Whatever you might think about Rambo’s high school coach’s story about what led to Rambo’s suspension last year and what may be coming down the turnpike shortly, he’s put his finger on another part of the story that isn’t getting much attention – yet, anyway.
“To me, and I’m not condoning anything anybody has done. But I think it was a stupid thing to do to test college athletes the week after spring break. Unless they want to catch something. I doubt if there’s many universities out there that are testing their athletes the week after spring break.”
I doubt it, too. (In fact, I wonder if Georgia tests many of its other student-athletes the week after spring break.)
Maybe it’s a slight stretch, but I suspect when all is said and done we’ll be able to divide Dawgnation into two camps here: those who approve it as a deliberate strategy to ride herd on the kids and those who think, deliberate or not, it’s a really stupid thing to do, especially given the school’s tough substance abuse policy.
Which means – time for a reader poll!
Get The Picture 
In regards to Rambo’s coach I’m sure there are a few parties that are thrilled with his verbal diarrhea the last few days 1) the UGA athletic dept. 2) The Seminole Co. School District. I think its poor form when you have a High School coach (& educator, I assume) basically criticizing another coach for drug testing after spring break. (should be interesting next time CMR recruits a kid from Seminole Co.) I dont think it sends a great message to the 14-18yr olds he coaches.
As for UGA’s policy. I think the question lies in this, has the staff made any inclinations or is it an understanding that a drug test could come after spring break. If this is the case its apparent that the staff might be attempting to A) keep their players clean but possibly B) keep the players from traveling with marijuana in their car and increasing their chances for arrest. Some could say the Brannen Smith incident makes this theory a mute point, but if you follow him on twitter he might be in the top 5 of any “players most likely to ignore the most obvious hints from a coaching staff.” list.
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Kids smoke pot. They always have and they always will. I totally agree with Rambo’s coach. I commented about that on here yesterday. The music they listen to condones it. It’s all over the tv shows we watch. Hollywood condones it. Its more and more excepted now everywhere you go. Its legal in some states now. Michael Adams and UGA need to loosen the grip. Its ridiculous to test these kids right after spring break.
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Afuckingmen.
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I agree with Rambo’s coach as well, but as a fellow educator, he has a responsibility not to tacitly permit illegal behavior. As kriebelec said, it’s not a great message for teenagers.
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save the “message for teenagers” garbage..I am sure his high school coach is doing everything he can to change the lives of a high risk population that doesnt have positive role models. The message he is sending is that he cares about his kids after they leave his team and that he posses common sense when dealing with them. He isnt condoning drug use and it is even less likely that those kids are waiting for him to “condone” smoking pot to actually do it.
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Whatever, man. I just happen to disagree with you, and as a teacher, I would not make public statements calling into question the timing of a drug test because it is, in fact, condoning drug use by implying that such tests should be scheduled so as to occur when they are less likely to catch student-athletes out. I appreciate the fact that he is trying to stick up for former player, but he is still responsible for every statement that comes out of his mouth, and I happen to think the timing statement should have been kept to himself.
That said, I agree with many others here who think that pot should be legalized and taxed liked alcohol. But even if it is legalized, teenagers (such as Rambo’s high school coach still coaches) still have no business being near it unless the legal age is made low enough for them.
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Agreed. Also, I would love to time travel back to 1976 and randomly drug test the football team to see what the pass/fail rate would be on marijuana. Also, for those who get all wrapped up on the illegality issue, underage drinking is equally illegal and almost surely has a higher rate than pot smoking. Should we randomly haul in under-21 student athletes for breathalyzer test on Fridays at 2AM or while they are on Spring Break?
Also, until there is consistency in how test are applied and failures are enforced, this too will be another in a laundry list of farcical issues in collegiate athletics.
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Amen Brother. Like Bobby Bowden said… It’s the society we live in. Pot is popular but not accepted like alcohol. One is addictive and kills thousands yearly. The other makes you really hungry and makes you fall asleep after munching out.
