I’m writing in a state of bewilderment. I’m amazed when talented young people who have a better than average chance at greatness piss it away. I recently travelled back to Eugene, Oregon, for my once-per-year indulgence in the fruits of home: the beautiful forested scenery, Pinot Noir and elegantly prepared local fair enjoyed with friends and family. I’ve been calm. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened until last Thursday morning. We Oregonians are mild-mannered folks, for the most part, but there is one topic that can turn the greatest peace-loving hippy among us from flowers and joints to hate, fits of rage and potentially violent outbursts. I’m writing, of course, about the University of Oregon Ducks football team. So when I turned to the City Region section of the local newspaper, The Register-Guard, and found that our star quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli, who led our Ducks to the Rose Bowl last season was now the former quarterback, I was distraught. Why could this be, I thought? I read on. Apparently, he brought in on himself. The coach kicked him off the team after a serious of misadventures, getting caught driving like a jackass with pot in his glove box was simply his latest. Even in Oregon, a pot-smoking hippy State, anyone can get into trouble for such an offense…unless you have your “green card” of course. Even so, Masoli is fighting the charges.
Naturally, I thought of many internal attributes to account for the cause of Masoli’s behavior (i.e., irresponsible jackass who puts himself before his team, or simply thinks he can get away with anything) as Gill and Andreychik (2009) would expect. They note that antisocial responses to others are generally characterized by internal explanations. Inversely, external explanations (explanations that point to outside forces as having pushed a transgressor to their deeds) are generally accompanied by feelings of compassion and other prosocial responses. While I’ve read this article many times, and understand that external forces are likely to be present in many circumstances, even in the case of Masoli, I feel compelled to reject them. He has put our team’s standing for next year’s season in jeopardy, and in that part of the country, this is a greater sacrilege than back-washing into the Eucharist cup. Perhaps, in time, I will learn to forgive this nincompoop, but it isn’t likely to come soon. We will just have to see how the season turns out. Either way, I’m pissed.
Masoli stiff-arms latest charges : The former Duck quarterback pleads not guilty, hires a defense attorney and gets some free PR help
Getting Emotional About Explanations: Social Explanations and Social Explanatory Styles as Bases of Prosocial Emotions and Intergroup Attitudes
