Missouri State Representative Rick Brattin has taken a fair amount of heat for his proposed legislation that would rescind the scholarship for any student athlete who refused to play because of a strike or concerted effort from the team not to play and would fine coaches for participation in similar efforts.

He appeared on The Big Show on KTGR in St. Louis to explain his rationale behind proposing the bill.

In the interview, Brattin lamented how the football players and coaches for Missouri got political and failed to live up to the obligations of their scholarships and their contracts. He tried to reiterate that he was not taking away the free speech rights to protest actions, but were failing to live up to the conditions of their employment contract (in essence for the student athletes since they are not employees, which is another political rabbit hole).

He said it was the players’ obligation to play and participate in football activities. Playing in the game is part of the parameters in order to keep their scholarship.

Brattin said he had no objection to the form of the protest, but only that the football team used the Missouri football program to get what they wanted and hold the school hostage. The university would have lost at least $1 million if it had to forfeit the Nov. 14 game against BYU.

Missouri football players announced as a team they would not participate in football activities in mid-November until president Tom Wolfe resigned. The campus was embroiled in controversy and unrest after many students felt the university failed to create a safe atmosphere for black students on campus and failed to quickly react to several racial incidents on campus.

Brattin’s interview did not address the underlying racial tensions at Missouri and how the legislature intends to resolve those issues satisfactorily for the students on campus.