Drew Sharp produces a solid article; four horseman mount their steeds.
Drew Sharp's comment on drunken Grady
He's absolutely right that Rod must bring down the hammer. Christ, look at Grady's mugshot - it's amazing he can stand. When you've been driving that f-ed up, you should thank your lucky Flying Spaghetti Monster that you didn't kill somebody. Speaking as someone who lost a loved one to a drunk driving college student, I want to see Grady punished severely.
But also, The Rod's got a lot to prove as far as discipline goes, what with some of the historically bad apples he's shuffled through the program.
I'd be happy with 6 games, though I know that's unrealistic. Anything less than 3 is a sham.
Don't you think referring to Grady's career as failed is a bit premature? He had two years of health, and during those times he was an underclassman who was sitting behind Hart. His freshman year Hart was injured for most of the year so he had to make an impact, and sure, he didn't deliver how you'd expect a highly touted recruit to. But not everyone lights it up like Mike did his freshman year. Not to mention, although he wasn't terribly consistent, he still averaged 4ypc and scored 5 TDs in 2005.
During his sophomore year, Hart had his best season ever and a 2nd RB wasn't really needed and he would've never gotten the necessary amount of carries to deem his 2006 season productive.
During the offseason of the 2007 season, many were saying he was in his best shape ever and was really performing well in the workouts up until his injury. This could've easily been fluff, but with Hart going into his final season, there really wasn't a need to hype up a backup RB unless he actually was performing very well. This offseason, we were hearing much of the same about his workout habits and his performances. He's known as a workout warrior and has always been one of the better conditioned athletes when not injured. Of course conditioning and on the field performance are two different things, however, it is a good sign of his work ethic regardless.
In conclusion, I'd hardly stick a fork in his career at UM when he has two years to finally develop the way we all hope he would. It might be better to hold off judgement, it was his first and hopefully his only offense.
...is that then you have to start matching arbitrary levels of obliteratedness to suspensions. What if he blew a .200? Or a .150? Additionally, different people have different levels of impairment at the same BAC. Obviously, there's some wiggle room with suspensions between .08 and .28, but not that much.
As chitown mentioned, six games or a full season (as Sharp is demanding) would be, to the best of my knowledge, an unprecedented penalty for a DUI. Often times, I get the sense that Sharp sets up unrealistic expectations only to express OUTRAGE at a later time.
I don't entirely know what an appropriate penalty would be, but Rodriguez should be prepared mete out the same penalty for next DUI (which will happen), regardless of BAC.
"Often times, I get the sense that Sharp sets up unrealistic expectations only to express OUTRAGE at a later time."
Bingo. First offense = one game max.
Suspend his driver's license and make him run everywhere imo. My DUI punishments (for everyone, not just football players) would be 3 month license suspension for first offense, 1 year suspension for 2nd offense, then permanent suspension for 3rd offense. If during a license suspension period a DUI occurs, then permanently suspend that person's license forever right then.
People suggesting he get kicked off the team can go fuck themselves. Unless you would want to be fired from your job and basically cut off from all jobs in your best skilled field for a DUI. In that case, throw the first stones
I'd love to see the vengenance brigade get in trouble with the law sometime, walk into their job the next day, and have their boss call them.
"Son, I'm sorry, but you just aren't a Fremulon Insurance man. Clean out your office now and get lost."
I'm sure they'd take it in stride and not, you know, sue them or something.
Kid gets drunk and drives. WOW HOLY SHIT HE'S NOT A MICHIGAN MAN HE HAS NO INTEGRITY HE'S A PIECE OF SHIT BEING A WOLVERINE IS PRIVELEGE NOT A RIGHT GRADY ISN'T GOOD ANYWAY SO SCREW HIM KICK HIM OFF THE TEAM RICH PUT YOUR WIZARD HAT ON AND DO THIS BOY LIKE SNOOP GOT DID IN BABY BOY YEAH OMG OMG WHATS NEXT RAPE HOLY SHIT KEVIN GRADY IS AN INSURGENT I'M SO OUT OF BREATH. OMG OMG OMG.
Look, he made a mistake. But there's no evidence this is a pattern of behavoir or that Grady is a bad kid. Lot's of people get DUIs and its terribly irresponsible. But, jesus, these are kids we're dealing with. Do you understand that point? Kids. They aren't going to be perfect. You can either turn this is into a learning experience and make Grady work his ass off and earn his way back onto the field or you can say, fuck him, throw him off the team.
In one case, you make an impact on a young man's life. You teach him a hard lesson in what it means to be responsible. In the other case, you take the easy way out: you wash your hands of him and say good luck.
If U of M is really in the business of turning quality young people out into the world, the only choice is the former. Bust his ass in practice, make him work, really work, his way back onto the field. By kicking him off the team, you show a total disinterest in the bigger issue and you set a precedent that loyalty - even when it may not be totally deserved - isn't a core value of the program.
Jim Tressel washed his hands of Clarett and it led to him driving down 75 with an SUV full of assualt rifles and drunk on the Goose. The great part of Lloyd's tradition was that he stuck with guys, even when they fucked up. That's the one thing I will always respect Lloyd for. Win or lose, the greater context was never spurned for the "holier than thou" idealism.
