Could It Be Emanuel Is in Wrong Sport?

There are a lot of big questions to be asked and answered on Los Angeles sports pages and talk shows these days, but there is one question that suddenly seems bigger than any other.

Why do women keep throwing beer in Aaron Emanuel’s face?

Here he is, a big man on campus. Literally, a big man. A 6-foot 2-inch, 220-pound USC football player. A running back with a great body, great speed and great potential.

He also is supposed to be this wonderful kid. He is the son of a Baptist minister. He reads the Bible daily and sings in the church choir. He plays the piano in his spare time.

Those who know Aaron Emanuel claim that before and during Trojan football games he has been known to go around saying things like, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” which is a passage from Philippians, 4:13.

Some other football players probably think Philippians is a brand of sporting goods, like Adidas.

Yes, Aaron Emanuel seems like a sweet kid, all right.

So how come he is in such big trouble? How come he already has been suspended for at least part of the next USC season, and possibly for all of it? How come he is spending more time these days talking to cops than coaches?

And why do Trojan women keep splashing this 20-year-old athlete in the face with cold brews? Could this become a new collegiate fad, like swallowing goldfish, or piling into a Volkswagen?

Instead of playing Dungeons and Dragons or having wet T-shirt contests, will USC students start keeping track of who can spray the most football players with a foamy cup of Corona in a single evening?

Pretty funny.

But for a couple of young women, it hurts too much to laugh.

See, if these women are correct, this sweet, Bible-quoting football player has a hard time taking no for an answer. And he tends to get rough about it.

Last December, a 23-year-old woman told police, Aaron Emanuel tried to have a few words with her, as he had for several months. She told him she’d rather not. The football player, she said, slapped her face.

That was not what he told the cops. He said he merely pushed the woman away after she’d thrown beer in his face.

About a week ago, though, another woman, also 23, was at a party and claims that this large football player started pinching her.

The woman, a USC athlete herself, in track and field, got tired of telling him to cut it out without result, so she took her beer and--well, you know. A USC student handbook or self-defense course must list this as a method of handling someone who is giving you a hard time.

The football player, according to statements given police, gave his usual response. He cracked her in the face.

Only this was not a slap. This was allegedly a punch that knocked the woman unconscious.

Now, Aaron Emanuel’s father, the minister, happens also to be a former boxer who once sparred with Muhammad Ali and Archie Moore. It is entirely possible that, when faced with trouble, this kid is not certain whether to turn the other cheek or to turn someone else’s.

“I give 100% and let God take up the slack,” was what Aaron Emanuel once said of his efforts on the football field.

If what these women say about him is true, this kid is sorely testing God’s patience. Even a deity can give only so much slack to a 220-pound guy who belts women in the face.

There are things we should remember here, naturally.

First, the disclaimer. A man is innocent until proven guilty. Even a big man. Even a man who has been accused of the same thing more than once.

Second, Aaron Emanuel had not been a model student-athlete. He already had been on shaky ground with new Coach Larry Smith, who had warned him about missing a workout and a study session and about being out of shape.

No matter how the police matters turn out, Smith says the running back will miss at least part of next season because of other infractions.

Being the new man in town, and being familiar with scandals in college circles where, in places like Texas, the football programs can lose proper perspective, Smith clearly understands that he must expect and demand excellent behavior from his players at all times. To heck with touchdowns and tackles. This is the least they can do for USC--be good citizens.

If guilty as charged, a year off the football team should give Aaron Emanuel time to think, and a suspension from the school itself must be considered. Any further punishment is up to a court of law, but the university has a responsibility to its students to take action, without regard as to how it might affect the chances of going to the Rose Bowl.

Common sense and the Bible both remind us to forgive and forget, so, if Aaron Emanuel is given another chance, he indeed should be cut some slack.

But not a lot of slack.

If he somehow gets out of this mess, his behavior from this point on had better be perfect. One hundred percent perfect. At least if he ever wants to play football again.

Because if he wants to punch people, tell him to take up boxing.