admin @ Sun, 2006-09-03 11:00
MIAMI - As if college coaches didn't have enough to worry about, they now find themselves holding their breath as they surf the Internet and discover athletes' personal diaries that would make Madonna blush.
With a few clicks of a mouse, coaches and athletic department administrators are exploring the underbelly of their student-athletes' social world, electronically snooping on things that until a few years ago remained guarded within the confines of locker rooms, dorm hallways and fraternity and sorority houses.
Much of what they're finding on social networking websites MySpace.com and Facebook.com is harmless, sophomoric collegiate jocularity. But they are also finding sexually explicit photos and recordings, an alarming amount of profanity, references to being ``crunk'' (crazy drunk), and images that could be embarrassing to their universities. The sites could also prove a particular headache for college athletes because overzealous boosters, agents, gamblers and the media have easy access.
It has become such a concern that college athletic departments across the nation are cracking down, demanding that athletes sanitize their profiles. The NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee discussed at its recent meeting, and some Florida schools have already issued written warnings and policies.
The Miami Herald searched for more than 500 football players from the University of Miami, University of Florida, Florida State, Florida International and Florida Atlantic and found that more than half have personal webpages on one or both sites.
Seventy-six of 100 UM players have pages, 55 of 113 at UF, 51 of 92 at FSU, 59 of 93 at FIU, and 57 of 116 at FAU. Players interviewed said they join the free websites because it's an easy way to keep up with their friends. MySpace boasts 100 million members and the college-exclusive Facebook has 8 million users.
Scroll down the MySpace page of UM safety Brandon Meriweather (aka Hit-Stick 19) and you'll find dozens of provocative photos of his female ``friends'' in g-strings. There is also a series of photos of a woman stripping that ends with a shocking nude image of her with male genitalia superimposed over her crotch. Apparently, that photo made the rounds because it also shows up on the MySpace page of UF cornerback Lamont Sheppard.
FAU wide receiver Chris Bonner claims he is selective in what he posts. ``You don't want to make a bad name for your school,'' he said. And yet, he opens his MySpace profile with: ``I'm not gay, so homos stay away.'' He also includes close-up photos of women's bare buttocks, a cartoon of stick figures having oral sex, and a photo of two young men at a party with revolvers sticking out of their waistbands.
Every once in a while, you'll run across a clean site. UM placekicker Jon Peattie writes about his love for soccer and has posted G-rated photos of his trips to Europe and Mexico. And UF defensive back Lumar Benley's writes: ``I've had a beautiful girlfriend for five years. I'm a very religious person who lives my life in that manner.'' He states that drugs are ``poison'' and that he doesn't drink.
UM football coach Larry Coker has addressed the issue with his players on more than one occasion since several Hurricanes were exposed as members of underground rap group ``7th Floor Crew'' and their lewd recording surfaced on the Internet last season.
Other schools have taken it a step further. On Monday, FIU athletes received a detailed two-page warning letter from athletic director Rick Mello reminding them that ``almost anything you post on your personal site may be viewed by others'' and asking them not to post obscene language, pictures from parties with alcohol, or references to drugs or sex. Mello said the school will also e-mail boosters to remind them that contacting athletes on these sites could be a rules violation.
Last December, after FSU coaches did spot checks and were shocked at what they found, student-athletes were given 10 days to clean up their webpages or face disciplinary action. The threats seem to have worked. The Seminole players' websites examined contained nothing objectionable, and some players even exercised the privacy option to block strangers from seeing their profiles.
On March 15, UF athletes got a letter from associate athletic director Lynda Tealer alerting them of the perils of ``sharing inappropriate information'' via the Internet.
Though student-athletes have the legal right to maintain websites similar to those of their non-athlete classmates, the schools have the right to impose regulations, punish, and revoke scholarships. Student-athletes sign a code of conduct, and are subject to myriad rules, everything from curfew to dress codes to bans on alcohol consumption.
Despite the warnings, many athletes with webpages continue to post photos of scantily-clad women, include background music with vulgar lyrics, and use the N-word and F-word freely. It is not the type of image universities spend countless millions of dollars to maintain.
You will also find a cartoon video of ``Spongebob Hempants'', in which the popular cartoon character extols the virtues of marijuana. Some of the ``friends'' who have posted messages on Houston's page go by names too lewd to print in a newspaper.
At gatorzone.com, the official website for University of Florida's athletic programs, the profile of offensive lineman Andrew Johnson indicates that he was named a Florida High School Athletic Association 5A Scholar-Athlete and won the Brian Piccolo Scholar Award in 2005.
But according to a story in the UF student newspaper - the Independent Alligator - Johnson's Facebook page at one time included an incriminating photo of him doing a ``keg stand,'' during which a person is held upside down over a keg and tries to drink as much beer as possible. The photo has been removed.
At LSU, two male swimmers were kicked off the team after they ridiculed the coach on Facebook.com. Track coaches at University of California threatened athletes with suspensions after discovering Facebook photos in which they were violating the team policy barring in-season alcohol consumption.
The University of Kentucky recently self-reported to the NCAA that some of its boosters had posted on the MySpace page of a recruit from West Virginia, urging him to join the Wildcats, which could be a recruiting violation.
FIU defensive lineman Audric Adger, said people are not as careful about what they put on the Internet as they are about what they say, and ``it can come back and haunt you.
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