Wow—this one would fit right into Retraction Watch:
Text messages entered Monday into the state’s ongoing civil lawsuit over the welfare scandal reveal that former Gov. Phil Bryant pushed to make NFL legend Brett Favre’s volleyball idea a reality.
The texts show that the then-governor even guided Favre on how to write a funding proposal so that it could be accepted by the Mississippi Department of Human Services – even after Bryant ousted the former welfare agency director John Davis for suspected fraud.
“Just left Brett Favre,” Bryant texted nonprofit founder Nancy New in July of 2019, within weeks of Davis’ departure. “Can we help him with his project. We should meet soon to see how I can make sure we keep your projects on course.” . . . The newly released texts, filed Monday by an attorney representing Nancy New’s nonprofit, show that Bryant, Favre, New, Davis and others worked together to channel at least $5 million of the state’s welfare funds to build a new volleyball stadium . . . What followed was the biggest public fraud case in state history, according to the state auditor’s office. Nonprofit leaders had misspent at least $77 million in funds that were supposed to help the needy, forensic auditors found. . . .
I dunno, if you start just giving government funds to retired athletes, this might reduce their motivation to work, no?
But here’s the best part:
In 2020, Mississippi Today asked Favre if he had discussed the volleyball project with the governor, to which Favre answered, “No.”
“Brett Favre has been honorable throughout this whole thing,” Favre’s attorney, Bud Holmes, told Mississippi Today.
I googled *retraction watch university of southern mississippi* and found this story from 2018, “Author retracts 2009 chemistry paper with ‘heavily doctored’ images.” Not as fun as a crooked volleyball stadium.
P.S. More here. I’m starting to suspect that the retired QB was not being entirely truthful in his response to the question of whether he had discussed the volleyball project with his governor. Now that this volleyball thing is no longer working out, maybe he could get a job as a Chief Behavioral Officer for some insurance company. There’s always a market for experts in dishonesty.
Athletes are held to a different standard of behavior than the rest of us. In my high school, it was quite clear that a jock could get away with things that would land a nerdy guy with good SAT scores in hot water. Favre was a great athlete, and I’m sure that since the age of twelve he has had things smoothed out for him. Class attendance rules not enforced, hundred dollar handshakes from alumni, traffic tickets waved in exchange for an autograph, etc. When people clamor to get your sweaty jersey, your ethical perspective changes. I’m not saying that this is right, but that’s the way it is. Very few of us (not me certainly) are capable of arriving at a impersonal high standard of behavior without real clues from our culture. We need to build a culture that promotes high standards. “Winning is the only thing” is the ethos of pirates.
Hundred dollar handshakes from alumni? Try $13 million. (Inflation!) Apologies if this is paywalled: https://theathletic.com/4087681/2023/01/13/jaden-rashada-florida-gators-football/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=5913393
Oncodoc:
You write, “a jock could get away with things that would land a nerdy guy with good SAT scores in hot water.”
I’d guess that a nerdy guy with bad SAT scores would get into even more trouble.
In my final year at high school, a friend and I got away with a prank only because he already had a confirmed place at Oxford, and I was the school’s best chance of getting someone in to Cambridge that year.
But this wasn’t a US high school, so things may be different.
Similar patterns in the US, if you are a “star” athlete, student, debater, and so on you can often get away with a lot of stuff. Which people get the most protection varies school to school but it definitely holds.
Paul:
I’d say it slightly differently: It’s not necessarily that the school authorities let the stars “get away with stuff” or “get the most protection”; it’s more that stars have other options. For example, if my high school had tried to expel me for being rude to my chemistry teacher, I could’ve just said to hell with it and gone to college two years early. I only stayed in high school because I liked it. I had a credible option to leave. Similarly, a sports star could just switch high schools. On the other hand, if you have nothing else going for you, the school can make more of a credible threat regarding discipline.
> I only stayed in high school because I liked it.
🤯
What I wouldn’t have given to go to college 2 years early…
Apparently I rated higher than marijuana distributors. https://today.uic.edu/uic-study-details-how-todays-high-school-cliques-compare-to-yesterdays/
I don’t think geeks have it so bad off. Most HS have at least a small crowd of math/sci faculty geeks that support them.
The graph is similar to my school days except goths didn’t emerge until maybe the late 80s or so and I have no idea when the manga crowd emerged. What’s funny about the whole thing though is that the kids between jocks and stoners could also be labeled “people who have healthy social lives outside of HS”.
Interesting. But I don’t think the geeks have it so bad. Most HS have some faculty that support high achievers.
The pyramid is kind of amusing. Seems like the kids below “jocks” and above “stoners” could be labeled: “have healthy social lives beyond HS”.
Chipmunk:
I think it depends a lot on the individual school and even more on the individual student, which is why I find a lot of those generalizations to be unhelpful.
Sorry guys, I think you are all missing the point. Our State governments are very corrupt especially in the South. This story is only getting national attention because Favre is involved. It isn’t that he got away with it because he is a jock. The story is someone finally paid attention to a local corruption story because it involved a jock.
Steve:
Interesting point regarding selection bias.
It might be two factors overlapping where being a Jock both makes a local corruption story to get more attention when known but makes it less likely to become known in the first place as these sorts of people are more able to block oversight.