Entrapment

UCS's Marc Tyler gets "caught up" in the moment.

It's unfortunate that we now live in a 24 hour news cycle and everybody has a camera or cell phone taking pictures of everything. If you're an athlete or celebrity regardless of age you can be put on blast at a moments notice. Looking back at my days in college if there would have been people running around with video camera's I probably wouldn't have graduated and that goes for a lot of people reading this article. Stop playin'! College is where kids are going to make mistakes and say or do whatever because well... they're in college.

USC announced Monday that it has suspended running back Marc Tyler for the season opener against Minnesota on Sept. 3 and from all team activities immediately for comments made to TMZ recently.
Tyler, who appeared intoxicated on video, said he was "joking" when he said he responded to a question about if athletes were paid more at USC or in the pros.
"USC," Tyler said. "They breaking bread."

Now let's keep it real, that's entrapment! First of all, he's a freaking kid and he was drunk. Unfortunately, that's what kids do on a college campus. So for TMZ to approach Tyler, was in my opinion, way out of line. I mean he could've said anything. There should be a rule against the media approaching college students especially athletes for comments outside of authorized sporting events.

Trojans coach Lane Kiffin wants Tyler to recognize that the punishment is a way to show the "high standard for player behavior." Now because TMZ has thrown Tyler under the bus, Kiffin has to address it because it went public and they're already on probation, so I completely get it. He and athletic director Pat Haden really didn't have a choice but to discipline Tyler.

It's almost like your kid getting suspended from school for fighting because there is a no tolerance rule. When in reality the fight was no big deal because they were ruff housing more than anything. When the principal calls you have to appear to be upset when you're really not mad at your kid for fighting. You're just mad that he got caught so you have to put on a front and in my opinion, that's what Lane Kiffin did here in the principals office.

"I was very disappointed when I learned of Marc Tyler's inappropriate comments that were captured by the media last week," Kiffin said in a statement. "That is not the way that we expect our players to represent USC and our team. I have consulted with athletic director Pat Haden and I am suspending Marc for our upcoming season opener and potentially further, and in the meantime I am also suspending him from all team activities."

Now did Marc Tyler make a boo boo? Absolutely! Should he be disciplined for it? Yes, but under normal circumstances he would be on "dawn patrol"(early morning workouts with the strength & conditioning staff) for a week and it would be over. Oh yeah, he would have gotten kicked square in the butt by somebody on staff for being an idiot and commenting in the first place.

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.