*some of the 2013 additions were before Pachall's injury, some after*
I guess I'm a TCU fan. It's hard for me to tell anymore because over the last year they've done a lot to piss me off.
Now sure, I don't go there, I'm just a fan and alumni, and so why should I really care what they do. Well, I'll tell you:
!) As an alum, they keep asking me to give them money, which means I apparently have some value to them, even if it is just as a wallet.
@) When they fuck up, it reflects on all alumni. When your college does something incredibly stupid that shows up in the news, are you often greeted with snide comments and disparaging remarks about your educational home? Think Penn State people are sometimes reluctant to say where they went right now?
#) Since I have, in the past, gone to many athletic events and worn their colors and praised and defended the good name of the university, it makes it harder to not look like a dumbass when something goes bad.
In a horrible case of "be careful what you wish for", TCU joined the "big boy" conference called the Big12, which has 10 teams (because quite honestly, college football has reached a point that is so ludicrous that it's embarrassing that to be associated with institutions of higher learning). Apparently, one of the rules of being in a BB conference is that you must have student athletes and/or staff do idiotic, disgraceful, and sometimes horrifically illegal from time to time.
TCU wasted no time in making headlines back in February when a bunch of students, including 4 football players, were busted by authorities for dealing drugs (and maybe some other stuff, I'm not sure and I stopped caring). Weed was definitely involved, as well as cocaine, ecstasy, and some prescription stuff. The students arrested, including the football players (Tanner Brock, Devin Johnson, DJ Yendrey, and Tyler "Ty" Horn) were expelled almost immediately. You caught that, right? Expelled. No trial or anything, but expelled almost as soon as the public found out.
I agreed with it then and I agree with it now, although, as I'll get to, I also think these guys were treated unfairly.
*Note: It took me several days to get all of this written, so things happened as the story progressed.*
So, in August when it was discovered that Pachall failed the drug test that was administered to the entire team around the time of the drug bust, there was a collective facepalm by the TCU community. Now, initially, it seemed like it was just weed... that's all they found in his system. And despite being the roommate of Tanner Brock, there wasn't a huge amount of anger because... well... a college kid doing weed? Oh gosh! It's weed... big fucking deal. It's the opposite of a performance enhancing drug so really... who cares. Except Pachall had to open his troglodyte mouth and apologize and then admit to ALSO DOING COCAINE AND ECSTASY!
That, my friends, is a horse of a different color. Now, those guys that were dealing were immediately expelled because TCU is gonna be tough on bad behavior. So, Pachall was probably going to get some punishment, right? Suspended for a game or two maybe? Seems fair... might send a good message that even the star QB is not above punishment.
Except that they didn't do shit. Patterson apparently considered a suspension, but then opted to not do anything. There are various thoughts about this. Patterson and AD Del Conte said there was nothing in the code of conduct that said Pachall must be punished, so they decided not to. Wouldn't be surprised of there might have been some booster influence or something, but either way, doesn't really send a strong message about drug use does it. For god's sake, DON'T SELL THAT SHIT! But hey, if you get some in your hands, might as well use it, amiright?
Not to suggest that any of this is equal to what happened at Penn State, but the decision to not do anything about Pachall in August because they weren't mandated or obligated to do anything based on rules or laws is basically the same defense used by Joe Pa supporters as to why he didn't do anything wrong.
*Resumed on September 3, 2013*
Okay, so recap: Casey Pachall got busted for drunk driving in October 2012. It made the news so TCU was unable to sweep it under the rug and protect him like they had in the past. So, they "suspended" him and he "de-enrolled" and checked himself into treatment or something. And then about three months later, he was back in school (or at least enrolled... hell if I know whether he attends classes) and practicing with the team.
As we got closer to the start of the football season, the speculation about Pachall starting at the QB position really started to heat up. Of course, let's be honest... we all knew it was going to be Pachall over Boykin. Patterson acted all coy, but he all but admitted to it when he said that if they were equal, the most experienced would start. Whatever... everybody knew it was gonna be Pachall. Hell, everybody was talking about how amazing Pachall was gonna be and how he was gonna be a major player this year.
