By: Claude Clayborne
Let me just first say, is it not every 51 year-old man’s dream to be riding a motorcycle (I like to imagine it as a Kawasaki Ninja for some reason) with a young beautiful woman on the back of it? I am not saying that Bobby Petrino is down with the Ruff Ryders or Hell’s Angels, but I mean give me a break on this being a controversy.
Quite frankly, if the alleged infidelity did occur that does not have a damn thing to do with Petrino’s abilities as a football coach. These issues, if true do dredge up old demons with Petrino’s moral and character shortcomings that have been more than public since he left Louisville in 2006 and the Atlanta Falcons in 2007. This latest controversy only adds fuel to the fire that had dwindled in recent years with his high powered offense and his “perceived” loyalty to Arkansas. I do have issues with Petrino in relation to the past, but in regards to this event the only thing we know is that he lied to athletic director, Jeff Long, but little else.
It is safe to make the presumption that something awry, at the very least, was going on with Petrino and Jessica Dorrell but anything more than that has yet to be proven. I’m tired of the vulture approach that the media has taken to issues such as this. The only thing we know at this point is somebody that we all love to hate is down on the mat again and everybody wants to get a kick in. Petrino is a man just like everybody else. It takes truth and honesty to lead young men onto the football field, especially in the SEC. But ask yourself would you have perpetuated a lie to save your marriage/job in the same situation? Think about it and be honest with yourself. Furthermore, would you leave your job tomorrow if a better paying more powerful position just came open somewhere else? Even if you had just taken a new job? Let’s be honest people, we can call Petrino everything under the sun we want but it seems to me like he is normal just like the rest of us. It just so happens that Bobby the Biker can run an offense like few others in his profession.
The moral of this is not whether he should keep his job or is he even more of a scumbag than we thought he was. The moral is do what’s right when nobody is looking, because sometimes the things we want to be kept private have no choice but to be public knowledge.