Two weeks ago, two football players from John Jay High School in San Antonio gained well-deserved infamy after they deliberately targeted an official in the waning moments of a game. After one of the players drilled umpire Robert Watts from behind, the other dove into the stricken official while leading with his helmet. The players claimed that the official was yelling racial slurs at them. It was not enough to keep them from being indefinitely suspended from both the team and their high school. They could also potentially face criminal assault charges.
On Friday morning, the two players spoke out publicly for the first time since the incident. Senior Michael Moreno and sophomore Victor Rojas appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and dropped a bombshell–they went after Watts on orders from an assistant coach. Watch here.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjyayoCsUFc&w=853&h=480]
Moreno, who hit a defenseless Watts on the ground, told ABC’s George Stephanopolos that he only “realized the gravity of the situation” when it actually happened. Moreno said that he actually softened his blow on Watts when he realized what he was doing. Moreno said that his position coach, defensive backs coach Mack Breed, pulled him and another player aside and told him they needed to go after Watts because Watts had been yelling racial slurs and making bad calls. Moreno thinks Breed’s emotions “got mixed into it, and he told us to do what he did.”
Rojas said that he couldn’t really explain what was going through his mind at the time, but claimed he was merely “doing what I was told.” When Stephanopolos asked Moreno if he knew what he did was wrong, Moreno replied that he’d put his trust in Breed, who had been there since he was a sophomore. He trusted Breed to “do what was best for me.” Breed is already on administrative leave pending investigation of the incident. However, if this is even half true, there is no defensible reason for Breed to be anywhere near the team for the rest of the season. If I were Breed, I’d also have a lawyer on speed dial.
Moreno and Rojas reiterated their claims that Watts had been yelling racial slurs. Rojas said that he heard Watts tell one of his Latino teammates to “speak English.” He also heard Watts call a black teammate, Moses Reynolds, the N-word; Moreno said he also heard the N-word come from Watts. When told that Watts claimed the players were lying, Moreno said he was telling “the honest truth.” Several other students from their high school have also said they heard Watts use racial slurs. The district is taking these claims very seriously, and plans to turn over the information it has gleaned to the Texas Association of Sports Officials.
Both players offered unreserved apologies for hitting Watts. Moreno said that he is “ready to face my consequences,” but wants everyone to know he isn’t a thug. Among other things, he’s a member of the National Honor Society, and has ambitions of being an engineer. The players’ attorney, Jesse Hernandez, says that investigations by both police in Marble Falls, where the game took place, and the Northside Independent School District, are still very much underway. According to Hernandez, his clients are in an alternative high school, and have been banned from playing another down for the rest of the season. He thinks, however, that they have been punished enough.
Later that day, Moreno and Rojas repeated their story to ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.” Moreno said that Breed pulled him and teammate Trenton Hobdy aside and told Moreno that he needed to “hit that m****f****r” Watts and make him pay the price for racial slurs and what he saw as his unjust ejection of Reynolds earlier in the game. Hobdy then passed Breed’s orders on to Rojas. When Moreno and Rojas lined up at safety for the infamous play, they said to each other, “Are we really going to do this?”
If this was just a “heat of the moment” situation, I would agree with Hernandez that Moreno and Rojas have suffered enough. However, as the now-viral video of the incident shows, these two players came in on Watts from seven and nine yards out, at full speed. Provoked or not, this simply can’t be tolerated.
However, if Moreno and Rojas were indeed acting on orders from Breed and show the same contrition that they did on Friday, they should get nothing worse than being banned from ever playing high school sports in Texas again, as well as either probation or house arrest. On the other hand, if it does turn out that Watts was using racial slurs, it would be a miscarriage of justice if he were allowed on the field again.
