I have a flashpoint of an argument for ya.... At what point does the decision sway back to what is good for the team....those who have worked their asses off to get where they are but cannot control the actions of an individual who had an careless night? Yes a message is needed to be sent.....Dunlap needed to be suspended but forever? For his first offense while at Florida? His actions and those of his teammates with him that night could have effectively cost Florida a chance at a national title and that is a shame. I will not be convinced that the Alabama team I watched all season was 19 points better than the Florida team I have watched for the last two years. Something was clearly amiss on Florida's defense in Atlanta so not only did Dunlap pay a huge price but his teammates and the Fla program did as well. I understand why Meyer and Brown are making the call that they are making because of these reasons. The question is.....was the message sent to the individual and to the team strong enough? I think in Meyer's case anyway he is privy to the internal berating of Dunlap by his teammates with regard to what happened and he probaby sees the severe penalty that he paid with his teammates and knows the message sent was strong enough. I don't think Meyer would otherwise coddle Dunlap and be lax about his coming back for the Sugar Bowl.
Tom, you need to read a little closer, I was defending the actions of three coaches, one at Florida, one at Texas and one at Oregon. In the case of Florida the decision went all the way up the line to our president who is pretty much anti drinking and he agreed. I'll leave the Kiffin discussion alone. Right now I'm not convinced he will be around in five years, but that is a whole other discussion.
Same here unless one of two things happens that have to happen in a big way: Controversy is no longer part of his repetoire....or.....he wins and wins big....titles/etc. If neither one of those things happens he won't last 5 years.
Here is what Dunlap would face in NJ: 6 months loss of license Mandatory driver training classes $2000 fine with court costs His insurance rates immediately jacked through the roof and three years worth of surcharges averaging $1500 per year.
Did Oregon have a DUI situation this year? I agree the penalties for DUI should be stiff and should be applied consistently, whether the kid plays football or not. I really take issue with a lot of the prohibitionist 'there outta be a law' types of legislation and practices that go on out there, but make no mistake... the penalty for DUI should be stiff.
Corey, then you and I are in agreement. I am not against drinking... not in any way am I for prohibition. If you drink, do not drive and do not disturb the peace or bother others, I have no problem with you drinking. If you inflict the pains of your drinking on anyone else or even place yourself in the position to harm others, you cross a line that can not be reversed.
Bill, Anytime there are violations, secondary or not, coaches are in jeopardy. Tennessee is not the school with the highest violations. We are not even the highest in the SEC. Whether or not Kiffin is here in 5 years or not is not the question. Several years ago, you wouldn't talk about it but MGC was running around like a chicken with his head cut off blaming Fulmer for not being harsh enough on athletes getting in trouble. Now that this is happening to Florida, you and MCG want to focus yourtalk on whether Kiffin will be here 5 years or not. MCG, You mentioned the good of the team. What kind of message does it send to your team to slap the wrist for a player guilty of assault? Putting that player back in tells the rest of the team that this kind of action is tollerated, maybe even encouraged. Is that what you want for your team?
And all this time we thought Tebow was the heart and soul of the Gators. Now it turns out it was Dunlap. 8)
Don't you guys see? It was a Bama plot. Saben kidnapped him and poured the alcohol down his throat. There is never anything that happens to Florida that can be directly or indirectly attributed to anything that is the responsibility of the Gators. Viva la Gators... Heil Gators.
Sheeet... I told you a year ago that you better watch out for it.. If you didn't see it coming, then perhaps your Gators (such as yourself) were so filled with hubris that they didn't see what was clearly in front of them... and that is, a more talented team that was younger who gave them all they wanted the year before. I told you (no matter how many Bammers will say otherwise and no, the guys we have here are not Bammers) that Alabama will be better without that beefstick LT and their "bama bangs" pretty boy at QB... Once they shed some of that extra ******** weight, they became a lean, mean Gator eating machine.. You better recognize.... else it will be a long future for you. Tom, George, KP, Sid et all... you guys crack me up
Tom you have a very short memory. I defended Fulmer on more than one occasion and while MCG was running around knocking people I tried to stay on the sideline and did not support, and in fact publically disagreed with many of his arguments and for that matter deleted some of his posts and locked some of his topics. But if it serves you purpose to revise history help yourself. Corey, no I am not aware of a DUI on Oregon, I was referring to the running back that was suspended for the season then brought back late in the season. I agreed that the kid should have another chance. My point was and is that the coaches are closer to the situation and each case should be handled with the circumstances that apply. But where it comes to the Gators that obviously isn't enough for some folks and that is why I started this topic to save some people the effort. It's Christmas season and I don't have enough time or the desire to deal with some of BS as it gets thrown the Gators way right now. But yes I agree with th way the Dunlap situation was handled, I agree with the way the Texas situation was handled and I agree with the Oregon player being allowed to come back and play the last few games of his season. If that bothers some people I can only say to bad.
