Grizzly uniforms should be inmate orange

Wait for the announcement.

It has to be coming soon.

The University of Montana should announce the football team will have new uniforms for next season.

Orange uniforms.

Not the venerable orange of the gold and copper uniform era.

Nope.

The new uniforms will be inmate orange jumpsuits.

For the past three years so many Griz players have been charged with crimes it takes a bird dog with a program to tell which charges have been filed, which charges have been dropped, which players are awaiting trial, which have pleaded guilty, which players are in prison serving sentences and which players have attempted to quietly disappear from the face of the earth.

The new uniforms should be part of an effort by the university to have all the players dress in the same uniform. Since more and more Griz and former-Griz players have been appearing in the orange jumpsuits of the Missoula County jail, and because detention authorities would probably never allow the inmate/players to wear football gear in jail, the logical alternative is to buy orange jumpsuits for everyone on the team.

At the rate the morals of the players are eroding it’s only a matter of time until those not already facing charges will also need the orange uniforms.

The jumpsuits could also be required as off-campus dress. Imagine how convenient it would be if, when called to quell a disturbance outside a downtown bar at closing time, the police merely need to look for large persons wearing orange jumpsuits.

The irony of this shameful situation is that the administration could have stopped all this bad behavior at any time simply by cutting off the scholarships of the miscreants. As far as anyone knows, the university still controls the scholarships for football players. Perhaps its reluctance to enforce standards of behavior could be explained by the profits earned from the on-field heroics of the players. A recent report to the state Board of Regents said UM made $3.3 million from football during 2012.

That’s 3.3 million reasons to let the players run wild.

To get the money, the university and the people of Montana need only sacrifice their standards of justice, fair play and behavior — a deal made in a cesspool.

The smell of corruption rubs off on all of us like a man’s favorite old dog who rolls in the manure pile out back, then insists on rubbing up against his trousers, every fan becomes tainted.

Sniff the air when university officials come to town to make their fund-raising pitches to wealthy alumni. If you own livestock, you will recognize the smell.

When these so-called student athletes misbehave, we should insist their scholarships get pulled on the spot.

Max Nessman,

Swan Valley