Jezebel
Just days from the Super Bowl, the Seattle Times brings us a powerful story of football, rape and forgiveness. The chief antagonist is Jerramy Stevens, a 6'7, 255-pound tight end on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2000 he played for the University of Washington Huskies, the third-ranked team in the country (and possibly the third-rapiest, given the three other Husky-on-"groupie" rapes alleged that same year.) But Stevens' case is special, in that it was enabled by so many administrators, authorities, lawyers, and coaches. In high school, where his dad was principal, Stevens served time for beating a friend with a baseball bat and some more time for failing his piss tests and punching through school walls. He should have lost his scholarship but there were lawyers, fans — even Mormons — ready to lobby, protest, and write letters on his behalf. In college, Stevens was stopped like 99 times for DUIs, hit-and-runs and driving with licenses that had been revoked due to DUIs and hit-and runs — a harbinger, perhaps, of the DUIs that would follow in his NFL career. "Sometimes you have to give people a chance," they would say. "He's a good kid etc. etc." But Seattle police detective Maryanne Parker didn't believe it — especially after, investigating a rape charge against Stevens, she found an email he'd written to another girl with whom he'd been romantically involved:
"i know that you are not going to beliewhat i have to say especially after satterday night but when i got your e-mail today i laughed a first but then it started to sink in and my heart started to break as i read over your words.After sending it, Stevens showed the note to a teammate, who called it a "funny ass email.""i realize that i have [messed] up and I want to talk to you about being with you and how i can make it up to you. this is not a joke i want to have you in my arms and know that you are mine and ythat nothing that i have done or [a friend] has said caould ever change the way that i feel about you. when i think back to the night that i spent with you by ourselves i wish that i would have done one thing and that is, i wish i would have put ... "
Stevens then describes, in explicit terms, an anal-sex act he wanted to do to her. He closes with: "you whore dont ever utter my name again."
So at this point it probably wouldn't surprise you that someone like Jerramy Stevens was accused of drugging a virgin sorority girl and anally-raping her in the alley next to a frat house. It probably also wouldn't surprise you that aiding him in this effort, directly aiding the cause of clemency for Jerramy in this crime, were the University of Washington Athletic director Barbara Hedges, then-head coach Rick Neuheisel, current head coach Keith Gilbertson, the University of Washington legal department — who fought to get the accuser's name released in the civil aftermath after the rape case was dismissed — King County prosecutors Norm Maleng, Dan Satterberg and Mark Larson, and lawyer and loyal UW football fan Mike Hunsinger, who represented Husky teammates in many cases for pennies on the billable hour.
And finally, it probably also wouldn't surprise you that most of these people had the same reasons for maintaining "reasonable doubt" for Jerramy: Girls are gold-diggers, groupies, looking for attention; as if there is no other reason for the existence of women, no other source of affirmation for them, than perpetuating that mythic higher caste occupied by men whose raw, caveman-like aggression keeps the fans in the seats, the donors sending checks, the Fortune 500 companies shelling out a million for thirty second spots, and the wheels of the economy in motion.
The story of Jerramy Steens reminded Anna of a Joan Didion story in an early '90s issue of the New Yorker on a rapist group of Orange County high school football players, the Spur Posse. As explanation for his son's "unlawful sexual intercourse" with one or more girls, one father proffered (and yes she looked this up):
These girls pre-planned these things. They wanted to be looked on favorably, they wanted to be part of the clique. They wanted to be, hopefully, the girlfriends of these studs on campus.Indeed.
When prosecutors decided not to charge Stevens, Neuheisel and Hedges agreed that Stevens should not be disciplined. Neuheisel's test was this: If a player embarrassed himself, his family or the university, he should be punished. This episode embarrassed the UW, Neuheisel said, but "given the prosecution's decision not to go forward, it looked as if Jerramy was not the reason for the embarrassment."
But what era is this? Who are we? Do people believe these things in their hearts? Does it ever strike them that any other black man in this country with Stevens' record — well, he wouldn't have been able to rack up a record like that, he'd be serving a life sentence by now? You've seen the MSNBC prison specials! Is that some sort of societal achievement, that an athlete's economic importance to his school can put him in the impunity ranks with Jeff Epstein? Because, you know, break a limb; contract a superbug — and it's All Motherfucking Over.
A few days ago Dodai's mom showed me some papers she had from an estate sale held in Alabama in the early 1800s. There was a man for sale, he was crippled; the asking price was one dollar.
"See, he cost less than the teacups," she pointed out.
As it was, all his legal problems have chipped a lot off Jerramy Stevens' asking price.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him — on the cheap — for $600,000, which was $5,000 above the minimum for a player with his experience."He is a big, powerful, speedy tight end," said general manager Bruce Allen. "He has had some off-the-field issues that have hampered him a bit. We had a very serious talk with him today.
