring break using a fake ID to get into a bar. He was quickly separated (a.k.a. “kicked out”) from the Academy for an Honor Violation because using a fake ID is LYING about your age. How many of you used fake IDs in college?

While the Academies do have all kinds, can anyone defend a non-military academy for having rules that strict and stick by them? Midshipmen Owens has a major problem, but tell me that any university holds their students nearly as accountable as any of the Academies. Maybe Citadel, VMI, etc.

Also as an FYI, midshipmen who graduate and choose to enter the Marine Corps do not go to OCS but rather directly to TBS (The Basic School) for Marine Officers, regardless of their Marine career path (ground, air, armor, etc.). OCS is for officers who did not attend a boot camp type of training and USNA time counts towards that requirement.

I agree rape is not at all funny.

I think the concept of rape was pretty hilarious in Half-Baked though.

If rape is an 8 pointer then the 6 teams that ass raped UT this year just jumped in the quest for the cup.

I stand corrected.