trying to decipher fact from assumption or fiction. It's a lot to go through...and I've been trying to keep up with news reports. I agree it's all an unfortunate mess.
The deal, though, is this. We will always have these incidents, sometimes with longer periods in between, but we'll have them. And so will most other major programs. It's life unfortunately.
We're always going to want our student athletes to represent us well. Some will, some will not. Sometimes it will be because of upbringing and environment but most times it'll just be because someone made poor choices in the heat of a moment. We should appreciate the ones who don't get in any trouble even more than we do. But look how much time and energy and ink is ever spent on that.
Most of you know that my son was involved in a similar incident when he was here, though there were no major injuries. His choices, as he will now tell you, had nothing to do with how he was raised. He was young and dumb. He was drinking before he was legally old enough and he got into a mess that got him arrested, suspended and embarrassed himself and his team and program.
We were talking about all this last night and he has totally changed his stand. In college, he was prepared to protect his teammates, even to the point of being arrested himself. Now, he says he wouldn't do that. He has too much to lose and he tells everyone, including his own brother, that if they go to a club and something goes down, he will not participate. He'll leave before he throws away his career on some nonsense. His future matters more to him than what any friend thinks of him now. Back then, he admits he wasn't mature enough to grasp that. As surprised as I was to hear that, I was relieved. And the only difference is that he's matured enough to understand the permanency of consequences. He could've thrown his future away in college with the thinking he had then, but he isn't willing to do it now because he's smarter.
Most young people live by a code of conduct that many grown folks don't understand. And that is, if one of my friends gets confronted, we'll all go down before we let him get hit. It isn't smart but it's how it is.
Anyway, I think all this is disturbing...the level to which it has turned out. I hope that the ones who wind up in permanent trouble over this learn their lessons. And I hope the ones watching it do as well.
All of us need some football.
