It might be the most offensive rap ever created by a group of athletes.
No, I’m not talking about the Super Bowl Shuffle from 20 years ago; I’m talking about the Seventh Floor Crew’s homage to, ahem, “sharing” women, which surfaced on the Internet, about two years after it was originally recorded.
The nearly nine-minute long ho-down was certainly offensive in my eyes, but more for the awful lack of rhythm than the “derogatory lyrics.” In fact, “Marvelous,” who, I speculate, is a linebacker like most of the others involved, even begins the song with a disclaimer, which should have immediately debunked the idea that they were trying to be demeaning, not to mention showed the light-hearted manner in which the track was recorded.
So, sure, the top programs on TV may be about organized crime, selling pot and having affairs in suburbia, and mainstream radio is infiltrated with nonsense like this on a continuous loop. But the fact that 20-year-old Big Men On Campus are having sex-hold the phone! Those testosterone-charged monsters are giving their school and their sport a bad name.
Oh, and let’s not even mention the fact that anyone could have easily avoided such “offensive lyrics” if they simply had not clicked the link to the song. Well, let’s mention it but not discuss it.
I’ve heard this story portrayed in different ways. Pat Forde from ESPN.com took the perspective that some stupid football players have put their college’s future in jeopardy. Others say this wouldn’t have been a story if it happened anywhere else.
Let’s get real. This isn’t a sex tape. This is a tape about sex. The NCAA won’t swoop down and give our football program the death penalty, and you know what else? Sex sells, and these kinds of stories are the ones that media juggernauts like ESPN crave. Do you really believe that ESPN chose to pursue this story by mere happenstance? Or have they seen significant public interest in the scandals of Kelly Hnida at Colorado and Mike Price at Alabama?
The cruel twist to the situation is that the alleged culprits are being victimized. Last I checked, these aren’t Dennis Errickson’s kids, running around getting arrested. These aren’t A.J. Price and Marcus Williams from UConn, who tried to sell four laptops stolen from their fellow students. No, these guys just got lucky.
And then unlucky.
Ben Minkus can be contacted at b.minkus@umiami.edu.