Convicted of assault and accused of rape, star player received raft of second chances [Seattle Times]
Related: The 2000 Washington Huskies Were Horrible People [Deadspin]
The Quarterbacks' Sideline Play [NY Times]
Comments
"satterday night"
My high school couldn't afford decent textbooks, but the football team had brand new jerseys every damn year.
The elevation of athletes as money-making gods is to blame for many things, and the public school system feeds right into it.
Wow.
The people who enabled this guy are as awful as he is.
Kudos for the Joan Didion story quote, btw. That was one of the best breakdowns of this disgusting phenomenon I've ever read.
This story makes me ashamed that the UW is my undergrad alma mater. While it's a great place to go to school in some respects, I was always thoroughly disgusted by the blind hero worship of the football team. I'm proud to say I never went to a game. I'm also proud to say that unlike Jerramy Stevens, I know how to spell.
What a waste of (pig)skin.
Why do athletes think they can get away with anything? Oh, that's right - because they can. It's a sick society that puts an athlete over anyone else just because they have "talent" of the field.
Shit like this makes my blood boil.
I seriously had to stop halfway through and put my head down.
@kittenish: *on the field.
@hortense: Oh, as does the private school system, btw.
The educational system, I should say.
Having his first name spelled "Jerramy" did not bode well for his eventual ability to spell.
@hortense: srsly, in my hs both the girls soccer team and the football team were state champs constantly. we would all get OUT OF CLASS for pep rallies for football games. radio silence on soccer.
And we wonder why these assholes have such a sense of entitlement. Fuck.
I don't want to process anything this depressing today, so I will just snark on the way that jackass spells his name.
Sincerely,
Rhhody
Barf. Just fucking barf.
So... His email to the girl says, "Not only am I not sorry for raping you, but I wish I would have raped you in the ASS while I had the chance?" What a peach. I don't care if the "system" failed him or whatever, I hope he shatters all of his limbs and can never even grip a football again. :)
Fuck. Ing. A.
Justice is not being served. Doesn't this young woman have friends? Brothers? A pissed off dad? Cuz I swear to you, if something like this happened to one of my friends, that man would be able to play football ever again, what with his non-functioning kneecaps and bashed-the-fuck-in skull.
disgusting. but your comment about a regular black man not getting away with this was unnecessary. Any man with that record (regardless of color) would have been in the pokey for-freakin-ever. A season spent in Columbus Ohio (go Buckeyes) was all I needed to know that these superstar atheletes will NEVER be held to the same standards we regular folks are. Same as Lilo and the other celeb DUI-ers who never do any serious time.
@petuniacat: UW is a gorgeous school. I visited a few times as my cousin attended. He was in a fraternity and I once attended a football game with him and his friends. It was otherworldly. And not in a good way.
I think it's disgusting that athletes get away with these kinds of things, especially in this case with so many egregious violations of the law and team conduct rules.
On the other hand, I see how fans would want to support a guy like this: when you're committed to the team, you feel like you know the players, and you're loathe to admit that they're not just humans, but sometimes genuinely bad people who happen to handle a football well. Not that that makes it better. If anything it makes it worse, as Jerramy disappointed a lot more people than most people get the chance to.
It's just a game, they throw a ball over a line, and for this they get to do whatever they want? I don't understand sports or this hero worship crap. They play a game. That's it. They are not special or better or more deserving than anyone else.
Some guys deserve a bat to the junk. This guy deserves much worse.
@kittenish: you know, for every jerramy stevens of michael vick, there are 20, 30, 40 other athletes who do nothing wrong, are actively good, positive forces in their community. i hate discussions like this because the immediate blanket "athletes are brutes" argument comes out and they do not address real, significant cultural issues regarding race and celebrity and certain good ol boy systems that are to blame here (note that most of the "problem" football players come out of the same couple of schools, for example).
this isn't a universal thing and quite frankly the schools that produce these people should be de-credited at this point, and kicked out of the college sports leagues until they get their heads on straight (if they ever do).
It is sad but true how much money college football brings to a university. It is in no way justified to let players get away with crimes, but it is a slippery slope- often they are passed in classes they should have failed, and people just look the other way. I guess if they just keep following that line eventually they are covering up crimes.
@mbprice: Oops, would never* be able to, etc. But I'm sure that point was clear, anyway.
I love football and this shit just makes me so sick. When I see pro coaches like Lovey Smith and Tony Dungee succeed even though they value character most highly in their players, it makes me so grateful that at least a few people are willing to hold the line. Shame, shame, shame on Washington and the Buccanneers for hiring this guy.
I agree with the idea that if this man wasn't a football player, he'd be in jail. There's no way around that. I worked in my university's Athletic Department, and the things football players got away with were incredibly awful. They are given super human privileges, and for 98% of them, those privileges end the moment their NCAA eligibilty runs out, leaving them as grown men, with maybe a half a college diploma, an insane sense of entitlement and the idea that they can get away with anything.
