Jameis Winston gave everyone a tip-off that he hasn’t learned a thing after breezing through two years of fun and football at Florida State. (He was just in the express lane. You know, where you leave with nine items or less. Except for crab legs which may have 10 legs, but still count as one item).
And now he’s more dangerous than ever.
He’s a person who won’t take no for an answer, with a lot of money coming his way to buy all the crab legs he wants.
After Winston was drafted No.1, he just couldn’t help but post an Instagram picture with crab legs, joking and changing his story about just one of the stories during his FSU career that got him into trouble.
Just crab legs? Just another chapter in the Winston story.
His new NFL team in Tampa Bay made him take down the picture. After Ray Rice and all its domestic violence perps, the NFL takes its image seriously.
Winston obliged.
At least he had the sense not to joke about juking the justice system and the Tallahassee cops who dropped the ball on sexual assault charges against him.
Winston didn’t even comment on the civil suit filed against him by his alleged victim in the sexual assault.
No, but Winston did tweet something to the effect that the past was in the past, and, well, la de da.
He was king of the world. Soon after the draft, Winston very quickly signed with Tampa Bay, a four-year deal (hey, that’s more than the time he spent in college).
The contract was worth a whopping $23.35 million.
And now Winston was a rich bad boy. An even more dangerous combination than the poor student who once craved some crab legs from a Publix.
But we’ve learned the story by now — Winston always gets his.
And Florida State? They used him.
Surely, Winston used the university. The team won a few games.
But was all that worth the moral wreckage that Winston left in his wake in just two short years?
For the long-term health of the university, I think not.
Winston is someone who should be forced to defend himself against sexual assault charges in a court of law.
But because authorities dropped the ball he’s allowed to skip any accountability.
And don’t think he’s no longer an FSU problem, either.
As a Heisman winner, he’s indelibly linked to FSU for all time. With Winston the subject of that civil suit, FSU will be along for the ride.
He’ll also forever send this message to fellow students: Play football, be treated like royalty.
But study hard, earn a 4.0 and see if anyone notices.
Are you a star? A revenue generator? No? Then maybe you should consider another school.
Of course, there’s also the message that Winston’s No. 1 choice sends to younger high school athletes.
Florida State is the place where you can get a free ride in everything.
Including the criminal justice system.
You don’t have to be book smart. If you can throw, run or catch a ball, no one will touch you.
And it’s better than a junior college.
The last two years are optional.
You want to go to this FSU place.
Unless you’re a woman.
Emil Guillermo writes on issues of race, culture and politics for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (www.aaldef.org/blog). Like him at www.facebook.com/emilguillermo.media; www.twitter.com/emilamok. Contact him at http://www.amok.com.
