Driving with a suspended license outside East Lansing.
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Dubya-Tee-Eff guys, let's stop this. Someone give me that Liar-Liar Gif.
In terms of crimes this seems to be about as minor as they come. Expired tags, pulled over for not signaling. His biggest mistake was not showing up to the court date, which I can’t explain but I’m guessing there was a reason. He paid the fine. This could have happened to anyone and doesn’t seem to display any poor intent or overly harmful decision making (just being forgetful regarding the tags). Denard is still the Golden Son.
biggest mistake was going anywhere near E Lansing.
...what the heck was he doing up in East Lansing right after the Minnesota game? The article says he got pulled over at 1:33am on November 4th.
The team started the day in Minnesota whupping the Gophers, and while he didn't play (ulnar nerve boo-boo), he was on the sideline. So he flew back with the team, then jumped on the road and went to East Lansing?
Note that I'm not questioning the guy's right to be up there -- just curious as to what was worth driving up for? It's not like he's a popular guy in that town.
Maybe he wanted to watch the MSU-Nebraska game? Just a guess, there were a few Michigan fans there rooting for MSU.
"His biggest mistake was not showing up to the court date, which I can’t explain but I’m guessing there was a reason."
Why do we always try to explain away these guys' mistakes? Of course there was a reason - he wanted to avoid going to court. That's typically the only reason. If you ignore it, maybe it will go away.
But it doesn't go away.
This is just stupid.
And learned from the Stonum incident?
Best excuse I can make up for him. /BOOM MGoBlog-ed
It can be both. It can be an actual bad thing that a player did wrong, but can also be not a big deal.
Barring some additional facts, this is a stupid thing that Denard did, and it is his fault. However, on the scale of jaywalking/speeding to murder/being Pitbull, this is a relatively minor offense (I'd place it below alcohol-related offenses but above traffic offenses).
What's the minimum sentence for being Pitbull?
Asking for a friend.....
Well in the case of Denard, he has a track record of being a program guy and not shying away from obligations. So he may or may not have ignore it but he probably gets the benefit of the doubt here...
Because we are Michigan. Our players are good. We can explain away our players mistakes. Other teams though, are just full of thugs.
In my experience, college kids will often forget things, like showing up to court. Maybe he got his days mixed up. Maybe he thought it was the AA court house, but it should have been in the jurisdiction in which he was cited. Who knows, but it's really a non-issue and a non-story.
You don't "forget" to show up to court, at least not if you consider going to court a significant event.
As someone who has had to go to court for minor incidents there are reasons you might not show up mistakenly. Often times with misdemeanors there are ways to settle the matter outside of court (pleading no contest, paying fine before the date) or in some instances your lawyer can represent you without you needing to be present. It is possible that there was a miscommunication or misunderstanding along the way. I hate to be the guy defending Denard blindly, I don’t consider myself that type of fan, but it’s not necessarily black and white. He is not someone that is ignorant enough to wake up in the morning and thinks he can avoid the issue by staying at home that day.
I'm not excusing the fact that he didn't show up, but he took care of it. It was dumb, but most of us (particularly the males among us) did a lot of dumb stuff at that age. Bottom line - it's taken care of, and he presumably learned a lesson from it.
Every student has a calendaring function built into their web mail now. Put the court date on your calendar and set it to remind you repeatedly. Don't forget that shit.
I can safely say nobody I know uses that shit. Denard still should have been able to remember said date, but that's not one of the reasons.
I can safely say nobody I know uses that shit. Denard still should have been able to remember said date, but that's not one of the reasons.
EDIT-DELETE
Wouldn't driving on a suspended license be the bigger problem? With failing to signal and expired tags a distant 2nd? Why was his license suspended in the first place?
nt
Why was his license suspended in the first place?
Or unauthorized use of dilithium
how can Denard be unauthorized to use something that is inherently a part of his being?
Just because its part of who he is, doesn't mean the government will allow it.
With great power comes great responsibility.
want for this thread to go all politcal, but there you go on me.