For some reason our coaches feel the need to police the more harmless one of the 2
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Actually they police them both, some might argue too much. My point has always been that since the University of Georgia doesn’t test the general student population is it right, fair or just to single out athletes? If someone gets caught by the cops that’s one thing. To have your own school and team do it to you is quite another. They trapped this kid. At Bama, Auburn, LSU, Florida UT, South Carolina etc. this never would happen. In fact, when a kid does get into trouble those schools bend over backwards (at UT maybe too much) to help the kid get the matter straightened out and keep him eligible. One of these days this is going to blow up in CMR’s/Adams’ faces. This could be that very thing. Rambo is a redshirt junior and thereby able to leave school early and play in the NFL. What if CMR tells Rambo he is going to be suspended for 1/3 of the season and Rambo, an All-America safety, decides to take a hike and advises the NFL that he wants to be in the NFL supplemental draft in August? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again here: I want a football coach to coach the Dawgs. When I want a preacher I’ll go to church.
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and, I totally believe Rambo, and if there is anyway a case could be put together to appeal this, such as, non football player guests owning up to ownership of the brownies and statements that they did not inform Rambo about them…..these athletes eat a hell of a lot, especially during practice times like these….very easy to believe that the kid looked for and ate food he could find in the room, apt, whatever they were staying in….I am sick to death of Georgia pushing requirements higher than other schools….drug testing, academic requirements, all of it…Mr Rambo, please appeal this crap(but also stay here thgis year)…..and I also think it unfair and utterly ridiculous to test for pot the day they get back from spring Break….what are we running up there,…. enough is enough…we, as supporters of Georgia Football, need to stand up for our players and demand they get treated with a realistic approach to fairness and common sense, our guys are not any different than players and students elsewhere, we are just way tougher on them, unfairly so….I don’t know if this is a holdover from the Knapp days or this bizarre strictness comes from the current administration….Athletic or University level, but the whole thing needs to be reevaluated with common sense and human fairness taking their rightful places resulting in a complete change in these outrageous policies….I stand with and believe Mr. Rambo
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I think from my previous posts it’s obvious I’m in the relax the standards camp. But the thing that troubles me the most is that in the story there’s implications that as many as five players were caught on this last pass, so we not have heard the last from this incident.
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We don’t know for sure that this test was designed to specifically be given AFTER spring break. We also don’t know that EVERY player was given this test this week. It could have simply been a random drug test (aren’t most?) that happened to coincide with the week after spring break and Rambo got swept up in it.
Secondly, if a school is going to have a drug policy in place I’m not sure it is wise to “selectively” administer such a testing policy based on vacation dates, exam schedules, star positions, or any other nonsense. No tolerance means no tolerance anytime of the year. If UGA told its players, “We give random drug tests year round but we DON’T give them after spring break”, I bet the press would have a field day with that one.
I don’t condone drug use. However, I also don’t condone drug testing. If a person wants to ruin his/her life, more power to ya. Until all division I schools have a uniform drug policy in place I think UGA should disband theirs. We are at a hugh disadvantage to other schools because of our choosing to impose non-drug use morals on these athletes.
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Yea who needs morals and values?
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Instead of complaining about our drug policy wouldn’t that energy be better used trying to standardize policy across the board. Can they do that LawDawgs? Our SEC brothers have policies that are self serving. Policies designed to keep their players on the field to do what they were signed to do…..play football win games. I revisited the drug policies of SEC schools. Not equal footing there sports fans. LSU/Bammer. You get four shots young man. 0,1 game, 1 year, dismissal! Florida upstages them with 0, 1 game, 2 games, 4 games, dismissal.
Can’t you hear Muschomp? “Son, I understand it’ s down to us and the Dogs. You go to Georgia …..don’t you slip up. YOU DO AND YOU’RE GONE. GAME OVER …. SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT BOY! Now here at the swamp, we got us a LawGator to look after things if there is an “accident”. I was a young player once. I wasn’t fortunate enough to play for the Gators. But your can be. We good son? Now let’s go pick out a jersey number.” Everyone wants a fair advantage.
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I do like the idea of having McGarity start pushing hard and basically calling out the rest of the league/NCAA (have UK join in the conversation since their policy is basically the same as UGA’s) for not following Georgia’s lead. Done properly he could turn the conversation from one of a lack of control at UGA to making the rest of the league look like baseball before the steroid issue became huge.
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You missed the point of my last paragraph, Jake. No one said we didn’t need morals/values. But people need to step up the plate and “break their own trail”. Rambo is 21 for God’s sakes! If he hasn’t learned what is right and wrong then having a school/business force morals down your throat by drug testing probably won’t do you any good in the long run. There is also the possiblity that he is telling the truth and, if that is the case, then our drug policy REALLY needs to be rethought.