I already have discussed this ( Spikes ) at length and basically it gets down to you didn't see the game....didn't see Spikes having his own eye attended to before the incident. I have no other comments on this. On Bama....great game vs. Florida. Last year no Harvin....this year no Dunlap. In case anyone has forgotten Dunlap was Defensive MVP of the national title game last year vs. Oklahoma. As I stated....I watched both teams all year and yes....because of those observations I did not see this coming so I look for explanations and think I have a couple. We will see if Bama easily handles Texas because there will be no excuse not to if there were no unusual circumstances surrounding UF's poor defensive performance in Atlanta. I don't think they do. If I'm wrong I'll be the first one to come on here and bow down to the Great Tide.
I do not see how you can equate DUI to what went on at Oregon with LaGarrette Blount. He lost his cool. He was suspended for the god damned season. He played in their first and last games. In the SEC, he would have missed a half against Vandy. DUIs kill. Blount shouldn't have done what he did.. but what he DID was pop some loud mouthed back up who was showing very little class...and then lost his sh*t on the crowd exiting the stadium (the word is that the always classy *and ethnically diverse* Boise crowd) was calling him a n*gger on the way out of the stadium. He still should have just taken the high road in both situations, but you can't equate those actions with DUIs. There is no one on this board who is more anti-lower BAC, anti-checkpoint and anti-prohibition than I.. but I still believe the DUI crime itself should be punished harshly. You tell Siran Stacy who lost his wife and 4 (count them FOUR) children to a drunk driver, that the the other guy was just doing what LaGarrette Blount did... I mean, I get the more shallow point you're making about these coaches making 'tough' decisions about crimes committed by players...but to lump Oregon in there with those other 2 is quite a reach. BTW, here is Blount's playing record this year since he you said he 'got to play the last few games' DATE OPP RESULT ATT YDS AVG LNG TD REC YDS AVG LNG TD FUM LST 3-Sep @Boise State L 19-8 8 -5 -0.6 10 0 2 13 6.5 7 0 0 0 12-Sep Purdue W 38-36 SUSPENDED 19-Sep Utah W 31-24 SUSPENDED 26-Sep California W 42-3 SUSPENDED 3-Oct Washington State W 52-6 SUSPENDED 10-Oct @UCLA W 24-10 SUSPENDED 24-Oct @Washington W 43-19 SUSPENDED 31-Oct USC W 47-20 SUSPENDED 7-Nov @Stanford L 51-42 SUSPENDED 14-Nov Arizona State W 44-21 SUSPENDED 21-Nov @Arizona W 44-41 SUSPENDED 3-Dec Oregon State W 37-33 9 51 5.7 30 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
... or tell the wife and infant son of the guy that worked at Cindy's hospital that was T-Boned by a drunk driver that ran through a red light and killed him instantly. The DUI driver should be put away for the rest of his natural life while bubba is informed every day of the status of the innocent mans family. Let bubba defend the family in his own prison infected way.
You guys somehow imply that Dunlap is going to get off of his DUI with just an SEC Title game suspension. Hey....this ain't the days of The Bear's heyday when everything gets swept under the rug for a football star. Dunlap has a quite a price to pay with the Florida legal system I am sure. His football penalty was absolutely severe not only to him but to the entire team.
I think now is the time to re-tell the story of the Bear and how that young man busted for selling drugs had to earn his way back on the team
Found it. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_111433.asp You read this story, and you dare tell me that Urban Liar is even in the same building as Paul Bear Bryant when it comes to disciplining players or building character. Urban may one day grow to be that man... but right now he's a teeny tiny speck in the long, tall shadow of a real legend.