Now, before we go into Game 1, let me just say that Treyvone Boykin should have been the starter. He should have been named the starter weeks ago. I don't know what they looked like in practice, but if Pachall and Boykin were really that close together, Boykin was the correct choice.
Last year, Casey Pachall was the guy. He was always gonna be the guy. He and everybody else on that team knew he was the guy, The coaches knew it, the fans knew it, the media knew it. Barring an injury, there was no reason to think Boykin would ever be put into the position of being the guy. And yet, Pachall, despite knowing the responsibility he had to everyone, allowed the event to occur. And so, amidst all of the confusion and chaos, Freshman Treyvone Boykin was thrust into the position of being The Guy and being The Guy that had to lead TCU through their first Big12 campaign. Pachall fucked up royally and when he fucked up, it affected a whole bunch of people. He let down his teammates, his coaches, his fellow students, alumni, and fans. And Boykin came in and did remarkably well. Seriously, he salvaged a season that had suddenly become bleak looking.
And that's why Boykin should have been the starter.
Boykin, unless he was just blown out of the water by Pachall in practice, earned the starting position by stepping up and rescuing his team last year... rescuing them from the terrible position they were put in by Pachall.
But of course, that isn't what happened.
Last Saturday in whatever-the-fuck-they-are-calling-the-place-where-the-Dallas-Cowboys-play-now Stadium, Gary Patterson made Pachall & Boykin co-Captains and they both started the first offensive play... except that Boykin was a receiver. Pachall was the QB. Yeah, I guess they threw Boykin a bone by letting him be on the field to start, but not as QB.
I suppose there is the possibility that Boykin doesn't WANT to be the starting QB and would rather be a receiver, but I don't see how. And if that were the case, there are other QBs waiting in the wings and they would have been vying for the back-up job instead of this pretend QB battle that we had.
But anyway, Pachall got the call. And effectively, Patterson told Boykin, "Hey, thanks for bailing us out last year after that other guy that we did a shitty job of controlling nearly destroyed our season, but even though you appear to be about as good, we're gonna give the other guy his job back."
And then the best part? Pachall sucked and was benched in the 3rd quarter. Boykin came in and once again, gave the team some hope. Granted, he wasn't able to pull off a victory, but the offense showed more life than it had previously.
So why has Patterson already said that Pachall will be back as the starter for the next game? Seriously... what is the deal? Has the "Pachall Redemption Story" become so important that they are just going to keep putting him out there until he gets it right? Does Patterson & co now feel that if Pachall doesn't achieve great success that this whole affair will look even worse?
I have to wonder what the locker room feeling is towards each QB. Judging by how the LSU game played out, I have to wonder if the rest of the team would prefer to have Boykin playing.
TCU has done such a shitty job in all of this. They really have.
Pachall has been a problem for awhile. Apologists (re: people who think that somebody that can play a game really well should be cut some slack) will say everybody deserves a second chance. Yeah, maybe so, but this isn't Pachall's second chance. Hell it isn't even his third chance. This is at least his 4th chance. There was failing the drug test during the sting, then there was publicly admitting that he did more than just weed (i.e. yeah, I admit I did more than what you found out), and THEN comes the drunk driving thing.
Now, I can perhaps consider the drug test and admission of drug use (6 months later) as 1 offense, although that still means this is his 3rd chance. But there was also this other incident that happened :
This happened back in Summer 2011. Every Day Should Be Saturday posted a "story" that featured this picture. At the time, it was mostly about his tattoos but the whole thing went wonky pretty quick. Apparently Casey's mom requested that EDSBS (and some other websites) remove the photos because they were embarrassing (you can also see some of the other pics at various websites by doing a google search). Supposedly, according to one source that nobody had ever heard of, this was Casey and his girlfriend and some of their friends and Casey's FAMILY out at the lake. I have my doubts.