Until all division I schools have a universal drug policy in place we (as UGA fans) can expect to see these kinds of lopsided suspensions every year.
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Technically, this is Rambo’s first failed test. The first suspension came while DICWAGHABUHP (Driving In A Car With A Girl Holding A
Blunt In Her Purse). Applying for addition to Senator’s lexicon. It could mean “yeah, right, it ain’t yours but your gone for the first game anyway”. Similar to “I was only robbing the register… I hope you understand.” Song? Title? Artist? anyone. Anyway we are getting way to worked up about accidental brownie consumption. At least he wasn’t stealing someones leftover pizza.
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Wow if you lost your job because a friend of yours did something but you were not involved but only present, I’m betting you would be a little pissed. If the cops didn’t arrest him then we had no business suspending him.
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Exactly. To my thinking this is his first offense and should be treated as such.
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We will have to disagree on your point. From what I read, you think holding student athletes to a code of conduct is inappropriate because that would be forcing morals down their throats. They won’t learn their lesson anyway, so don’t try to ensure they are living up to that code of conduct. If other schools don’t have high standards, then UGA should lower their standards.
I think that sums it up. I believe an activity which is both criminal and against the code of conduct for the university student athletes should have consequences. Upholding the morals and values of the school are much more important to me than Rambo.
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The problem isn’t having a tough code of conduct.
It’s expecting a bunch of adolescents who by and large come from a vastly different background from the people who drew up the code to comply with it fully.
It’s fine that you want to uphold morals and values you hold dear. Just don’t complain when you’re disappointed over the fallout.
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Nobody forces them to come to UGA. They know the rules before they sign. I’m not complaining. Richt is doing exactly what he should. It sounds like we may need to show a few more people the door and let them know not to let it hit them in the butt on the way out. We can rationalize all we want about cultures and circumstances. If anyone wants to know who to blame, it’s the players themselves. They, and they alone, are responsible for their own behavior.
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Again, that’s fine. It’s not the players I’m addressing here. It’s the fans who think you can have it all – a team comprised of All-Americans who are also choirboys. That isn’t how life works, especially in a state like Georgia where there’s an enormous variation in folks’ backgrounds.
If you could have tough standards without repercussions, don’t you think every school would adopt them?
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Always so spot on… That’s why I read this blog
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I understand that’s how life works. I understand you can’t have a team full of all American choirboys. I have no problem with the discipline. It’s all part of growing up and becoming an adult. It is what it is. I don’t want to support a school that looks the other way. How these kids perform on the field of play is the least important thing they will do for the rest of their lives. What really counts is what happens elsewhere.
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Rationalization ?. Back To Prohibition ?.
I can’t argue with any of of the rationalizations. They are valid.
Nevertheless I believe that what the kids do to jeopardize their playing time & their Athletic Scholarship Is just plain dumb.
I support Richt 100% on this.
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+1. This is the same mentality as the crowd in the Georgia General Assembly who thought that by passing a law raising the age of consent for sex that kids would stop having sex until they got older. All that happened was innocent teenage guys got sent to the slammer for having sex with their underage girlfriends.
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I’m not complaining.
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Could we do that with the UF 5.. strikes and your out policy?
(
_
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Or the Steve Spurrier “Garcia Rule” whereby players got umpteen chances?
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If you want to get on your high horse about drugs, then from a university student athlete “physical fitness obligation” standpoint they should be forbidden to smoke or drink or eat McDonald’s, too, all of which cause arguably more damage to the body, depending on volume, of course. Let’s hire Nellie Oleson to be the compliance director.
Apart from their contract to perform at a high level, which I covered above, I also see no reason why student athletes should be treated any differently than the rest of the student population in terms of the illegality or legality of the drug itself. In that regard, other students are committing “felonies” (insert eye rolling here) left and right, smoking weed, and it doesn’t affect their standing with the university unless they get arrested for it.
But the hysteria over marijuana from our federal and local governments doesn’t mean our school needs to behave in a similarly idiotic fashion…the school doesn’t *pre-emptively* patrol for other “felonies” off campus. I am a Christian, conservative, yadda yadda yadda but I don’t think I have any right to run your life for you. Students can actually get in trouble with their financial aid if they run afoul of the law because of drugs, regardless of how good a student the might be or how much more productive to society they might be than a less gifted non-drug using student. Ridiculous.
