Washington State LB receives award for court-mandated community service hours
And now, another example of "when PR goes horribly wrong" ...
According to a release from Washington State, defensive lineman Logan Tago recently became the recipient of the CCE Community Involvement Award as given by the Center for Civic Engagement. On the surface, this seems like the type of feel-good story you don't hear enough about in sports.
"Tago was honored for his commitment to service around the City of Pullman and Palouse communities where he volunteered 240 civic engagement hours this past fall," the press release states.
Except, that's not really the whole story. Or anything close to it.
The 240 hours of service were part of a plea agreement that Tago accepted last year, ridding himself of a felony robbery charge and pleading guilty to a reduced third-degree assault charge. Tago was arrested in 2016 following an investigation in which a man accused him of stealing a six-pack of beer and punching him in the head, resulting in a concussion for the victim. As a result, Tago was ordered to perform the aforementioned community service and spend 30 days in jail. He was also suspended from the team.
That's hardly "volunteering" for community service.
That's not a knock on Tago, though. He was obviously was in the wrong, but he did what was required of him. For all anyone knows, he might have even enjoyed it or it might have changed him for the better. That's not the issue here. The issue is taking a court-mandated punishment and spinning it as a charitable act without any kind of further context.
And because nothing gets by anyone anymore, plenty of people let Washington State hear about it.
@wsucougfb you do realize that's not how it's supposed to work right? Court-mandated community service is just a LITTLE bit different from voluntary community service but hey, you do you. — Josh Lippold (@TxsPhotog) February 2, 2018
Coug’d it. — Mike Strandoo (@Strandoom) February 2, 2018
Really? Did WSU give this ANY thought first? pic.twitter.com/nQPu0EzFM7 — Mike Sprouse (@MichaelSprouse) February 2, 2018
This was not well thought out.... pic.twitter.com/T1z3DEZYKK — Patrick Mest (@PatMest) February 3, 2018
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