Dave, you are wrong about this incident and you are wrong about Cam Newton. His situation was taken care of and he was still on the team. However he was behind Tebow and would not have gotten to start for at least two more years. In that situation I think you would have transferred also. He was not run out of Gainesville because of an incident with the police and this incident is much more serious than you are saying. I am with the other folks here.
"Six of the seven other players — Callaway, Scarlett, Davis, Houston, Miller and Desir-Jones — all allegedly made a single charge to a stolen credit card number ranging from $500 to $2,000. Wells allegedly attempted to use the card twice." Not wrong.... And on Newton: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-cam-newton-gators-mike-bianchi-0124-20160122-column.html Hmmmm.... looks like Newton was going to be in trouble academically at UF as well as the laptop incident so Auburn said why not... we love this kind of kid. So it wasn't just the GPD being vigilant.... Newton was trouble. But how does the same personality thrive at Auuburn? How much did his father get paid? Anything to win at Aubrun I guess.
MCG, $500-$2000? What would you want the police to do? Ignore it? These athletes didn't find this money on the sidewalk and decide to keep it. They actively stole it. And in the end the first time offenders got leniency. Hopefully they learned a lesson and can now move on. I assume if they do what they need to do they can return to the team. I know it hurt the team to lose them but that should be part of the lesson.
Can't believe you are still defending these kids like they didn't do anything that deserved any punishment at all. As far as Newton, it was his choice to leave UF after all of the problems he caused for himself rather than face any consequences. He went to Blinn Jr College for a year and got his life turned around academically and then went to Auburn where he had an epic year. Maybe you need to be a fan of FSU where they are more likely to look the other way.
My beef Kp is not that these players broke the law and had to pay consequences... my beef is that this kind of thing is nothing new.... has happened throughout history and is happening now all around the country because there is nothing especially evil about Gainesville that draws criminals. I just don't see the vigilance in other places by the schools and the PDs. What's fair and just for one school should always be applied the same everywhere... never up to the level of competence or favoritisms shown or turn the head and look the other way enforcement practices that you and I know exist in some places.
Wait you think people who get caught with credit card fraud get away with it everywhere but Gainseville where if you are a Gator you are punished unfairly? Really? I remember Bill saying that UF had higher academic standards than it's SEC competitors and FSU and Miami so that there were kids UF couldn't recruit. As an Irish fan I can relate to that. I think Bill was proud that UF had higher standards. It seems that you aren't. I know I'm proud of ND's higher academic standards, but even with those we've had guys get in trouble and have to be booted for it. Just comes with the territory
Carlo Calabrese ran his mouth at a cop at a campus party. He spent the night in jail, paid a fine, was left home from the Navy game in Ireland and lost his starting job. A carload of Irish players were joyriding and found to have a gun in the car. At least one was kicked out of school and the others were heavily sanctioned. Gipper could probably clarify if the UF players committed a felony or not but in any case this is a serious offense. To compare it to other schools stories does not change the facts in Gainesville. Would you feel better if the GPD laughed it off?
Of all the conversations and debates we have had this one borders on being the most ridiculous. $2,000 on a STOLEN credit card is a youthful indiscretion? Unbelievable. I remember some football players (school?) getting in serious trouble for making some $10.00 long distance phone calls on a purloined long distance card number. What is long distance? Don’t remember.
Lots of missing the point going on here. No one is saying it's perfectly fine for someone... anyoneincluding football players to make a fraudulent credit card charge. I'm just saying there are 135 FBS CFB programs in America and all the bad guys don't just live in Gainesville.
No we get the point just fine. You DID call it boys being boys and now you’re backtracking. And you’re saying that they only are being held accountable in Gainesville and nowhere else, though quite frankly you make it sound like they’re being persecuted. And I am throwing the BS flag.
if it were "boys being boys" then these guys will satisfy the terms of their probation and then continue on without further incident. Time will tell.
Police departments are arresting criminals in college towns all over the country. Each case is different but I don't think Gainesville is outside of the norm.
ND lost a very good point guard to credit card theft. He went on to be a top ten all time assist leader in the NCAA at Oklahoma State. He also went on to be an ESPN analyst and now works for CBS. He is of course Doug Gottlieb. Some schools take credit card theft more seriously than other schools and TV networks.
Dave you are so far off base it is embarrassing. These guys did wrong big time and they are lucky to get off with what they got. As to why Newton may have trived at Auburn but not Florida? First he went to a Junior College, did well and transferred to Auburn. Two years older and more mature. You are barking up the wrong tree.
Not debating this with you Bill. Either UF gets a disproportionate group of bad characters as players or the GPD is disproportionately very good at apprehending the bad characters compared to many other places. Great... I'm glad they are so damn effective and do their job well. It would be nice if the same could be said of all campuses but that's not so. Most of the players are indeed boys.... and boys will be boys sometimes even when it's breaking the law.... and they deserve to be caught and punished..... everywhere.
The problem will never go away.... because.... these are kids... immature kids who will be doing things that are wrong and that they shouldn't do and the GPD will most assuredly catch them doiing it because the U of F is a place they have no problem intensely scrutinizing. No matter who the next coach is and what kind if disciplinarian he is how will he prevent this? I'll guarantee you we don't have uniquely immature and dishonest kids at Florida while the rest of the country has only angels.
Need to get over it Dave and start watching who our new coach is going to be. Personally I have no sympathy for this group of nine, if you do it's your business. It was far more than kids being kids.