EDITORIAL: When Players Become Trophies, Humanity Becomes a Liability

At 6-foot-3, Eric Dickerson was easily visible to fans at halftime during the final game of SMU’s 10-win season. The program’s 1983 first-draft-pick, record-breaking, Hall of Fame player was back. And if the symbolism of the SMU golden child’s return was lost on anyone, the newly minted “Triple D” logo emblazoned across Dickerson’s chest made it clear: SMU football was back, and its players would be front and center.

Photo credit: SMUAs SMU finally began to cast off the 40-year-old shadow of the death penalty, the Hilltop aggressively championed “Dallas’s Team.” Even Mayor Johnson got in on the act. SMU branded itself around its homegrown talent, plastering local player’s faces across…