We Are Doomed On The Ol With Gandy Out

#1
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westsidevol

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Feb 1, 2005
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#1
of all the positions to lose a player, center is the last one I would pick. It hurts to see a valuable player go down playing an intramural sport. I hope it was worth it to Gandy to toss away a possible NFL career for a pick-up basketball game. I guess I will never understand why these kids risk injury with so much at stake. It will be interesting to see who we plug in at center. McNeil is talented but I do not see him being ready mentally. The center has to call schemes based on defensive alignments and that is too much to ask out of a freshman.
 
#2
#2
The key word is "kid" and all he was doing was playing basketball. There's millions of other ways he could have injured himself. It's unfortunate that he got hurt but how can you tell a young athlete, that's not paid, to not play a quick pick-up game of basketball? Impossible. As far as center goes, we'll be ok. CPF will have someone ready by fall.
 
#3
#3
Yeah - I think people need to tone it down a little bit on Gandy. I'm sure the poor kid feels horrible, but the fact is that it was a freak injury. He wasn't doing anything that 20 year olds don't do everyday.
 
#4
#4
I just don't think big 300 lb guys need to be playing pick up basketball. The stress on the knees is too great. I wonder if Gandy would do things differently now that he has cost himself and the team. Not sure how we are going to shuffle the OL to make up for this. Maybe Sears will rotate to center.
 
#5
#5
Originally posted by westsidevol@Feb 21, 2005 10:34 AM
I just don't think big 300 lb guys need to be playing pick up basketball.
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You're probably right about that . . . all I'm saying that he could have just as easily gotten hurt in the weight room or slipped and fallen on the way to class or had a car accident. Sometimes stuff just happens.
 
#6
#6
How many times did you guys play a game of bball in college, or at his age? How many of you still do it today?

Stop whining. Injuries happen. Yes, it is unfortunate, but it happened. We'll be OK. Life will go on, I promise.
 
#7
#7
How many had the chance to play pro football or start for a SEC school. Gandy was a marginal recruit who worked hard to get where he was. Now that is all gone. So, I guess it is his right to play BB but I do not want to hear him complain when he is working at the Wal-Mart instead of playing pro football.
 
#9
#9
Originally posted by westsidevol@Feb 21, 2005 11:12 AM
So, I guess it is his right to play BB but I do not want to hear him complain when he is working at the Wal-Mart instead of playing pro football.
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That's one of the neat things about college though. No matter what you do to your knee while you are there - they have these classes that you can take so that you won't have to work at Wal-Mart once you leave.



 
#10
#10
We only graduate 38 percent of our players so you cannot assume that Gandy is getting a degree. And even if he does he won't be making near the money he would have in the pros.

The more I think about it, the more insane it appears to me that he was actually playing BB so close to spring training.
 
#11
#11
Originally posted by westsidevol@Feb 21, 2005 11:50 AM
We only graduate 38 percent of our players so you cannot assume that Gandy is getting a degree. And even if he does he won't be making near the money he would have in the pros.

The more I think about it, the more insane it appears to me that he was actually playing BB so close to spring training.
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Does it matter how he messed his knee up? Peyton Manning played intramural bb as well as countless other vols past and present. You can't ask ANY kid to miss out on part of their college experience. Maybe Gandy is on track to get a degree, we don't know. The bottom line is that he didn't do anything wrong and he didn't throw anything away. I'm sure the guy will be ok.
 
#12
#12
So we are supposed to assume the kid is dumb and is just in school strictly to play football? maybe he does want to graduate, regardless of what he does on the field. If he's hurt, he'll definitely have more time to spend on his schoolwork.
 
#13
#13
Maybe someone will post that. If he is on track to get his degree. If not, then I say he made the mistake of a lifetime by playing BB. And don't give me the excuse that it is part of the college experience. The guy gets to play plenty during football season. You cannot have your cake and eat it to. IM sports should be for the regular students although I do enjoy seeing the athletes get whipped in IM. When I played on the Tuppers we beat the football players for the championship. Terry Brown was the point guard. They could not believe we won.
 
