Marve

Now that the Marve situation has cooled down a bit over the past few days, I feel like I can address the controversy with a reasonable amount of objectivity.

Generally, and perhaps predictably, the media's coverage of the Marve saga has congealed into one big, anti-UM hit piece. Coach Shannon has been portrayed as nothing less than a petty, classless little man taking advantage of a poor, defenseless victim. This interpretation is really not all that surprising as the media hates Miami and American society in general seems to have elevated the victim over the achiever in recent years. In short, Americans love bitching about the little guy getting pushed around by the big bully (whoever he/she may be).

What I find absolutely ridiculous about the whole situation is that talking heads at news outlets like ESPN simultaneously heap praise on BC for firing their coach and "upholding the sanctity of the contract" while shredding Miami for holding Marve and his family to the same contractual standard (remember that football scholarships are one-year, renewable contracts).

Here are the facts of the case:

1. Robert Marve had every chance in the world to cement his status as full-time starter with consistent and steady play - he failed to do so.

2. Not one person in the Hecht Center ever lied to Bobby Drama about the QB situation. Both he and Jacory knew that they would be splitting time this year.

3. Coach Shannon's "fascist" decision to limit Marve's transfer options is standard operating procedure at most major college football programs.

4. Robert started 11 of the Canes' 13 games this year. He was suspended for the two games he did not start.

5. Shannon's decision to restrict Marve from transferring to the three SEC schools (UT, LSU, UF) was made to protect his roster, not to punish an unhappy player. There is no doubt whatsoever that either Marve, his dumbass father, or his slimy HS coach had contact with all three of those schools before the end of the season and perhaps as early as November. That, of course, is a blatant violation of NCAA rules. In light of these facts, Coach Shannon had every right in the world to make sure that scumbags like Les Miles and Urban Meyer could not poach talent straight out of the UM locker room. Furthermore, if Shannon and UM really want to get nasty, they could request an investigation of Marve, his family, AND the three schools involved in these violations.

6. Robert's father, Eugene Marve, is a string-puller and a scumbag. His recent decision to peddle his prostate cancer in a thinly veiled attempt to elicit sympathy is as offensive as it is misleading. Eugene's argument that big bad Randy Shannon was hurting the Marve family by cutting off the UF avenue because Robert "needed" to stay close to home is pure bullshit. Eugene did not seem to have a problem coming very, very close to sending his child hours away to the University of Alabama two years ago. Now that Shannon has opened up, in an amazing display of kindness in my opinion given the Marve family's public behavior, the possibility of Robert tranferring to UCF or USF, I BETTER see Bobby Drama at one of those two schools if location is such a big deal.

7. Robert Marve, not to put too sharp an edge on it, is a child and a punk. It seems to me that Robert was always more interested in the IDEA of being Miami quarterback than in upholding the tradition of being a UM signal caller. He is the prototypical, immature college boy that I am so used to dealing with in my own classes - a punk who is too hard-core to show up to class on time, do the work, or show respect, but who simultaneously needs constant reassurance and ass-kissing to operate. Frankly, if Robert was expecting ego-stroking from Randy Shannon, he was barking up the wrong tree.