Marsalis Johnson arrested

[Boonie]

Every year it gets worse. Florida State can't hold a candle to good ole rocky top. At least when Bowden has thugs he usually makes champions out of them. Don't give me that baloney about second chances. If the kid waved a gun at a cop he's lucky to be alive, if he would have got shot then everybody would be on the wagon to lock up the cop. I do think the evidence should be verified but it sounds pretty much like facts. What is a major college football player with a potential future in the NFL doing with a toy Uzi anyway?......THUGGGGGGG!!!

[THE SQUAD]

Every year it gets worse. Florida State can't hold a candle to good ole rocky top. What is a major college football player with a potential future in the NFL doing with a toy Uzi anyway?......THUGGGGGGG!!!

 

That's my question too. I don't have any doubt he's been a good person in the past but why would you have an UZI b-b gun under the seat of your car.

I can think of a few reasons & none of them are good...

 

 

 

THE SQUAD

[gotmilk?]

Isnt it funny how everyone wants to talk about UT, when virtually every school in the country has the same thing going on? Just ask USC, Miami, FSU, ARK, OU, etc!

[Guest dare_2_dream]

Isnt it funny how everyone wants to talk about UT, when virtually every school in the country has the same thing going on? Just ask USC, Miami, FSU, ARK, OU, etc!

 

Isnt it funny how UT fans always point the finger at someone else?

[Solomon]

Isnt it funny how UT fans always point the finger at someone else?

 

I'm not saying we don't have ourt fair share of trouble, because I'm not neive. And yes, the 2005 offseason was ridiculous, and I've said many times on here I think a majority of the problem was Fulmer got complacent. That said, I'll still call 4 off-the-field incidents on an offseason par for a college football program (and I'm not 100% convinced Johnson did anything besides not drive away from a situation). What is funny is how UGA has about three people missing for the season opener every year, yet nothing is ever mentioned about them.

 

My philosohpy is that everyone is entitled to a mistake. No one is perfect, despite what many may think others should be. There should be a punishment, but people will mess up.

 

One of the ESPN writers wrote a nice column a few days ago that college kids have been doing college kid things since college was invented. The only difference now is that the internet and continual media saturation has made it to where every last issue is reported about. Adults are making their living off the mistakes of 18-22 year olds. And I dare anyone to say they've not done anything in that age bracket that they look back and and realize how stupid it acutally was.

[Augielio]

I'm not saying we don't have ourt fair share of trouble, because I'm not neive. And yes, the 2005 offseason was ridiculous, and I've said many times on here I think a majority of the problem was Fulmer got complacent. That said, I'll still call 4 off-the-field incidents on an offseason par for a college football program (and I'm not 100% convinced Johnson did anything besides not drive away from a situation). What is funny is how UGA has about three people missing for the season opener every year, yet nothing is ever mentioned about them.

 

My philosohpy is that everyone is entitled to a mistake. No one is perfect, despite what many may think others should be. There should be a punishment, but people will mess up.

 

One of the ESPN writers wrote a nice column a few days ago that college kids have been doing college kid things since college was invented. The only difference now is that the internet and continual media saturation has made it to where every last issue is reported about. Adults are making their living off the mistakes of 18-22 year olds. And I dare anyone to say they've not done anything in that age bracket that they look back and and realize how stupid it acutally was.

 

I think you have, inadvertently, pointed out much of the problem:

 

"ADULTS ARE MAKING THEIR LIVING OFF THE MISTAKES OF 18-22 YEAR OLDS."

