FB: American Rivers Conference

[Purple Heys]

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."   

Seriously now...the courts don't support that position any longer...the concept of "fighting words" is antiquated.

The new construct is hostile environment.  And yes, it has been precedented that words, can in fact, hurt.

I can't say I agree or not, too many exceptions to the "way things used to be".  One thing's for sure the good old days weren't so good for some groups.

In some way this is helpful...Title IX, hate it or love it forces some equality of opportunity that wouldn't have "just come".  And without it my daughter doesn't have the same opportunity in athletics that my son got.  And yet it's all but destroyed D1 wrestling.  A hard price to pay...but lesser than denying a group opportunity based on gender.

Equal Opportunity doesn't mean it is necessary for any one individual or group to like it...as students or as student-athletes....you gotta deal with it.  Whether he's F---ing F----t or you're an Ignorant Redn--k or I'm an overofficious jerk...you button your lip and go about your business.

[warthog]

PH:

Which is why the "undecided face" icon accompanied my post. 

[warthog]

dktkkh:

What, what?

[Purple Heys]

PH:

Which is why the "undecided face" icon accompanied my post. 

Ahh...didn't get that.  Thanks for clarifying.

[Purple Heys]

So...I'm looking for the gutty little Rams to show something this weekend and upset the Feng Shui of the Iowa Conference this Saturday.

[Purple Heys]

...I might be looking a long time.  But I can deal with that.

A freshman QB against a veteran, opportunistic defense.

A reeling defense against a confident, record setting QB with his stud running back rounding back into shape.

Cornell turns the ball over like it's greased...Central sticks to the ball like Lester Hayes. (There's a reference for you.  8)  )

Sounds like some long odds.

Nonetheless...this is college football.  Other than Mount Union winning by 40, there are no constants...Stanford, Augsburg, App State.

Central has managed to play up and down to the level of their competition. 

Cornell has not put a good effort together for 3 weeks...This week, regardless of the score I'm looking for an effort representative of their talent...win or lose.

[dbljay21]

On to Yordi...

I became aware of the situation last weekend when I was in Waverly for Homecoming.  At that point, all I knew was that he'd been arrested for disorderly conduct for calling a gay student a homosexual slur that basically amounted to consecutive f-words (I'll let you figure them out on your own), and that he'd played in the two games since.

Since Saturday, I've tried to get to the bottom of what went down before I made a judgement on anything, but details are still fairly sketchy.  From what I know, the gay student in question was featured in a story in either the student newspaper of TV station about "Coming Out Week."  That was on Monday.  On Tuesday, some sort of incident occured between Yordi and the student.  Still not sure exactly what happened.  First I had heard that Yordi had said what he said to the student in passing.  However, since then it is sounding more and more like there was much more to it than that.  I know that whatever happened was enough that the gay student pressed charges and dropped a class that he had with Yordi.  Charges were filed, and Yordi was picked up on the Friday before the Loras game.  According to the story in the Wartburg newspaper this week, Yordi's attorney entered a not guilty plea last Friday.

First and foremost, what Yordi did was both stupid and reprehensible and he should be punished for it.  In this day and age, you can't just go around calling people whatever name, or slur in this case, that you see fit.  Moreover, as someone that is a represntative of Wartburg College, he should know that he ought to act more professionally.  All that being said, this is still a 20 year old kid, and 20 year olds make mistakes now and then.

I have no problem with Wartburg waiting for the legal process to take its course before disciplining Yordi.  He has a right to defend himself, and if a judge deems that he was not in the wrong, then there is no reason to punish he and his teammates.  However, if he is found guilty, or this incident is part of a larger pattern of poor behavior, I would have no problem with him being suspended for any number of games, up to a full season.

Also, his punishment, if one is necessary, should fit the crime.  This is, after all, only a simple misdemeanor.  If a player would not be suspended or booted from the team for being convicted of public intox or OWI, then Yordi should not be punished either.

From a legal sense, this is a pretty strange case.  As we all know, not all speech is protected, and speech that is deemed to "cause a public disturbance" is not protected, right along with slander and obscenity.  Whether or not what one person says to another can be enough to "cause a public disturbance" is up to the courts to decide.  

I am continually amazed at how the culture has changed at Wartburg since I was a freshman back in the fall of 2001.  I heard over the weekend that the campus homosexuality advocacy group now has a larger membership, and more straight members, than ever before.  What Yordi did was wrong in any timeframe, but he picked an especially bad time to do what he did on the Wartburg campus.  I can already hear some of the college's more knee-jerk, bleeding-heart professors beginning to argue that football players can get away with whatever they want, and its time to put an end to this.  One kid's actions are going to turn a large portion of the campus community against the football team, and athletes in general, and that is just not right.  

I wish I was wrong, but part of me thinks there wouldn't be the same level of outrage if Yordi had called a someone the n-word, or if it was a gay student harassing the starting quarterback.  Guess that's just the world we live in these days.

Well said sportsknight...+k for you.  Yordi shouldn't be punished until the legal process has run its course and determined whether or not he even needs to be punished.  I disagree with you about the comment about the N-word though...I think there would have been plenty of outrage if he used that slur towards someone.  However, I agree with you about your thoughts about the situation if the roles had been reversed and it had been a gay student doing the harassing.  But it is the world we live in.

[dbljay21]

I have no idea whether this is legit or not.  Looks to me like it was kind of the "kids being kids" and the one being offended had enough and got authorities involved.