"how can Denard be unauthorized to use something that is inherently a part of his being?"
/Errol Flynn'd
I'm curious about that too...
The article doesn't seem to say. He just had expired tags when he got pulled over then missed the original court date. I can only assume that after he missed the court date his license was automatically suspended until he paid the fines or something.
Forgot to renew tags. Got a notice in the mail instructing me to come to court, I was swamped at work, and I had my license suspended. Paid the fine a few weeks later and license was immediately reinstated.
Same thing happens if you forget to pay a parking ticket, an enough time goes by.
I imagine that denard's permanent address (where his car is registered) is in Florida. Mail may go there and he picks it up on breaks when he goes home. The notice may have sat for a while an he jus never got to it. Like i said, happens all the time.
I would think that his parents would call him to say that a letter from the Michigan Secretary of State came in the mail.
Even my parents who are generally competent get confused by mail. I've gotten (multiple) calls from them insisting that there's an important looking document that I need to pick up only to find that it was some cheesy piece of junk mail.
And even better than that, twice I've recieved jury duty requests from courthouses that my parents let sit for months. Those actually could have resulted in contempt of court charges. Thanks Mom & Dad! I swear in some matters, everybody over the age of 50 is just hapless.
As a recent grad, 2011 for those who care, I still get mail sent to my parents house even though I don't live there. Usually my Dad calls if it looks important enough and I give him the OK to open it and tell me what it says. Otherwise whenever I see them I get a pile of junk mail dropped on me. A Michigan Secretary of State letter would prompt a phone call from Pops.
I guess everyone is different though.
This would not happen if Denard just got the extended use of a loaner car through a local dealership like at OSU :-)
I've been ticketed for an expired tag, but you only have to go to court for that if you challenge it.
oh geesh, Ohio and State fans are going to loooove this
Seriously, who the fuck cares what they think?
Not everyone who comes on here and takes quipy shots at State despite the fact that State was taken care of earlier this year. That's for sure.
Because their players drive more luxurious cars?
Is how I imagine they react. Osu fan: "do you think Michigan will get banned from a bowl? Denard did something way worse than selling off memorabilia for free shit and then having a university wide cover-up." Msu fan: "agree. I bet after he goes to prison for this, Brady choke will let him play without even sitting a game. Typical scUM player. We won 4 in a row once. Suck on that walvies."
This post is funny because it is true.
But you forgot a mention of "Little Sisters" from the MSU fan.
Could only fit so many sparty-isms into one post. That's because my mind OS occupied with basketball season, which for years I have been told to wait for the arrival of.
But it is still insightful
...when he doesn't want to get to where he's going too fast by simply running.
I feel like the team has gotten into trouble a bit more this year than usual? Kinda annoying..
Best line of article
He is expected to play quarterback, running back and wide receiver in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1 against South Carolina.
he will be on the field or the sidelines in the 2nd half?
Robinson had to pay $870 in fines and court costs for the charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license, along with $65 for the expired registration tags on his plates.
That's probably more than his 2001 Pontiac is worth. You'd think he'd have a nicer car with all of the #16 jerseys the M Den sells.
Chris Webber agrees with your sentiments on the jerseys.
Webber cheated, made it "cool" for others to take Ed Martin's money, put the basketball program into the dumper for ten years, and never admitted that he did anything wrong. He certainly isn't much of a "character witness" for a supporting argument.
I don't care what he "agrees with," but I do care that nobody like him ever wears a Michigan uniform.
...but I still can't fathom why any undergrad student would need (or even want) a car. More trouble than it's worth and everything you could want is within walking distance of campus.
Unless you live on North. Not to mention it makes getting home easier.
Bursley.....the horror, the horror
...due to some Brewster's Million's type scenario, needs to spend $10K in one semester on parking tickets.
...due to some Brewster's Millions type scenario, needs to spend $10K in one semester on parking tickets.
...due to some Brewster's Millions type scenario, needs to spend $10K in one semester on parking tickets.