I was also a student recruiter for my school pre-Colorado scandal, and the football players that visited my school said the Husky players referred to their female recruiters as "Husky Hoes."
Hideous.
Step 1: Kick Jerramy Stevens in the balls.
Step 2: Anally rape him with a baseball bat.
Step 3: Chalk it all up to the fact that I'm a dumb girl who just wanted attention.
And yet, I'm still a football fan. Love the game, hate the players.
@sirsnarksalot: well no, the color is definitely an issue here, moe was right to point it out.
@BiscuitDoughJones: No, this was a different woman. Sounds like they had hooked up and he decided to send her that email just to torture her. As in, I like you so much...NOT!
What a piece of shit.
I feel like Tom Wolfe painted a pretty clear picture of the American relationship to sports and sex on college campuses in I Am Charlotte Simmons.
@the schef: Yeah, but no one is making that argument. The argument is that they are overprivileged, and that therefore the violent missteps that some make are overlooked. I don't think you can deny that athletes are overprivileged.
Arg. The free pass athletes get is the number one reason I hate college sports. And why I went to a school that didn't have athletic scholarships.
No, we may not have the name recognition of the D-I schools, but the athletes I sat by in class were smarter than me.
I'm so happy sports teams were present but utterly ignored everywhere I went to school.
@ghanima: Yeah, I don't get it either. And the fact that signing him "on the cheap" still cost $600,000 pisses me off. Why is there a minimum you have to pay for someone who may never even get on the field?
but he'd better not take gifts from boosters, THAT'S criminal...
jerramy (SP?!) is clearly a super-shitheel just waiting for a busted knee and jail to cast him into the oubliette of the american imagination, but i think the larger crime is that NCAA and colleges only view all these young people as assets to be bought and sold, or discarded when no longer useful. why bother giving them an education?
I remember the Spur Posse, living in Bellflower, which is adjacent to Lakewood, at the time. I remember the newspaper articles, too, and all of their parents giving that boys-will-be-boys and these girls are at fault rationalizations. Of course, not taking credit for raising the kind of boys that would do such a thing, despite the police confiscating notebooks detailing the boys's exploits and, ahem, "scores."
I can't even write more about this, it just makes me want to start drinking right now out of total despair.
Disgusting. I am a college athlete (though nothing as glamorous as football!) and I'm ashamed to in any way place myself in the same category as this...I can't think of a word repulsive enough.
That's a Crap Email From A Dude, for sure.
Yeah, they're all gold-digging whores, alright. Because they see how women raped by pro athletes- or raped by ANYONE famous- are treated so well in the press. Anyone seeing that phenomenon really wants to go through it themselves. Really worth it.
It's a horrible situation, but it's where the money is. It's like skinny models...we all know it sucks and it's harmful, but yet it continues to happen because it makes boat loads of money.
*it's not anything like skinny models, I'm just using that as a comparison to say it's something we bemoan but as long as there's an appetite (for college football and skinny models) nothing serious will be done about it.
@Archetype: The only time I've been in the stadium was for graduations. I avoided that part of campus whenever there was a game - I had no desire to be pawed by drunken, marauding fans.
I love the campus! There's a couple weeks in spring when all the cherry trees are blooming when it's truly magical. Three generations of my family have gone to UW, and my aunt has three degrees from them. My love for the school is definitely tempered by stories like this.
@CMG: But aren't we supposed to hate the game, not the players? I'm so confused.
@the schef: I agree with you that not all athletes or football players are evil. My brother in law was a college linebacker and is now a college football coach and he is like, THE nicest guy ever. But I do think that our culture glorifies athletes so much that when they do engage in crimes, we look for any excuse to look the other way and that is what is tragic here.
UGH. Makes me sick. And you know what's worse? If UW would have expelled him, I bet he could have ended up on scholarship elsewhere. Take, for instance, an incident that happened at my alma mater (which is extremely football-centric). A girl in my class was raped by a member of the football team, and although the county prosecutor said there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute, the university administration thought there were more than enough reasons to kick him out and rescind his scholarship. They also banned him from ever setting foot on campus again. (Hey, private schools can do this stuff!) Sad thing is that the guy ended up on scholarship at another school.
Perhaps the best thing my alma mater did during my time there was position a policeman to meet the bus of this slimebag's team when they came to play us one Saturday. Come hell or high water, they were NOT letting that guy back on campus.
@meaghan2k: I just hate the refs.
But not in this case. Hate the player.
@mbprice: there are at least three posts that directly state that argument!
@blondegrlz: um why is there a minimum to pay anyone anything? there's a union! whether that's a reasonable amount of money is very much up to question but jesus guys it's not rocket science. they've got a fantastic union.
What the fuck is wrong with us? What is this? Who the fuck are we? I'm so done. Buying a cabin in the woods. Fuck it.
I love football too. Can we have some sort of directory of woman-friendly teams? As in, teams without rapists, "show your tits" traditions, etc?