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LSU football has experienced this phenomenon in recent weeks, and they continued to return media attention to football with a 19-6 win over SEC rivals Mississipi State. Remember that nasty bar fight which resulted in arrests of LSU players, ...
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[ Image Source ] Sports offer an escape from the intense pain of memory; when you turn on the TV to watch a game, all your problems fade into the background. This holds true for a team's problems, at least as they relate to media coverage of them. LSU football has experienced this phenomenon in recent weeks, and they continued to return media attention to football with a 19-6 win over SEC rivals Mississipi State. Remember that nasty bar fight which resulted in arrests of LSU players, one of which was of starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson? It seems like it happened millenia ago. Since the fight, LSU has done nothing but win, beating up on two Top 25 teams on the way to compiling a 3-0 record. They're the most recent example of the amnesia-inducing power of sports.
In sports, winning and money trump everything that may happen off the field or in the locker room. Personality conflicts magically dissipate with success, and felony battery charges fall into the cobwebs of the memory when a college football team looks like it could have a dominant season. This happens in virtually every sport before almost every season. Think back to the New England Patriots and SpyGate, which was immediately overshadowed by the Pats' historic 2007 season (which was subsequently negated by their karmic loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl). More recently this happened with the NFL and the lockout. Oh, the NFL owners are BEST BUDDIES with the players again! That's fantastic news because we all love football.
LSU fans certainly love their football too. In beating Mississippi St. with a withering defense that looks good enough to win a National Championship, the Tigers have done more than rile up their supporters. They've buried the story of ex-starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson's alleged violence. Quarterback Jarrett Lee has been remarkably efficient (ah, we love the ease with which you can deliver a backhanded compliment to a quarterback by calling him "efficient"), and the defense, as mentioned above, is frighteningly good.
So why does it matter that LSU's performance on the field would overshadow alleged law-breaking players off it? Because college sports have been in the news recently, in case you haven't noticed. The Atlantic piece on the subject of paying college athletes epitomizes the growing trend towards acknowledging the fundamentally unfair practices in which the NCAA engages. Still once these games start, no one wants to think about colleges robbing players blind. We just want to watch football. We don't care about Jordan Jefferson the guy he allegedly beat up; it's more fun to talk about LSU-Miss. St.
SO. This is your SportsOlogy lecture of the day. It will be the last one, since there are plenty of dick pics and gambling issues to discuss later. But it's going to be difficult to change anything about college football as long as the games are so damn entertaining.