Surely, you must realize that for every adult making a living investigating and reporting on the carrying-ons of college athletes, there are another 1,000 making a living off their skills, playing and publicity. Surely, ESPN's view of college athletics must be skewed, since it is a source of millions of dollars for them. What happens in big-time college athletics is simple--and sad: the colleges go out and round up the best raw material available, fudging grades, getting potential athletes into crip courses, correspondence courses and whatever it takes to make them and keep them eligible. Not too long ago, it was a believed in this country that athletics kept kids from getting into trouble, took them off the streets, and got them with the "right crowd." Today, the greatest concentration of criminals in Gainesville, Knoxville, and other big-time sports schools, is in the athletic dorms and facilities built to house this "right crowd." Kids are being brought into college life who would never be there without athletics, who lack even the most fundamental classroom skills, and very few of whom will ever graduate. A long-time friend of mine was once in charge of the "football dorm" as it was called in a major southern university; his stories were amazing--and this was in the 1980's. He tells me that there is no way he would consider such a job today, comparing it to trying to keep order in a zoo.

And we, as the fans who ultimately pay for all this, couldn't care less. We can understand why the college coaches are not interested, in spite of the fact that a whole host of Brent Musburger clones--the same ones who forever chant the term "student athlete" in referring to people who help them earn their network salaries-- take every opportunity to tell us what fine molders of men these coaches are--even when these "molders of men" jump contracts and show their loyalty to the $ sign is greater than any loyalty to the men they are hired to coach. At Penn State right now, the university system is holding its breath that Paterno, out of touch with reality and obsessed with his own ego, will somehow leave before he commits an incident (such as Woody Hayes did) which will shame the university.

We can understand why the TV networks want to insist that their golden goose really is golden and will continue to lay big $ eggs. They have a heavy investment and it is to their advantage to perpetuate the myth of amateur "student athletes"

playing the hearts out for the university which is educating them (and not playing for the pro scouts). And finally, we as fans, must admit that when that halfback who has two arrest records, an SUV that just materialized in his driveway, a course of study with the minimum 12 hours in subjects like "Campus Studies" and "Recreational Management--when that guy breaks loose and goes 75 yards against the archrival, we don't care (a) what his criminal record is ( how he got to the university © how he stays eligible (d) if he will graduate or not and (e) what he will be doing 5 years from now. He's been hired to do what he can do. To call him a "student athlete" is as laughable as calling a corner drug dealer a "community pharmacist." (Come to think of it, maybe that could be a new major....)

[Solomon]

I think you have, inadvertently, pointed out much of the problem:

 

"ADULTS ARE MAKING THEIR LIVING OFF THE MISTAKES OF 18-22 YEAR OLDS."

Surely, you must realize that for every adult making a living investigating and reporting on the carrying-ons of college athletes, there are another 1,000 making a living off their skills, playing and publicity. Surely, ESPN's view of college athletics must be skewed, since it is a source of millions of dollars for them. What happens in big-time college athletics is simple--and sad: the colleges go out and round up the best raw material available, fudging grades, getting potential athletes into crip courses, correspondence courses and whatever it takes to make them and keep them eligible. Not too long ago, it was a believed in this country that athletics kept kids from getting into trouble, took them off the streets, and got them with the "right crowd." Today, the greatest concentration of criminals in Gainesville, Knoxville, and other big-time sports schools, is in the athletic dorms and facilities built to house this "right crowd." Kids are being brought into college life who would never be there without athletics, who lack even the most fundamental classroom skills, and very few of whom will ever graduate. A long-time friend of mine was once in charge of the "football dorm" as it was called in a major southern university; his stories were amazing--and this was in the 1980's. He tells me that there is no way he would consider such a job today, comparing it to trying to keep order in a zoo.

And we, as the fans who ultimately pay for all this, couldn't care less. We can understand why the college coaches are not interested, in spite of the fact that a whole host of Brent Musburger clones--the same ones who forever chant the term "student athlete" in referring to people who help them earn their network salaries-- take every opportunity to tell us what fine molders of men these coaches are--even when these "molders of men" jump contracts and show their loyalty to the $ sign is greater than any loyalty to the men they are hired to coach. At Penn State right now, the university system is holding its breath that Paterno, out of touch with reality and obsessed with his own ego, will somehow leave before he commits an incident (such as Woody Hayes did) which will shame the university.

