The UD Men’s Basketball team experienced a pair of bird strikes into two of its jet engines today. And by bird strikes we mean bird brains, because that’s the only fitting description for this afternoon’s official dismissal of Devon Scott and Jalen Robinson from Archie Miller’s program. The Columbus Northland HS products were told to hand in their jerseys and rumors — as much as we detest juicy gossip without official corroboration – are pointing in the same unfavorable direction of possible campus theft. Both players were already on short leashes after prior alleged improprieties, but the stuff between the ears never caught up, caught on, and grew up to avoid another screw-up. Dismissal from the university has not been handed down (yet), but it’s safe to say campus would be better served with two less vultures circling overhead pining for easy victims and abusing the distinct privilege of serving as public national stewards of the university. With great privilege comes great responsibility. Flyer students are conditioned to look after one another, not prey on the defenseless.

I can’t shake one thought: somewhere on a LearJet, Jay Bilas is crafting his next Tweet lamenting the downtrodden exploitation of the college athlete and demanding paychecks for all. You know the ones he’s referring to: the ones that never had to flip pizzas or sling drinks in a stinky, skanky bar until 3am on a weeknight in order to cobble together enough cash – in conjunction with $125,000 in unsubsidized student loans – to even enjoy the privilege of attending class let alone find time to study. There’s no doubt that ten-hour bus rides, travel delays, and time zone changes make the life of a student-athlete challenging. But is it any more onerous than cleaning up someone’s hot-steaming pile of puke in the restroom of a Brown Street eatery so you can afford your semester textbooks? Come down from your ivory towers, athletes.

And you, Jay.

Student athletes make millions for their university just like entry level programmers make millions for Mark Zuckerberg. This is not new territory. If Scott and Robinson felt the economic pinch and misread the tea leaves as the justified commandeering of property, that self-absorbed, narcissistic attitude is why average students without a closet-full of Nike swag and posh tourney gift packages and Maui sand between the toes in the middle of November have a hard time bleeding with sympathy. If the alleged thefts were nothing more than crimes of goonish absent-mindedness, average students can’t wrap their heads around block-headed stupidity either.

Theft is a crime that’s oftentimes non-violent but most-often deeply painful and emotional. Our things represent who we are and how hard we’ve worked to acquire them — and many of us make it a point to share them with others. But when others take from us without asking, they plunder more than just the stolen items: they prostitute our trust and ability to trust others in the future. It’s the kind of crime that says, “the only net-worth I get out of our relationship are the material objects I covet around you.” If nothing else, thieves clarify relationships and by relationships we mean something other than true friendship.

Most frustrating for Flyer basketball fans are the secondary and tertiary chances to stay away from oncoming traffic that resulted in little or no change in behavior. These two yo-yos required constant burping and diapering, something their former teammates had to know. Now those former teammates must pick up the pieces. It’s a shame. Do Scott and Robinson regret their behavior or merely regret being held accountable?

The remaining members of the UD basketball team can’t worry about digging for answers or apologies – there’s no time. With a thin roster to begin with, it’s now a skeleton crew for Head Coach Archie Miller. The interior post position looks like tumbleweed and sounds like windburn. Sophomore Kendall Pollard and junior Dyshawn Pierre must step up quickly and play bigger roles inside the paint, while JUCO transfer Detwon Rogers, gimped-up with an injury since the beginning of the season, may be forced to into duty half-healed or half-ready.

At 7-2, the Flyers were still on track to build an NCAA at-large resume’ through the remainder of the non-conference schedule, but the dynamics have completely changed. Even the most optimistic, Kool-Aid guzzling Flyer fan knows this is the kind of setback that can ground the flight plan for good.

Most ironic is December 17th is the 111th anniversary of the Wright Brothers conquering powered, sustained flight with a heavier-than-air machine. On a day we celebrate our university’s inspiration taking to the skies like the birds, the birds we’re talking about are a pair of middle fingers to Flyer nation. Like the suspension of Matt Kavanaugh two seasons ago, we’re either living in a time of great coincidence and misunderstanding, or head-scratching hooliganism.