Jarrett Lee and True Redemption

The Alabama football team took one of the most natural human motivational factors, Redemption, and demonstrated on a world stage the magnitude of its power. All the talk after November 5th coming from the Alabama locker room centered around it, and it leaked out to their fan-base and sparked within them a time-bomb that finally burst January 9th in a way that should make every sports fan, every coach, every university president take notice.

This theme of Redemption did not escape the LSU program completely this year. No, they tried to craft their own story of Redemption. However, theirs centered around the wrong victim. To Les Miles, Jordan Jefferson was the victim here. After all, he had worked so hard to earn the starting position, before being accused of a felony that would potentially end his football career in a most pitiful way. And to be booed in your own stadium…For Les Miles, his storybook ending involved Redemption for this most pitiful victim, with Les Miles as the hero for sticking by his quarterback.

Again, Les Miles picked the wrong victim. You see, Les Miles’ victim was, in fact, guilty. Not necessarily guilty of the felony, but guilty of being at that bar. Guilty of being involved in that fight in some way. Guilty of abandoning his leadership role on the team. Guilty of blaming everyone on his team but himself.

So who is the obvious victim here? Jarrett Lee. But we’ve heard enough about that, right?

What about the not-so-obvious? How about the children, playing their sport to the best of their ability, making a few mistakes, and asking their dads why the guy in the bar-fight was forgiven, but the guy with all the class, maturity, and sportsmanship in the world was benched. On Senior Day. For the SEC Championship. For the National Championship. Forever.

So who knows? Suppose Les Miles picked the right victim. Suppose he picked the right leader for the rest of the team to rally around. Suppose he left Jarrett Lee on the field on November 5th and LSU lost. Chances are LSU would have made it to New Orleans regardless. Then who could have relied on that 12th man, Redemption, on the final game of a tumultuous career, as the quarterback of the No. 2 team coming in to avenge not only November 5th but every pick-six nightmare that he must live with for a lifetime?

We’ll never know. But Les has unknowingly elevated Jarrett Lee to mythical status. Jarrett Lee is the hero without having to take a snap. Perhaps Les will learn that True Redemption is powerful, more powerful than a “WANT.”