OT-ish: OTL report about college athletes and uneven law enforcement
Interesting OTL report about how athletes at different schools are treated by law enforcement, particularly when it comes to criminal prosecutions. Wiscy, ND, and MSU were in the list. I honestly hope this doesn't become a flame war or a "holier-than-thou" discussion here, since honestly UM probably has similar issues with preferential treatment. But it is an interesting collection of statistics, particularly compared to the general student bodies, of how some athletes are treated on particularl campuses as it relates to legal transgressions.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Really you don't say....
You are right about that. While none of us gets to choose what type of household/environment/community we are born in and raised, but I find it both sad and amazing that when people like AH make it, and make it BIG, that they do not have the common sense to leave certain aspects of their earlier life behind once and for all and enjoy their hrd earned success.
I think this is a systemic issue at Florida, but I do remember Muschamp commenting early on in his tenure that he had to become a bit more of a disciplinarian than he expected because of the culture that seemed to be around the program. My guess is that we'll see the same pop up at OSU, another school that I imagine has a good system for keep athletes out of jail.
This/he was the good system for keeping athletes out of jail at ohio.....
Urbz seems to have changed his Florida ways at OSU tho... Not nearly as many athletes getting in trouble.
You may be right, or it could be that he has gotten even better at "handling" those situations, maybe even better than Tressel
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Too bad they only covered about one season of Meyer as coach. How would the numbers have changed if it started in 2007 or 2006?
If Michigan had refused that info the Freep would join the lawsuit, file it's own FOIA request and it would be a front page story. Not sports front page. THE front page.
That is why, after living in a Freep household over a half century, I won't take the paper.
More like nobody cares about what MSU does compared to UM..
I think our cops do a good job. It seems like we get nabbed for all of the minor stuff like mips and traffic tickets like the one Denard got.
Living in Columbus and being the same age, I would on occasion be out when Andy Katzamoyer was out. Seemed like guys wanted to show they were tough and get up and push his buttons. More than once I would see him leave within the hour. He wasn't a smart dude, but he did seem to know when to leave an establishment.
I am sure this happens everywhere.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I agree that there are certain situations where athletes probably do get put into bad situations due to their fame, but things like sexual assaults and drug possessions (which pop up a decent number with athletes) also pop up quite a bit and really are more the athletes' problems.
I will agree with you, though, that physical altercations (especially with some liquid courage) seem to occur way more between athletes and non-athletes than you'd expect. I remember at UM a couple of times seeing fights break out/the aftermath of said fights where you could tell it was some dumb guy trying to act tough and look good in front of his friends/girlfriend despite the fact the guy across from him was WAY bigger. I could be misremembering this over a decade later, but I remember an engineering grad student getting into a fight with a football player that was basically caused by him insulting the football player after a bad game. Just dumb stuff like that.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
In my experience, a lot of the times it's the athlete's friends riding the coattails that initiate the problems.
I've seen tons of fights between guys in the streets where they exchanged words and sometimes fists and then went their separate ways.
When there's an athlete involved the other party seems to be more likely to bring it to the public, whether it's for money or just because they have a name for a face. The Lewan bar incident happens all the time; but when it happens with a high-profile athlete, it carries.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
from Tressel to Meyer. what a joke OSU is. In fact, lets not leave out the whole state of Ohio, who just admitted Tressel into their Hall of Fame.
betting on his own team puts Pete Rose out of the Baseball Hall of Fame (which is fortunately NOT in Ohio), but Tressel running a program relying on systemic cheating can be forgiven. Tressel's transgressions caused an undefeated team to stay home at bowl time. Ask the players on that team how they feel about Tressel.
We on this blog need to come up with some form of national recognition for Urban Meyer. What college coach is so associated with protecting criminals. Can we re -name the Fulmer Cup?
very important beyond sports. The access to quality legal representation is crucial to a just adjudication of alleged crimes. That the average person does not receive such representation and players do is an injustice that should anger people.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
in this group? I never heard of Saban covering things up or doing things improperly in the way this thread is going. Who he takes on his team and how he deals with disciplne issues is shameful, but, like Miles I guess, he does his work in the open and doesn't care about or fear any backlash.
Yeah it's bad, but it's even worse for politicians. They do much more illegal things and then vote themselves a raise.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
“Chris Raney--who helped Meyer win a title--was named a suspect in five crimes but only faced charges once. He was arrested for texting his girlfriend, “It’s Time to Die, *****.” Did Meyer, the father of two girls, dismiss him from the team? Of course not. Rainey helped the Gators win the 2008 title and later went to the NFL, only to be cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers after a domestic violence arrest."
Reportedly, a staff member told Meyer about a yet unsolved drive-by shooting incident. Hernandez had refused to talk to police about it. Meyer asked: Is there anything I should know? Reportedly, the staff member said he didn’t need to know anything more because (he claimed) Hernandez was not a suspect. But a man did identify someone looking like Hernandez as well as another UF player in the car. . I find no record that Urban ever questioned Hernandez. I can only guess that was because--- miracle upon miracle—the man rescinded his story about the UF star!.
Although some will point out it is ridiculous to blame Meyer for Hernandez---certainly much blame goes to his background, the fans, the legal system and most of all the player himself--, a writer from msn does not let Meyer off the hook so easily. Commenting about the relative lack of discipline and the protection of such players from legal consequences, he argued that some blame does fall on the" coaches. (They) "feed these athletes' egos and, thus, enable their boorish behavior. They may not have pulled the trigger, but they all had a hand in making Hernandez believe he could."
Brandon Spikes--one of Urban's ex-players--just got arrested this week--this time for a hit and run. Repeatedly suspended for illegal hits and banned substances in recent years, Spikes helped Meyer win two titles--one of them with teammate Aaron Hernandez. Would he have been charged with a crime if he were back on Meyer's team at UF? Interesting question.
espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13064851/brandon-spikes-cited-highway-wreck
Rainey allegedly shot fireworks at people in 2008. Asked about whether Florida athletes felt they could get away with criminal acts, Rainey tells Lavigne, "Yeah, we did……” and laughs.
Mentioning ND with Florida is pretty laughable.