Mixon Suspended From Sooners
Highly touted freshman running back Joe Mixon has been suspended from the Oklahoma Sooners as police investigate allegations that he allegedly punched a woman in an altercation last week.
“Joe Mixon is not reporting for team activities at this time,” an Oklahoma spokesman said in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the situation.
A 20-year old fellow Oklahoma student alleges that Mixon punched her so hard that he broke a bone in her face.
Mixon’s attorney, Kevin Finlay told Soonerscoop.com that his client was not suspended.
“It’s our understanding that he’s not being suspended, that he’s simply being held out from team activities, pending the conclusion of the investigation,” Finlay said. “My understanding is that that’s University of Oklahoma policy, and that he’s being treated as would any student athlete.”
Our take: Violence towards women is not a new epidemic and i’d like to see the legal process play out before condemning this young man. With that said, the Sooners are absolutely doing the right thing by “suspending” him and let’s hope what the woman is alleging isn’t true.
A Step In The Right Direction
The NCAA approved a fund to settle a class action head-injury lawsuit on Tuesday. The fund will start with $70 million to help diagnose is former athletes in the contact sports- football, hockey, lacrosse and soccer, among others- have suffered brain injuries.
This fund does not pay any players directly, if they are deemed to have suffered these injuries, but it will help diagnose them and then the athletes can sue individually for damages and this would help determine the severity of the damage.
“There’s also no support for players actually suffering from those conditions, from effects of TBI [traumatic brain injury] from that sport,” National College Players Association President Ramogi Huma points out. “They should have gotten support for players as part of the settlement rather than forcing players to fend for themselves.
“And we know what the regular NCAA rule-making process is like. It could take years, or they could shoot it down. The settlement represents yet another refusal of the NCAA to protect players from unnecessary brain trauma. Instead of agreeing to rules that protect players’ brains by reducing contact in practices and mandatory return-to-play protocols, such protections would remain optional.”
Our take: Ramogi Huma makes some solid points in this and when you think about all the athletes who have suffered brain injuries, $70 million doesn’t seem like a huge amount of money to go around. With that said, this is definitely a step in the right direction.