Finally, you talk a lot about morals and values – I don’t see where smoking weed is a big moral issue unless its effects of laziness and general non-productivity are at issue…and I actually know some people who smoke dope and clean the heck out of their house. I would MUCH rather see a different kind of “morality”, where we teach our kids to mind their own business and work on themselves and their own issues instead of constantly trying to regulate the minutae of their neighbor’s behavior…personally, I’d sooner see a kid get kicked out of school for being mildly rude to a professor than for the wholly personal decision to do something to himself.
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The morality I am concerned about is following the University’s code of conduct regarding student-athletes and the law of the land. It’s about respecting your teammates enough to act appropriately and stay out of trouble. People keep saying he is only hurting himself, but that’s not true. He is hurting a lot of people with his actions.
For all you people that say it is fine for him to smoke pot because it is so prevalent in colleges, would it also be fine for him to take steroids? Many successful athletes have done it. It’s his body. Heck he is even improving his body by taking those.
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You are moving the goalposts. Your original argument was that changing the team rules was immoral because the weed itself is immoral. Now you are arguing that it’s not about the weed but about following team rules. Nobody here, as far as I can tell, has an issue with your frustration that
Rambo didn’t follow the rules – we all wish he’d refrained from the brownies…although brownies are…delicious…moist, straight from the oven chocolaty….so…square…ahem.
Most are arguing that UGA should neither police or worry too much about weed unless somebody actually gets arrested. Yes it is the law of the land and we all understand that, but UGA doesn’t try to play cop in every other arena, and UGA doesn’t have to subscribe to the idea that any law that is passed is a good law, either, and go out of its way to help the law get enforced. Are they checking all the players’ ipods for pirated music?
The steroids analogy is obviously flawed because it gives your team an unfair advantage. You won’t convince me that Rambo would be an appreciably better or worse defender because of that brownie.
Also, pot is not “okay” or “not okay” because it’s prevalent in colleges. It’s “okay” because it is really not that big of a deal.
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Hey, I got my handle back! I must have used the wrong email address before. There goes my crime fighting career…
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I never argued that weed was immoral.
Steroids helps the team, pot hurts the team. Seems to me UGA should be concerned both ways.
Most of the arguments here say we shouldn’t police people for hurting themselves. I agree with that sentiment, but the reality is that our government does not. You simply can’t condone or ignore kids abusing drugs even if people want to claim those drugs are innocuous.
I can guarantee that UGA does not permit these kids to download pirated material on their networks. They have a duty to ensure that kids can’t do that in order to preserve copyright and protect themselves from legal fallout. The same can be said of drug use. They have a duty to ensure these kids are not taking substances which could affect the program.
Your opinion is that pot is not that big a deal. Unfortunately most state governments and the federal government to not hold that same belief.
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Yes, you did. The original comment that seemed to spark a response from you made by another poster was:
“We are at a hugh disadvantage to other schools because of our choosing to impose non-drug use morals on these athletes.”
and your reply was:
“Yea who needs morals and values?
So it *was* about the morality of smoking pot, then it became about team rules (fair enough), and now it is about the law. I don’t know what argument I’m supposed to refute, here.
My music piracy analogy: I’m not arguing that *UGA-owned* computers may have locks against music piracy. My analogy asked if UGA coaches were checking players’ *personal* ipods and you came back w/ *school-owned* computers. We are not talking about *school-owned* human bodies or even events that take place on campus, but “personal” bodies doing things off campus. Again, I have granted you the whole violation of team rules aspect, and I agree with you.
The point you’re missing is that regardless of what is or is not against the law, UGA does not act as a police deputy regarding all the off-campus behavior of its student athletes. This is different than morality, I am talking about its approach to enforcing federal and state law – it does not. UGA does not actively seek to pre-emptively take the role of cops and judges in the lives of its student athletes in other arenas, even though it may encourage right behavior and gentlemanly action and demand a high moral character of its athletes. In the case of a wholly victimless crime, occuring off-campus, I am suggesting that drug testing athletes is unproductive.
