Dear Sports, just a minor lapse of judgement.
Mistakes happen in life. Perhaps it may be said however, that the mistakes made by athletes and other popular personalities are simply more dissected and criticized than the mistakes made by others. From football players ranging from the collegiate level to the National Football League (NFL) the simple fact remains that mistakes do happen. And University of Florida’s Defensive Back Marco Wilson is collegiate sports media’s most recent target, after “a minor lapse of judgement” handed the sixth ranked Florida Gators its second loss of the season. While to some two losses may be considered a non-consequence. For many Gators and collegiate football watchers the loss to the struggling defending National Champions Louisiana State University (LSU) combined with as Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen described an “unfortunate” penalty possibly cost Florida a ticket to the College Football Playoffs. A close game throughout, Florida’s defense was successfully able to stop the LSU offense with just over a minute on the clock. An excited Wilson who made the tackle, quickly jumped up celebrating, before throwing the cleat of his opponent. A costly mistake, as Wilson was subsequently called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty giving LSU the first down and resulting in the game winning field goal for a final score of 37–34. Throwing the shoe of an opponent, not a very common call but, costly nevertheless. With that however, angry fans and journalists took to their platforms critizing the young Defensive Back. And so, Dear Sports and Dear Sports Media, I would charge you to dissect the manner in which mistakes are scrutinized, to simply acknowledge the fact that “mistakes do happen”.