Let me just say that I do not approve of this at all.  As a starting QB at any IIAC team you are in the spotlight, especially with the year Yordi is having.  This is definitely a disgrace to the Wartburg team to have a "captain-like" figure getting in trouble for disorderly conduct.

When I was in Waverly for Homecoming I was talking about going to the game with some of my college buddies, and one friend openly admitted he wasn't going (which floored me) because beside me and "The Hurricane" Thomsen and Mr. "All-American Academic" Goose and a couple of other guys on the team, the football players "were di*kheads" (not sure what if any explicit words are allowed on the board).  Through my orange tinted glasses I always thought the FB team was well respected, but I guess it was different to even some of the kids on campus at the time.

Incidents like the one with Yordi don't help out at all....I hope the coaching staff acts accordingly, I'm assuming any kind of run in with the law had them doing extra conditioning at practice.

It shouldn't surprise you that some people think football players are "d---heads"...and some of them are.  Some players believe that they are "entitled" to be a$$holes because they are on the football and that everything revolves around them.  I have seen it at both institutions of which I was associated.  You are 100% correct about the incident with Yordi...they do not help the situation at all.  And it is up to the coaches to discipline their kids and help change the perception of football players in the eyes of the people that do not like them 

+k to you for seeing the situation as unacceptable even through your orange-tinted glasses 

[dbljay21]

I got word of it 2 days ago. There are some troubling undertones to it, not for the fact that a small town "uncultured" guy called a young man of a different persuasion a name, but moreso that he can be arrested for it.
Not condoning what he did at all, in fact I think it was quite offensive and, for all intents and purposes, stupid.
But with laws in place now, namecalling can get you arrested.
These laws going through are going to have huge ramifications, and Iowa is on the "leading" front.
I've been told that one of the next steps is to make it illegal for pastors to preach against homosexuality because it is "hate speech."

Its not that is name-calling, Walston...its that it can be considered harassment, which is illegal.  It is ridiculous that people would even try to make preaching against homosexuality illegal and I don't think it will happen because it is a religious view and freedom of religion is protected in the Bill of Rights.  +k for you for seeing it as what it is...stupid.  Yordi could end up costing his team before the end of the year, and that is just stupid.

[TheOne89.1]

Wow, lots of different subjects (especially off the field) going on this board...frankly, I like it.  I like seeing everyone's opinions on current event type issues.

Neil Suckow:
My dad always told me that when a major decision (even a minor one) comes up in your life, you can get all the input and advice from family, friends, and people around you....but in the end it is YOU that has to make that decision.  What is best for YOU overall.  Not what is best for Coe or Wartburg or your girlfriend or Coach Raeburn or Coach Koehler, but what is best for you.  Of course, once you make that decision be prepared to live with any and all consequences.

Nick Yordi:
He made a mistake.  He called a homosexual student a slur.  He's probably made that same comment to kids back in high school (maybe jokingly, maybe to "attack" them).  He just learned a life lesson.  That's all apart of being a 20 year old kid.  I'm sure everyone of us has made mistakes similar or on the same level as this, and we learned from it.  One things Coach Willis used to stress at times, was it is great to win and we strive to win....but when it comes down to that final game of your career, he hopes that we have become better men by being a part of the Wartburg football team.  I'm sure many of the other IIAC teams have this same kind of mentality.  Pretty sure most of us on here (ex-players or not) have been a part of a team and have learned many life long lessons through the sport of football.

[DutchHawk]

I thought Yordi's comments were off the cuff to some kid...I mean we all did that all in jest during college. What sportsknight said (great post by the way...+k) makes it more lacivious in the fact that the kid was courageous to stand up for himself and others like him and Yordi made a conscious effort to cut him down. Yordi, as a "high profile" person on campus should have realized that it was not the right thing to do and he would more easily be singled out because of his position on the football team. Is Yordi an idiot...definitely. Should he sit out...innocent until proven guilty. Punishment...sensitivity class?? ...it is only a simple misdemeanor.

One last thing about the Suckow/Coe ordeal...this horse was beat to death months ago...let it go....he only has 3 more games left anyway.

Heys, I think it is more of opponents playing up to Centrals level than vice versa because the Dutch have had the target on their back for a long time...everyone wants to knock off Central because it is a rare victory.

[Walston Hoover]

Mr Breitbach-
  Are you related to Joe? If so, your kid could be going to Wartburg and drinking for free.

[sportsknight]

Mr Breitbach-
  Are you related to Joe? If so, your kid could be going to Wartburg and drinking for free.

I think I put at least one, if not two, of Joe's kids through Wartburg.

[youcantseeme]

Well said sportsknight...+k for you.  Yordi shouldn't be punished until the legal process has run its course and determined whether or not he even needs to be punished.  I disagree with you about the comment about the N-word though...I think there would have been plenty of outrage if he used that slur towards someone.  However, I agree with you about your thoughts about the situation if the roles had been reversed and it had been a gay student doing the harassing.  But it is the world we live in.

I don't think he should be punished at all.  First of all, stuff like this happens on every campus every day with both athletes and non-athletes alike.  Not saying it is right, but I am also not saying it is wrong.  Now I am not a dumb redneck, but to arrest someone for a slur is as reprehensible as the slur itself.  If convicted, he will have that on his personal record forever.  That's garbage in my opinion.  I understand that I may receive some backlash for this post, but i am prepared to defend it.

[youcantseeme]

There is no such thing as "reverse-racism."  It is just racism.  I know that Yordi will never be considered "cultured," but that doesn't necessarily make him a bad person, although he might be.  I have only met him a couple of times so I can't make that judgement.