RR Speaks on Kevin Grady Situation
ESPN reports that Kevin Grady is still on the football team, and that RR has said that Kevin's future status will depend upon what he does over the next several months. Here is the ESPN link:
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-536/Updates-on-Michigan-s-Grady-b…
Here are my thoughts:
http://tiny.cc/VAbPq
On the one hand, I understand and encourage second (or third) chances; on the other hand, Kevin served jail time and pleaded guilty, which is a pretty serious thing. I'm really torn on this one.
Nelson Mandela spent time in jail, too, y'know
*SPIT-TAKE*
Umm... did you just type this? For realsies?
Sarcasm meter gone haywire.
Kevin Grady = Nelson Mandela. Got it. Thanks.
Well then, that's settled.
If he's hurt himself, second chances are acceptable though not required.
If he's hurt other people, second chances should probably not be given.
I don't believe he's hurt anyone else (yet) with his behavior, so I don't see anything wrong with giving him the chance to turn himself around.
It's all a crapshoot. Tom Osborne stood fiercely by Lawrence Phillips and it didn't help. Tressel threw Maurice Clarett under the bus for his issues and it didn't help. If they had done the opposite, would it have had an opposite effect? Who knows? Fortunately, Grady doesn't seem to be on that level anyway.
IMO, it's more about the culture of the team and what it says to guys in the future that decide to blow a .3 or whatever he did. If this was his first time, I'd be ok with giving him a chance, but he's not been exactly a model citizen.
Michigan only allows model citizens on their team.
His dad said on WTKA that he had completed 3/4 terms of his probation and he was jailed for not fulfilling the last one, which had no deadline on it.
But that makes me wonder why they would have arrested him... And also makes me wonder why he tested positive for opiates. Did the cops just make a mistake? I doubt that.
A football player testing positive for opiates isn't THAT weird. You have to remember that opiates include the active ingredients in relatively common (for football) painkillers like Vicodin.
[Edit - oh...there's already a thread about this...]
You have a point. Vicodin is pretty strong though and you need a prescription for it. The news never said whether he had a prescription for it.
I had a slight muscle ache 6 months after a recent surgery and my doctor gave me a prescription for it. Trust me. Call your doctor. Tell him you've got aches and Ibuprofen ain't helpin'.
"Okay, I'll call in some Vicodin." It's prescribed like candy anymore. Opiates in a test means nothing.
Maybe Grady is having problems with his surgically repaired knee two years later or something.
However, opiates are not exactly handed out to everyone with bumps and bruises. I think it would be fairly irresponsible for a respectable doctor to give Vicodin to a kid for regular wear and tear during the off-season. I've had plenty of sports-related injuries (sprains, breaks, separations, muscle tears, etc.) and the only time I've been prescribed Vicodin was from when I dislocated my shoulder.
Opiates like Vicodin shouldn't be handed out for aches and pains. In general, it should be reserved for post operative pain or significant injuries.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons there is so much abuse out there is that there are "candy men" who prescribe it way too much.
Of course I have no idea about anything as it relates to Grady.
the more i think about this, the more i like the idea
1) it seems like grady is not on the team...yet...and he has a chance to redeem himself by working hard for the next couple months.
2) this doesnt scream of nepotism. not like it would be a terrible thing but this move would be a lot more scrutinized if it was say, brandon graham. its not like kevin grady is the key piece to this team's future success, and right now it seems to me that rr is doing what he thinks is best for the kid.