We can understand why the TV networks want to insist that their golden goose really is golden and will continue to lay big $ eggs. They have a heavy investment and it is to their advantage to perpetuate the myth of amateur "student athletes"

playing the hearts out for the university which is educating them (and not playing for the pro scouts). And finally, we as fans, must admit that when that halfback who has two arrest records, an SUV that just materialized in his driveway, a course of study with the minimum 12 hours in subjects like "Campus Studies" and "Recreational Management--when that guy breaks loose and goes 75 yards against the archrival, we don't care (a) what his criminal record is ( how he got to the university © how he stays eligible (d) if he will graduate or not and (e) what he will be doing 5 years from now. He's been hired to do what he can do. To call him a "student athlete" is as laughable as calling a corner drug dealer a "community pharmacist." (Come to think of it, maybe that could be a new major....)

 

I agree with all you said, to an extent. This is how I look at it.

 

To start, I was lucky enough to live in Gibbs, the athletic dorm, for my freshman and sophomore years at UT. I don't know where your friend worked, but I don't rememebr Gibbs ever being a zoo or anythign close to the like. The biggiest partiers I knew of were the swim team guys and the Fijis who lived next door to me. The profit-oriented sports athletes were absolutely no different that any of the rest of us in how they acted. They were 18-22 year old college kids. They would stagger in drunk occasionally and keep alcohol in their room, get a ticket for parking in the fire lane, or do something stupid that all college kids do. I did the same stuff when I lived there. Never once did I ever have a gun pointed at me, have to suffer with guys smoking weed in the elevator, or have to stumble over all their trash they left outside. Actually, if you treated the guys like any other student, they were any other student. I've went toe-toe with Cosey Coleman in an okra eating contest before, and worked in a group project with Javi Herrera and Deon Grant. I'd dare say Gibbs was the calmest all-guys dorm on campus.

 

Second, here's how I look at college. It gives everyone a chance to do somethign with their lives. Some of us are gifted with business skills, some teaching skills, and some sheer athletic skills. Who am I to say that someone that can run a 4.3 40 doesn't deserve the same chance as me to succeed even though he isn't smart? It's not my fault (actually it is) that he has the chance to make $10 mill a year starting out when I'd be lucky to make $50K. You know what? More power to him! He's been given a chance to succeed. And at some point, it all goes back to the athlete to succeed, whether he is white, black, surburbian, inner-city, whatever. It's personal responsiblity. Because of his skill, he's been given a tremendous opportunity, and if he doesn't want to take advantage of that, it rests on him. I'm sick and tired of the snoody academia of college America saying these guys don't deserve a chance to succeed.

 

Third, I dont' think any of us on this board really have any idea of what some of these guys have grown up in. And I am thankful that I don't have any idea. But I'm not throwing stones at a guy at UT, UGA, Florida, etc. for their actions (Within reason), especially the first time they get in trouble. I think people who belittle these guys are worthless, and much worse human beings than the guys themselves.

[Guest dare_2_dream]

I'm not saying we don't have ourt fair share of trouble, because I'm not neive. And yes, the 2005 offseason was ridiculous, and I've said many times on here I think a majority of the problem was Fulmer got complacent. That said, I'll still call 4 off-the-field incidents on an offseason par for a college football program (and I'm not 100% convinced Johnson did anything besides not drive away from a situation). What is funny is how UGA has about three people missing for the season opener every year, yet nothing is ever mentioned about them.

 

My philosohpy is that everyone is entitled to a mistake. No one is perfect, despite what many may think others should be. There should be a punishment, but people will mess up.

 

One of the ESPN writers wrote a nice column a few days ago that college kids have been doing college kid things since college was invented. The only difference now is that the internet and continual media saturation has made it to where every last issue is reported about. Adults are making their living off the mistakes of 18-22 year olds. And I dare anyone to say they've not done anything in that age bracket that they look back and and realize how stupid it acutally was.

 

I mean every school is going to have its share of problems, thats just part of it. The bigger the school, the bigger the spotlight. When a big school messes up, it gets a lot more attention that some small college out in the middle of nowhere. Im not saying UF doesnt have their problems, but it seems like UT has more. Also, UT fans always point the finger at another program when problems occur in UT land.