And, with your last paragraph, I’m pretty sure our idiot government has been wrong before, and although I have to take the consequences of disobeying the law, I am under no obligation to obey an immoral law (especially an unConstitutional one where the only victim is me and prevents two adults from entering into a contract with each other) …if you’re going to throw out the idea that any law that is passed requires a good citizen or coach to a) obey it blindly and b) actively enforce it …well, we will have to part company there. I trust you have no issue with Obamacare / Bush prescription drug act / NDAA / bailouts / prohibition / Jim Crow segregation – all “legal” if you prefer a bad interpretation of the Constitution.
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ps – when I write “UGA does not act as a police deputy regarding all the off-campus behavior of its student athletes. This is different than morality, I am talking about its approach to enforcing federal and state law – it does not. UGA does not actively seek to pre-emptively take the role of cops and judges in the lives of its student athletes in other arenas”
My point is not that UGA coaches do not and should not tell their kids to act right and obey the law and be decent people. They should. My point is that smoking pot is not immoral, but even if we disagree on that, that by testing the coaches treat it differently than other things that are against the law, where the players are assumed innocent until proven guilty. For instance, the coaches don’t check players’ tax returns, ebay accounts, monitor their credit card purchases, check their cars for stolen property, etc.
forgive me putting such a fine point on it.
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I don’t think Rambo’s coach has alleged that every player was drug tested after spring break. At least I don’t see anything in his comments that goes that far.
Going forward, the school doesn’t have to make a formal comment about whether or not it will test after spring break. From UGA’s point of view, it’ll be on every S-A’s mind that it could.
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well, if it is a random drug test that just happened to coincide with spring break, then it totally lost it’s randomness, for fairness, and randomness sake, this should be a throw out period, the testing is not random, whether scheduled or not when it is after spring break….this doesn’t even pass the semantics test it is so fixed and non random, it smells like just what it is….a random test that , by confict with the break, lost it’s randomness, and then the people in charge of administering the test had to turn a blind eye, and maybe even wink and nod, to avoid calling this what it blatently is, a non random test administered at the end of spring break-regardless of when the test was scheduled….how far in advance are the two events scheduled….spring break, probably a year or so, drug test no more, probably less……so was it an oops we didn’t think of that or are we running a concentration camp environment regarding this issue…we need to get real, this is irresponsible to be so much tougher than all of our competition, what hell are we trying to prove by all this anyway
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and, in today’s environment, both of his pot encounters are very believable regarding his account of both. And, i admire the HS coach for having the balls to stand up against the holyer than thous (who also smoke dope on hunting trips or when no one is looking, give me a break) that say he is setting a bad example to speak out publicly for Rambo, are they crazy, taking a stand and believing someone who you and his friends know doesn’t usually, or maybe ever, take a toke, he is standing up for what he believes is the truth, and that is a high moral ground to take and one hell of a good life lesson to teach…..as I said earlier or elsewhere, i totally believe Mr. Rambo, there is no reason not to…and I urge him to really work hard to put together a stong appeal, with many people testifying on his behalf….we are going way too far and much further than other SEC and elswhere schools….why do we always have to do this crap….academically the same thing, we require much, much more than required…but this pot thing is just simply unfair and totally outrageous and must come to an end. we should only require what the conference requires
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No matter which camp, thinking it is foolish or thinking it is needed, I think it pretty much eliminates the idea that Richt is too soft on players if he is the only coach (even if it is at the direction of higher ups) in the league doing drug tests right after spring break.
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Rambo has the worst luck ever. A passenger in his car had pot last year when he was stopped by police and this year he accidentally eats brownies laced with marijuana. How in the world could this have happened?
Coach Alan Ingram is 100% correct. People should not expect a 21 year old college football player to refrain from taking illegal drugs on Spring Break. That is unreasonable. Hopefully he will push for more lax drug testing around his own community.
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Get real. You know when you’re hanging around with people who are carrying or baking green brownies. It ain’t rocket science. Not to mention that loaded brownies are extremely easy to detect long before you ever put one in your mouth. Rambo and every other kid who ever got caught did what they did because they wanted to. Call it a calculated risk if you like. But it’s a choice plain and simple. Why shouldn’t I expect a 21 year old college football player to refrain from taking illegal drugs on Spring Break? I expect every other 21 year old to do so or face the consequences. Some get caught. Some don’t. It’s called life. Get used to it.
