Yale QB's tough decision that didn't happen

Yale QB Patrick Witt was lauded by some in the sports world by giving up his chance at a Rhodes Scholarship to play against Harvard.

It turns out he wasn't a candidate as Yale withdrew its endorsement because of sexual assault allegation. Witt, though, still talked about the tough choice he had to make.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/sports/ncaafootball/at-yale-the-collapse-of-a-rhodes-scholar-candidacy.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=yale&st=cse#

 

Joe Scarborough just went off on this article for the same reasons.

 

The two prior arrests are probably coming back to bite him. Does this happen to someone who stayed out of trouble?

 

Terrible piece, in my opinion. I love the NYT, but they do this from time to time. Reminds me a little bit of the McCain lobbyist story. They didn't have it, but they still weren't willing to just swallow their resources and deal with it. So they toss up a half-assed version of what they were shooting for. Same here.

Basically, it seems like the press fucked up this story to begin with. Like the NYT story says - about 50 inches in - his original statement was, "I will be playing against Harvard on Saturday. I have withdrawn my Rhodes application."

He didn't connect the dots, and I'm not even sure he meant to imply that he had withdraw his Rhodes application in order to play in the game. But everyone took it and ran with it. And now, his life is basically ruined in the Google age.

 

It's the kind of story the Times would normally ignore, even as other outlets reported on it.

They would decide the story didn't meet their standards.

Instead, they "broke" it.

 

I'd probably sit on the story, too, if the woman didn't file charges.

I wouldn't print a story about the QB heroically turning down a Rhodes Scholarship, though.

 

This. ^^^

 

I thought Witt connected the dots and said he was withdrawing his application because he wanted to play. If I'm wrong, I was mistaken. If nothing else, he certainly let the misperception progress.

NYT's story is not about the whether the allegation is true or not, that's a red herring, the fact is that his application was withdrawn well before the game and it basically was never a either or issue, even though Witt either (1) told that story or (2) let everyone believe that story.

 

He let everyone believe the story, but I think that by the time he was aware it had been interpreted that way, it had already blown up. I'm not condoning him continuing the charade, but I sympathize with him. Everyone, including the New York Times and ESPN and everyone in between, is descending on New Haven to do this particular story. I suspect that he was afraid of awkwardness more than he wanted to engage in self-aggrandizement.

The initial press release could just as easily be read as saying, "I am playing BECAUSE I withdrew my Rhodes Scholar application" as "I withdrew my Rhodes Scholar application BECAUSE I am playing." In fact, I am apt to believe that he meant to indicate the former.

 

Four different high schools, two colleges, two arrests. Certainly a young man I would deem unlikely to play the situation to his advantage.