Sandberg On Sports

HEYTVELT AND DAVIS NEED TO LEARN FROM CRUCIAL ERROR

In my column last Friday, I wrote about how Bulldogs' center Josh
Heytvelt should be the focal point of the team's offense. Now, due to
a shameful turn of events that transpired just hours later, it looks
like we're not going to see if that strategy would've worked for the Bulldogs.

By now everyone has heard the story. Needless to say, Heytvelt and
freshman Theo Davis have been suspended indefinitely from the team
after being arrested for possession of marijuana and psychedelic
mushrooms last Friday.

At the moment, they have not been convicted of anything, and both
players are claiming innocence. However, the damage has already been done.

And still, I believe they deserve a second chance.

However, I also know that no one gets off scot-free, and first the
two players need to understand the far-reaching effects of simply
being in a situation where you are around these drugs, regardless of
whether the allegations are true and the drugs actually belonged to
these players.

Just by being around the drugs, Heytvelt and Davis let down their
teammates, as the suspensions mean that the Bulldogs chances of
making the NCAA tournament will be judged based on their performance
without the conference's most dominating center. A star player needs
to be a leader on and off the court, and just as a team would never
tolerate it's star player giving up on his team during a game, that
star player also can't allow his off-court actions to affect the
future of the team.

Also let down were their coaches, who were teaching them to be not
just great basketball players but great men as well. Gonzaga coaching
staffs have had a long tradition of expecting excellence from their
players both on and off the court and Mark Few and company are no
exception. He respects his players and instills a sense of respect in
them, so that they become better men off the court. Before the press
conference announcing the arrest, I had never heard coach Few ever
say he was "shocked" and "disappointed" by a player's actions.

Heytvelt and Davis also let down the university. They brought
negative attention to a school that strives to teach its students to
go out and make the world better through imagination, intelligence,
and moral judgment. When two players on the school's nationally
famous basketball team decide to risk being around illegal drugs,
they make a mockery of the school's mission statement.

But mostly, Heytvelt and Davis let themselves down. Davis, a redshirt
freshman, put his future with the team in serious risk. Heytvelt in
particular put his future as a basketball player in jeopardy, as now
he could be viewed as a player with a checkered history.

And yet, through all the whirlwind of emotions that have swept up the
school, I really hope Heytvelt and Davis get a second chance from the
community. They made a mistake, and now they have to go through the
consequences of that mistake; I would expect nothing less. I'm not
saying they should be let off, in fact I believe they should be
punished if the claims are true. No one should get a free pass. The
key here is that they learn from the effects of what they did wrong.
They'll learn from their punishment and, most importantly, they won't
do it again.

Everyone makes mistakes, and while the high profile nature of these
two young men made this situation all the more public, what matters
now is that they atone for their mistakes.

The Gonzaga community may have been shocked, appalled and
disappointed by the events, but what needs to happen is for the
community to let go of the anger and to move forward to make the
situation right.

These two young men are still our brothers at this school. They may
have fallen, but now the community needs to let them know why they
fell so that they don't do it again and then lend them a hand to
bring them back up.

If we can't do that, then what does that say about us?