#14
#14
You act as if the guy was caught smoking pot or shot somebody or something. He was simply playing a game of basketball, and something unfortunate happened. You want to berade the kid for playing a little game of basketball, when he could be aa Modre Dickerson, out trying to rape girls (allegedly).

Gimme a break, man.
 
#15
#15
Originally posted by orangetd88@Feb 21, 2005 12:17 PM
You act as if the guy was caught smoking pot or shot somebody or something. He was simply playing a game of basketball, and something unfortunate happened. You want to berade the kid for playing a little game of basketball, when he could be aa Modre Dickerson, out trying to rape girls (allegedly).

Gimme a break, man.
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Thank you. These kids are student-athletes, not football players.
 
#16
#16
And one other thing - I know the kid has potential, but is his NFL stock really all that high? I'd say that whether he was hurt or not, he'd probably fall in that 95% of all players that end up somewhere between the NFL and Wal-Mart.
 
#17
#17
Just wait and see...we will be fine this Fall at OL. I have a good feeling about it. It will be a priority during Spring practice and this fall... :good:
 
#18
#18
I'm not going to say that it won't hurt, because it most likely will hurt the line, especially in depth/experience. But I'm not gonna sit here and belittle the guy and make him out to be some trouble maker because he played a basketball game.
 
#19
#19
Dude like everyone was saying its a freak accident!! I bet Gandy is not the only VOL football player playing Intramural BBall? It just happend so get over it!!

CPF will have someone ready for the start of the Fall season. Who knows Gandy could be back in august! But who ever plays center we will be ok!
 
#20
#20
That's the trouble these days with athletes. No one wants to be accountable. What business does a big OL have playing BB in an IM league ? He has a whole team depending on him and now he has let them down. I am not saying the guy is an axe murderer but he used some poor judgement IMO.

I got hit in the eye playing softball a few years back. The Dr did not tell me to quit playing but did say I would be blind if I got hit in the same area. Guess what....I retired. Same with Gandy. I say the odds are pretty good a 300 lb guy is going to get hurt playing BB. I still say it was foolish.

The OL is the weak link on this team. We are only going to go so far if the OL is not up to par.
 
#21
#21
Hindsight is 20/20. Guys like Banks, Johnson, and McDaniel all made mistakes. I think Gandy's was one of those things that just happens. He could lock hiimself in his dorm room and never leave since he might fall down steps, get struck by lightning, or get hit by a car.
 
#23
#23
College is college. IM sports is a part of it. I know of no school that has rules against athletes playing IM sports in a sport other than what they are on scholarship for. They humans, their kids, their students. IM sports is one of the great traditions of college life. No one should be prohibited. As long as an athletic department does not have rules against it, then they do nothing wrong. He could have just as well been injured the first day of practice.
 
#24
#24
Atleast he was involved in something constructive, and socially involving, and clean. He wasn't smoking dope or drunk driving.
 
#25
#25
Originally posted by westsidevol@Feb 21, 2005 12:49 PM
That's the trouble these days with athletes. No one wants to be accountable.

I am not saying the guy is an axe murderer but he used some poor judgement IMO.
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What in the hell are you talking about??? I just picked up this thread and can't believe that you continue to make such a ridiculous point. I wish a lot MORE atheletes would spend time around campus playing intramural or "pick-up" games (which are a POSITIVE thing) instead of getting caught up in the "invincible, above-the-law" attitude that is pervasive through both college and professional sports these days.

I guess from your perspective an NFL player shouldn't teach his son to fish because he might get hooked in the eye? Or heck, I shouldn't drive to work because I might slam my hand in the door and not be able to write prescriptions anymore?

Oh, and you know who's more likely to get hurt than a 300 pound lineman playing basketball? The 180-pounders playing against him!

:lame: Please. Next thread.
 
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