Seal's DUI will benefit BTW players

Originally Published: Jan 26, 2011 6:11 PM CDTI don&rsquo;t know Shea Seals as closely as a lot of other mediaguys in Tulsa probably do. I just haven&rsquo;t been

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 1:32 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Jan 26, 2011 6:11 PM CDT

I don’t know Shea Seals as closely as a lot of other mediaguys in Tulsa probably do. I just haven’t been here in town long enough toremember his days at TU. I only know him as the head coach of the Booker T.Washington boys hoops squad and one heck of a guy. That’s why his arrest last weekend on suspicion of DUI is sobaffling to me. Every time I’ve spoken to Seals, it’s been a classy conversation.He’s polite and charming. He’s a focused coach who seems to have his player’sbest interests at heart. Who’s to say that he’s not a different guy behind closeddoors? There have been many instances where the public perception of anathlete, or a public figure, is totally different than what that individualactually is. Maybe he’s just putting on a good face. Maybe the clean-cut imageis a farce.I don’t think that’s the case. I think this is an episodewhere judgment was lacking. It will be very hard to him to look his players inthe eye and ‘man-up’ to what he’s done, especially since he will be expected toguide and mentor those impressionable minds if and when he gets his coachinggig back. For now, he’s just like you and me: a spectator who’s mademistakes and has to suffer the consequences. Yours and my mistakes were probablynot played out in a public forum for all of your city to see, critique andevaluate, but, nonetheless, they were mistakes. He made one. I’ve made some.You have, too. I hope Seals gets his job back. I hope someday he will havea chance to sit down with us and talk about how this issue made him a betterteacher and coach. I have a feeling it will. The BTW players may have learnedmore from their coach’s mistake than anything he could ever draw up on achalkboard.