Now, Casey was under 21 when these pictures were taken. Supposedly, there was no alcohol involved. Again, I have my doubts.I'm not a prude. I really don't give a shit what these guys do in their own time. I honestly don't care if they drink, have orgies, do drugs, snort ants, or punch hippies. However, if anything they do is illegal and they get caught, I do have a problem with that. See, that goes back to the "representing the university" thing.
Really, though, I'm not sure that there is anything particularly bad going on here. Stupid, yes, but bad? Nah. Well... except..
I don't know everything going on here but I DO know that the girl in this picture, Casey's girlfriend, was suspended from the TCU Women's Soccer Team after these came out and that effectively ended her career. It was probably the soccer coach's decision to punish her, and, full disclosure, he was a dick who played favorites anyway, as opposed to the school or athletic department. But then again... what happened here that one coach felt was suspension worthy and another (Patterson) didn't? She doesn't even have a cup and doesn't appear to be doing anything worse than Pachall. Either Patterson, supposedly a strict disciplinarian and strong supporter of character, let his star QB slide or the soccer coach was a fucking asshole. Honestly, I tend to think it was the latter, but it would still seem to me that the athletic department could have stepped and in and said, "Hey Coach Asshole, what's with the iron fist? There wasn't much going on here?"
I have to wonder what the whole story is and why there is a smell of double standard.
Additionally, Girlfriend is still (at last check) Pachall's girlfriend and has stuck by him through all of this. She's either incredibly noble or incredibly stupid. Not sure which. Especially since friends of mine who also played soccer with her and also some other folks that have history in TCU athletics have said that Pachall is a douchebag that would cheat on her while she was right there. Casey is not universally loved by those that know him.
So, that brings me to the heart of the matter.
Pachall has done stupid things or just flat out fucked up more than once. In that same time span, his girlfriend was thrown off the soccer team, his roommate and three other teammates were expelled for drugs, another expelled for burglary, and one more suspended for two games this season for undisclosed team violations. Five players expelled in short order after their first public arrest... not after a conviction or anything, just tossed right out before the handcuffs stopped being cold against the wrists. And another who actually was suspended for... something... we have no idea what... but it was against the rules. Isn't failing drug tests against the rules?
Now, again, I am behind the expulsions and suspensions (based on the information presented) but Pachall in reality, got a slap on the wrist. And here's where I have a big problem with the way TCU handled this.
Had they really wanted to make a statement about no tolerance for bad behavior, every one of those fools that failed the drug tests, Pachall included, should have been benched for the first two games of the season for breaking team rules. But no... and then when Pachall admits to the drugs and so that's out there, Patterson and friends could have benched him for 2 games then, to at least make it look like they were serious. But no... and then 2 months later, dumbass gets busted for drunk driving. And if anybody thinks this was the first time he was out in the middle of the night driving drunk... daaaaaaamn you be naive. Hell, I saw on another player's Facebook page that he and Pachall were out the night BEFORE the arrest and it was like 3 AM.
Either Patterson knew how messed up Pachall was at that point and DIDN'T try and head it off at the pass or "get him help", in which case Patterson failed Pachall as a coach. OR Patterson had no clue about all of this and Pachall had learned nothing from his previous fuck-ups. I don't care which one it is. In either case everybody involved comes out with a black eye. And I haven't even mentioned his teammates, friends, and girlfriend... none of whom seemed concerned enough about Pachall's "problem" to get him to do something. Honestly... NOBODY in his circle could tell that things were going in the wrong direction?
What should have happened is that Patterson told him he needs help and that he could come back to school, but he was done as a TCU football player. His behavior affected too many people for too long to just get to play victim and come back.
In June, when LSU-transfer David Jenkins "turned himself into police [June 13, 2013] after two warrants were issued for his arrest on suspicion of burglary of a habitation" he was immediately removed from the football team and the statement from TCU was “'When our student-athletes do not conduct themselves as proper members of the campus community, they lose the privilege of representing Texas Christian University and wearing the Horned Frogs uniform,' TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte said in a statement".
