Keegan: Jayhawks need curfew

By Tom Keegan     Aug 29, 2005

He hasn’t bounced a basketball in a Kansas University uniform yet and already Rodrick Stewart has found himself on the wrong side of a headline, not to mention a “blunt instrument.”

Stewart needed four staples to close a cut in his head he received while trying to exit Abe and Jake’s Landing, KU coach Bill Self said in part in a statement released by the school.

Stop there, don’t bother to look into details, and you’ll be right there with the wolves who will use this against KU as negative-recruiting fodder.

Perception can be nine-tenths reality. Given the recent spate of negative publicity – from the stabbing of J.R. Giddens at Moon Bar to the gifts given to graduating players during Roy Williams’ tenure to football player Bruce Ringwood getting arrested at a Kenny Chesney concert for allegedly punching a husband and wife whose taste in music is as bad as his – the wolves will try to sell the perception of KU as an outlaw program.

They won’t bother to relate eyewitness accounts of the latest bar incident.

“The basketball players didn’t get into any fights,” said a student who wanted to be identified only by her first name, Danielle. “They were just trying to get out of there. They’re not stupid. They know they can’t get into trouble.”

Danielle’s not stupid, either. She knows if her last name is used as an eyewitness, her bosses at the sorority house will know she has broken policy by going to the bars before she has enough sister seniority, or whatever the Greeks call it. (Help me out here: As a college student, is any club that restricts bar hours really worth joining?)

Danielle broke one more rule by being out at closing time than the KU basketball players did.

“Rodrick’s being at Abe and Jake’s did not violate team policies,” Self said.

Time to change the policy, at least for now. Try a 10 p.m. bar curfew.

Double standard for athletes? You bet. And I don’t have a problem with it, just as I don’t have a problem with double standards that favor athletes in the admissions process.

Think Bobby Hurley could have gotten into Duke if he couldn’t play? Think Brandon Rush would have been admitted to KU if he didn’t have a killer crossover dribble and 42-inch vertical leap?

If he’s as good as NBA scouts say, Rush can do more than the typical 4.0 student to improve the academic standards of KU.

No, I haven’t gotten into Jeff Graves’ stash. My fingers aren’t crossed, and I’m not joking.

The better the Jayhawks, the more eyes will tune in to watch, and the more ears will hear about what a blast it is to watch a game at Allen Fieldhouse.

The exposure increases a university’s applicant pool and demands higher standards.

The fishbowl works in reverse, too. If a 4.0 English major gets cracked on top of the head, the masses yawn. If it happens to a big-time athlete, word spreads across the country and often gets distorted en route.

A curfew leaves less to chance. To repeat an earlier question: As a college student, is any club that restricts bar hours really worth joining? Answer: One that enables you to play hoops at the Fieldhouse on national TV while on full scholarship is.

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