In the movie “Spider-Man,” Tobey Maguire’s character is told, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The quote has since become a catch phrase for managerial training sessions. It is cliche. It is predictable. It is tired.

Above all, it is right.

And with the lack of responsibility shown Friday by two senior members of NIU’s football team, questions of the duo’s ability to yield the “power” granted to public figures arose.

These two students were hand-picked to represent the university on a national level when they were recruited as athletes. Subsequently, it seems the pair does not understand they mirror that same football team – and that same university – when they remove their helmets.

The players’ education is paid for under the assumed belief that they know how to represent the school.

Yet attending a party, and engaging in a frat-house fight which sent one player to the hospital, hours before the team’s bus left to play in front of the largest crowd of any MAC team in history, is not an intelligent representation.

University officials, coaches, faculty, staff, alumni, fans, etc. should not have to worry if a player’s focus is on carrying out his job or on battle wounds from the night before. Additionally, students should not have to worry if a portion of their student fees support an athletic department with this type of showmanship.

The point is these players’ sensibility should be judged as much on their off-the-field activity as the demeanor they show between the end zones. As as representatives of the school, and often the nation’s first and last image of NIU, they should have considered the potential negatives from such an engagement.

Would other students who are public figures, such as the Student Association president, choose to be out at a party at 1:30 a.m. the night before making history? Or would these people weigh the possible risks and avoid the situation?

What makes this worse is the historical context of the error. In December 2003 a football player was arrested for unlawful issuance of an identification card at a bar. Last year, outside a different bar, a key player was poked in the eye following a melee.

Given football players’ tendency to come up on the short-end of volatile situations, we have to ask: will they ever learn?

Will they ever learn Murphy was right, and if anything can go wrong, it will? Will they ever learn that more than the team is invested financially and emotionally in their performance? Will they ever learn?

Like one player told the Northern Star Tuesday, “We’re football players, so people are going to notice this story.”

Yes.

The same way people would notice any student representing the university to the nation. But it is your choice to be a football player, and it is your choice to be noticed. The same way it was the program’s choice to have you represent the school.

Learn, and think those choices through in the future, no matter how much responsibility it takes.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at

www.northernstar.infoa