People like Drew Sharp are myopic dick holes who have the luxury of not having their youth examined under a microscope. Grady did himself and the university wrong, but let's give a pretty good kid [by all accounts] the chance to become a good man. Or are we too good for that?
...on the base assumption that drunk driving is not that serious. I happen to think it is very, very serious.
Let's throw out a complete hypothetical: Grady nearly hits someone while driving that drunk. If the person is hurt, what do you think Grady's punishment should be? If that person died, what should his punishment be?
When you're that drunk, that you don't hurt someone is more up to luck and circumstance than any active involvement on your part. So in either situation - Grady hurting someone or not - his involvement is constant: he was drunk to the point that he could not have very good control over his actions. So if those actions resulted in something more serious than they did, would the punishment be more severe?
It's the question of punishing the cause or the effect. Obviously most things in society go against effect -- murder vs. attempted murder -- but I think that's bullshit. If you're in a position where you could have killed someone but for the good fortune of not physically being in a place where it could have happened, then that to me is as good as murder.
I'm taking this a bit extreme, I know. But that DUIs are treated as such a minor action -- not by people here alone, necessarily, but by the law as well -- is infuriating.
It should be said that Grady has no prior team violations or discipline issues. Obviously something should be done, but people who want him suspended for 1/2 a season need to take a deep breath. The players aren't there merely to serve the school - the school is supposed to serve them as well. Cashiering the kid for making a really, really bad decision doesn't serve him, at all - it's convenient for the school if they want to avoid the shrill hypocrites who want to damn the kid who have never driven after taking a drink or smoking a bowl.
I'll admit - I have driven after drinking. And I'm sure most of the people posting here has on occassion as well. This is in no way attempting to excuse it, so please don't start with that shit.
As a college, we should be interested in the kid's development. As such, you kick his ass, make him do community service out the ass, make him run til he pukes, and try to instill an understanding that such behavior is unacceptable.
People talk about this "Michigan Man" horse shit all the time, but you need to understand that no one is born with the qualities you associate with the term. It is, partially, the school's responsibility to turn these kids into the sort of people we want representing us.
...Grady has been given something (scholarship, opportunity) and should be made to understand that abusing it is grounds for its withdrawal.
Playing football at michigan for free is not a right, it's something that has been given to him based on his work and character and talent. And I agree that just casting him off at the first sign of trouble helps no one. But at the same time, I'm not saying he should be kicked off the team.
A 6 game suspension is a second chance.
Jim Tressel washed his hands of Clarett and it led to him driving down 75 with an SUV full of assualt rifles and drunk on the Goose.
@BGH:
Dude, you forgot the lint roller, man- that guy was gonna de-lint some shit! Fuh real. We don't want Grady going down that path.
Wyoming is at best 10 minutes from his home. Not to mention how do you know he was going home? You sure are a bunch of shrill m-fers.
It doesn't matter how far he had to go or how blitzed he was. It only takes backing out of a driveway to kill someone - drunk or not. How about every time you fist biters go above the speed limit? You sure as hell could have killed someone and had the book thrown at you to boot. Let's all take some deep breaths.
1 game suspension minimum but I do like the idea of incrementally letting him earn his way back with a series of goals to achieve. If he doesn't achieve them by the time the season starts then he just sits until they're all accomplished.
I'm merely saying that going a mile an hour over the speed limit and killing someone is a ton worse than driving at a .281 and not. I'm saying let's punish him for what happened - not what could have happened.
Oh - and I didn't mean to bust balls with the time-from-home. I just think that that really shouldn't have anything to do with it. Should they have let him go if he was 2 blocks from home instead of 14 (actually about 10) miles from home?
I disagree with 2 of the main premises of this article. First, RR doesn’t owe Drew Sharp (who is essentially a tough talking jack ass lucky enough to be employed by a newspaper) or any other outsider anything but the common decency and respect due all human beings. RR is the head football coach at the University of Michigan rightfully and with full honors. He does not take the stage under any suspicion or need to prove himself because the Bengals are a bunch of criminals or Pacman Jones is an idiot. He certainly doesn’t have to throw a kid under the bus to prove himself to the guys playing grab ass around Mike Boren’s Weber grill just because he was not baptized by St. Bo before he passed on to his great reward. Which brings me to my second point. I like my justice to be, you know, like, just. RR shouldn’t sacrifice Grady because he was the first just to make a point. Grady deserves the same punishment anyone else in his shoes would get.
It's easy to say RR should throw the book at the hypothetical tailback named Kevin Grady because he’s not high enough on the depth chart for us to care. But Kevin Grady is a young man. A young man who happened to make a very bad mistake but it’s his first (and better his last of this sort.) DUI isn’t a capital offense and thank God no one was hurt. But it’s something far too many people in this country have been guilty of for me to believe Grady should lose his career over.
Pedestrian Under the Influence of Alcohol, MIP (blackman got 6 full games, other guy only 3)
Maurice Clarrett's debacle started at 6 games, went to a season, and yeah...
I never heard that. Thanks for making me look stupid, Marlin.
I always thought the kid had dropped the charges.
Ordonezm is awesome! In no way did he talk in circles or make an ass of himself. I think his BAC was nearing .281 when he wrote that drivel.