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Er…paul,,,Turn on your sarcasm meter. He was joking.
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Okay, missed that. My apologies. It sure seems like a whole lot of these folks aren’t being sarcastic at all.
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Who cares when the drug test is? That’s irrelevant. There are rules. They know the rules. They need to do what it takes to abide by the rules. If that means not hanging out with people who sell/purchase/smoke/inject/whatever illegal substances, then they need to do so. Learning to make responsible, adult decisions about who you hang out with and what activities you participate in is the underrated part of the college experience.
Just because it affects star players on the football team does not mean the policy (substance abuse or testing) is wrong. Abide by the rules, and you rarely find yourself in trouble. Kids will be kids, but at some point, they need to learn to be adults.
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Having experienced more than a few spring breaks myself, I’m not sure I would describe them as maturity-building.
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Myself and my family own a large retail store here in Panama City Beach. I have lived here all my life and I can definately vouch that there is no “maturity-building” going on down here during spring break. Its a total “free for all” and people will do everything they can literally get a way with before being caught.
Here is what we are currently dealing with for the past couple of years and it has only gotten worse: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/nature-101529-panama-beach.html
That is not to say all the kids who come here are bad. But there does seem to be a changing trend…
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Think back to the movie “Jaws”. The C of C is representative of all you merchants and I haven’t heard a squeek except “Ca-Ching”.
Yeah, we used to just get drunk at Lauderdale and screw. The morals of the beachgoers and the locals haven’t changed a lick since the ’50s, including the “Our beach, their morals” meme. PCB is getting rich off what you are complaining about. You can stop it on a dime with a police state attitude, but all that would do is dry up the student/income party you welcome and send it to another beach. And none of you have the cojones to walk down the beach with your hypocritical ass carrying “Devil Students” signs. Some of your money is already moving to Mexico Beach in one direction and Destin in the other. Latest headline in the area was a near drowning of a Spring Breaker off Santa Rosa Beach(area of UFO sightings a few years back), one of the most staid retirement areas with the finest beach in all of Florida. The kids aren’t stupid and will move where they can revel and celebrate in relative peace.
You aren’t cleaning up an “element” when you fine these kids. The element has always been there and is exacerbated when thousands of strangers show up to buy their drugs provided already at the beach. They don’t learn to smoke at the beach, either. They just do what they grew up doing and now at your beach. Go ahead, blame them for “your” beach getting desecrated. It happened at Daytona and moved to Lauderdale-Miami (who doesn’t remember “The Elbow Room?) in the ’50-70s. Now you and your C of C have it there. It hasn’t changed one lick, except for a more honest and open discussion of pot. The trend hasn’t changed a lick: – you have. When you have enough, you will crack down and the kids will move on, no problem. Except for the local economy and big hotels trying to keep their heads above water in a down economy.
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Maybe the morals of the beachgoers at Spring Break haven’t changed, but the behavior has gotten farther out of bounds, for sure, from my observations at PCB a few years ago. In the 60s and 70s, we did a lot of wild things, but I can’t recall the past-the-pale verbal abause of the locals and the always looming threat of physical violence that seems to permeate now. Sure, we baby boomers were spoiled. This generation seems so far beyond that that I’m not of what word could describe it.
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I think people that were your age in the 50’s are still yelling about some guy shaking his hips on tv! Can you imagine how far past the pale society must be to gyrate one’s hips on tv? My my…
And I’m sure I’ll do the same when my kids are Spring Break age [cold chills].
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That reminds me of a song and it goes a little something like this –
Nibblin’ on sponge cake
Watchin’ the sun bake
All of those tourists covered with Panama Jack dark tanning oil
Strummin’ my banjo
Out my Motel 6 window
Smell those shrimp; they’re beginning to boil.
Wastin’ away again in Thuggeritaville
Searching for my lost shaker of salt
(Salt! Salt! Salt!)
Some people claim that there’s a heckuva job Brownie to blame
Because I know it’s never my fault
I don’t know the reason
I stayed here all season
Nothin’ to show but this brand new tattoo
But it’s a real beauty
An Illegal Mexican cutie
How it got here I haven’t a clue
Wastin’ away again in Thuggeritaville
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt
(Salt! Salt! Salt!)
