Brandon Davies should have been story of the week

The best news story last week got little play nationally, even though one columnist for the Portland Oregonian wrote simply, "Wow."

When BYU suspended Brandon Davies for an honor code violation during the middle of a legitimate run for the national championship last March, the world took notice that an institution actually would put something, anything, ahead of winning. But last week Davies was reinstated and reportedly overjoyed at receiving a second chance, without generating nearly as much chatter.

Here's what the Oregonian's John Canzano wrote: "I figured the player (Davies) would re-surface somewhere, bitter and more talkative, and eventually write a book about life under the code at BYU. Instead, he's back for more, and grateful for the chance."

This, he said, is amazing "when contrasted to the decision-making we see from many college athletes today."

The news business naturally gravitates toward tales of scandals, crimes and famous people behaving badly. That's not just a ploy to sell newspapers (if anyone out there has a real plan for selling papers, a lot of management types in this industry would like to hear it). It's a reflection of what people typically like to read and discuss.

But there ought to be more room on our public radar screens for stories about redemption, as well, and about an honor code that forces athletic programs to focus on students more than games.

That doesn't seem to have been the case at the University of Miami, where football players are alleged to have accepted gifts, money and prostitutes. It wasn't the guiding principle at the Ohio State University, where a famous coach was forced to resign amid enough moral debris (jewelry, drugs, cash, tattoos and relations with a drug dealer) to resemble an explosion at a sewage plant.

It isn't the case in far too many businesses and governments, where greed and self-interests have, among other things, nearly destroyed the world's economy.

Read the headlines and you may get the idea that the world is awash in opportunism and dishonesty; that, to put it in "Star Wars" terms, this planet is little more than a lawless Tatooine in a desolate corner of the universe.

Which is why we need stories like Brandon Davies to bring us back to, well, earth.

People, generally, are honest, and they want to do what is right. The web site wallettest.com offers an interesting sociological case study to back this up.