Now, let's break that down for a second. David Jenkins voluntarily turned himself in (i.e. NOT arrested) after warrants were issued for SUSPICION of burglary. Pachall was arrested when he was caught drunk driving. Yeah, I'm gonna say it... double fucking standard. Particularly since Pachall had been in trouble before and received no apparent punishment.
I thought Chris Del Conte was smarter than this but his comments make him look like a complete buffoon. Ignoring the fact for a moment that Jenkins had not even had a day in court to argue his guilt or innocence, even if Jenkins was guilty of burglary, how do Pachall's indiscretions NOT fall under a "student"-athlete not conducting themselves as a proper member of the campus community?
And then Devonte Fields was suspended for unnamed violations but it sounds like drugs might have been involved and Fields apparently did 135 hours of community service. He was supposed to be suspended for the first two games, but he came back out in the second half of game 2. Of course, that's still 1.5 more games than Pachall sat out before his arrest. Patterson said the “The key for me is it’s still about teaching life lessons" with regards to Fields, which is great, but where were those life lessons in regards to Pachall leading up to his arrest. Let me just reiterate that Pachall openly admitted to doing drugs and failing a drug test and had no apparent punishment. Is it really any surprise then, that he just kept pushing the envelope until it fell off the table?
In game 2, Pachall started again. And he wasn't very effective. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't impressive in the least. Before the half, he went down with an injury (broken arm) and Boykin took over. The offense almost immediately went into a different gear, indicating that once again, this is and should always have been Boykin's Team.
Early reports indicate that Pachall's post-surgery recovery will be about 8 weeks. If this is the case, then at best he'll be back for the final three games (Iowa State, Kansas State, Baylor). I have questions:
Will Patterson still insist on starting him as soon as he is deemed "healthy"?
If Boykin is rolling and the games are tight and meaningful, will Pachall ever see the field?
Patterson has said he won't Redshirt him, so could this be the end of Pachall's TCU career (I hope)?
Will anybody in the NFL want him?
Should Pachall have even been brought back in light of his lackluster performance? Wasn't he more of a distraction than an asset?
I imagine, that if there is no Big12 Championship on the line, Pachall will play again. But unless Boykin is just terrible, there is no legitimate reason for Pachall to start.
I genuinely hope that this Casey Pachall Love Fest will end now. Looking back at his 2012 games, I have to wonder if he was really as good as the hype or if the drugs and partying had already taken a toll. He played 4 games: Grambling State, Kansas, Virginia, SMU. Those teams went a combined 13-36 last year, including Division II opponent Grambling, which won 1 out of 12 games. This was not stellar competition. So it's hard to know how much better TCU would have been with Pachall as opposed to Boykin. But I would wager that had he not been arrested and the partying continued, the season might well have been a more disappointing bust. Who knows. Maybe TCU would have gone undefeated and won the National Championship. Probably not, but it will always be the "Season of What If?" thanks to stupid Pachall and the irresponsible administration that was supposed to keep him in line.
I wish I could say that after all of this that I'm still shouting "Go Frogs!" every week, but I can't. I've grown pretty tired of the Culture of Athletic Apologetics that goes on in this country and TCU really let me down. I was honestly stupid enough to believe that they would actually remain consistent, especially after the drug bust. But they coddled Pachall and it had disastrous effects. And if they can't do any better than the rest, why should I bother? What do I really get out of this relationship besides poorer and exhausted from fruitlessly defending and promoting a school that rewards me by fucking up my season tickets and pricing me out of games?
Other "fans" have made it pretty clear that I won't be missed, and they are most likely right... which is just another reason for my current state of indifference. I have better things to do and now that I was written this cathartic post, I've said pretty much all I have to say. I'm glad that this has finally played out and I feel a whole hell of lot better.
Thanks for being douchebags, Casey Pachall and TCU... I have a lot more time to concentrate on things that matter and not about glorifying your stupid.