I had a car for two years and a motorcycle for senior year. Main reasons:
1. Grocery shopping
2. Ease of moving in/out without parental assistance. Didn't want to make them drive 20 hours round trip just to drop me off at school.
3. Driving to/from North Campus
4. The glory of motorcycle parking in Ann Arbor
5. Day/weekend trips for away games, skiing, etc
6. My family had the awful habit of getting into minor accidents with my car when I left it home freshman year
7. Because the joy of driving, cotdammit!
Nice headline here, ESPN. "Denard Robinson Files Guilty Plea."
Guess it was more head turning than "Denard Robinson Resolves Minor Traffic Violation."
Not that Rothstein wrote the headline, but this is as good as spot as any to point out that I have never liked Rothstein all that much.
Looks like it has been changed to "Michigan's Robinson cited for suspended license".
anything that will make headlines these days.....
All of this bad news surrounding our football program lately. How about some good news for a change? Reading Hello: posts are so much better than this.....
Now if he had been at Ohio, this would never have been a problem. I'm sure the dealer plates on his luxury sport car would have been up to date.
"2001 Pontiac" -- well it's encouraging to know that we are most definitely less corrupt than most programs if our starting quarterback drives at 2001 Pontiac. Even walk-ons wouldn't be allowed to drive that shit at The U
Hey! A believable car for a young man of modest financial means! Scandal averted!
So apparently it's a crime to operate a vehicle the same way they do on The Flintstones?
Someone better turn this shit around because its getting ridiculous that this program is having this amount of trouble floating around. Leaders can't even set an example, for fuck sakes.
Denard drives an 11-year-old Pontiac as a senior. I drove an 11-year-old Pontiac as a senior.
I was Denard.
I AM Denard!
At least we know he isn't getting free cars like Pryor and Reggie Bush driving a 2001 Pontiac.
bowl game needs to be here soon, tired of this off the field non-sense.
Finish the season, finish school and stay out of trouble.
As far as expired tags go, if you go to school in a state (MI) different from where the car is registered (maybe FL), it's difficult to renew them by mail. By difficult I mean you get maybe one notice (at the registered address) and then have to do it a certain amount of time before they expire or you have to do it in person, which is obviously difficult 1500 miles away. So, that's easily excusable. Not showing up for court, however, is strange. Come on, Denard.
and it is. What ever happened to the high standards we expect? Navare, Henne, Brady, Henson, and Griese never got into any sort of trouble and led by example, Denard should be doing the same.
Griese was suspended from the team in his early years for throwing a bar stool through a window.
good for Griese, don't think he was the starter when that happened though...
If you didn't know that Griese had to earn his way back on the team for being charged with a felony (barstool through the window) after he, in fact, had already started at QB and pooch punter for parts of 2 seasons and was THE current starting QB at the time of the incident then I don't find you at all credible to assess Denard's behavior vs prior M QBs.
1. You ever talk to anyone who was on campus when Henson was around?
2. Brian Griese, brick, window of Scorekeepers. 1996.
Bottom line: These are college kids, not saints. But college kids should know to pay their license tags, use their turn signals, and show up for court dates.
Glad this isn't serious legal trouble, but Denard was really pushing his luck if that tag expired on September 22nd. I could maybe understand letting the end of the month come around, but waiting months after that seems too risky. Anyway, I blame that terrible Grand Am.
I wonder if he will be suspended for the bowl game? The best player on my high school basketball team was suspended for eating a bag of chips in class. He was a senior too!
You do not drive with a suspended license period! Their was no excuse for this. It was a bad decision. He seems to be getting a pass from most of the comments on here.
It's a little harder to get your car inspected and go to the DMV in Florida from Ann Arbor. He's paid the fine and this is now a nom-issue.
Well, I hope one of the other football players was driving him to the Pistons game last night.
From USA Today:
Several members of the University of Michigan football team attended the game, including team captains Denard Robinson and Jordan Kovacs.
Tags up to date, license unsuspended. He is good to go. now!