Some people claim that there’s a thug element to blame
Now I think
Hell, that could not be my fault
I blew out my flip-flop
Stepped on a pop-top
Cut my heel had to cruise on back home
But there’s booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on
Wastin’ away again in Thuggeritaville
Searching for my lost shaker of salt
(Salt! Salt! Salt!)
Some people claim that there’s a Brownie, weed, jorts, mullets and thugs to blame
But I know it’s never my own damn fault
Yes and some people claim that there’s a Brownie, weed, jorts, mullets and thugs to blame
And I know it’s never my own damn fault
http://pcbeachspringbreak.com/
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By the way, when was the last time you had a full-blown riot that makes the front cover of Time Magazine. The last time that happened in the early ’60s, I was at a major University in the South and was in Lauderdale that weekend. The cover showed some mayhem to the side, cops in riot gear and right in the middle was a guy hanging upside down on the street light where it arcs over the street. Go to your computer and look up front covers in the Spring of ’61. It’s hilarious. But the hilarity was later that week, after I returned and I received a call from my parents. The first words out of my Mother’s mouth was, “Thank Goodness!”. The next words flabbergasted me. She inquired as to how much money I needed. She didn’t accept it when I told her that I was “OK” until the end of the month. Her reply was, “Well, we want to know how much was the bail?”. I told her that I didn’t understand because I hadn’t been in jail. My Mother’s voice dropped almost to a whisper and she said, “Son, we read Time Magazine like everyone else and we saw your “picture” on the front cover , hanging from the lamp post. Inside , it said that they had arrested and jailed him and we want to know how much the bail was!” Seems the guy was the spitting image of their son, at least when looking at him upside down. Anyway, I finally made her believe me and that it wasn’t me in the photo and that I hadn’t been arrested. My fellow Fraternity brothers cracked up and we took a magnifying glass to the dude on our house copy to find out there was great simularity in looks. True story.
My point is that most of us who still live and remember those great days were not thuggish nor did we participate in destructive rioting. PCB should do their archiving homework and see what you have missed. The students gracing your beach wouldn’t look half as bad when you place the right perspective over time on them for the obedience they have to law and order when they visit “your” beach. Wait until you have a full riot and call in the Natl Guard. Then you have something to bitch about.
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+1 Daytona used to park a police school bus complete with riot cops at the pier, every day. They had under cover cops going up onto pool patios and watching for student underage drinking. Once Dayton got too hard ass the party moved and it wasn’t two years before the C ofC was begging for the students to come back.
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If the kids were testing positive for Meth, cocain, (insert other hardcore drugs here), then yea we got a problem. College kids are gonna smoke weed from time to time.
The point here is that if you want to win championships then you gotta stop shooting yourself in the foot and UGA seems to enjoy the hell out of it.
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Your last sentence says it all.
We all know how our strict drug suspension policy and its enforcement creates a competitive disadvantage in our conference, but I’d like to hear how it benefits us. Seriously. If it’s a deterrent strategy, it appears to be failing.
Stupid. On top of injuries, NCAA suspensions, academic casualties, arrests, undersigning–let’s further hamstring ourselves with the toughest MANDATORY suspension policy in the conference when it comes to smoking pot. I doubt if even player’s parents think that this is a good approach.
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I’m with y’all on this one. Not even Vandy is as hell bent on competitive disadvantages.
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Thank you. You guys are at least smart enough to see how this “policy” is counterproductive (most people are not). There are lots of things like this that the idiots in the UGA Administration/AD do that put our team at a competitive disadvantage. I posted about that the other day. Each one hurts a little but not so much that the masses scream for it to stop. The sum total is that the Dawgs end up at a competitive disadvantage when playing high caliber teams that do not do these self-destructive things. This is exactly why UGA, a program historically with a higher winning percentage than any other team in the SEC save Bama and UT (and really close to those, too) has not won a BCSNC when 5 other SEC teams have (3 more than once).
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No one was injecting anything. It was a little grass. Its true, there are rules but why are they so much more strict at UGA? You dont think the kids on the golf team smoke weed? At least 1 does… You can count on it. I know a lot of College baseball players that smoke weed. I have several buddies that played D-1 baseball and they were NEVER tested.
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I voted dumb, dumb, dumb. This truly is absurd. If UGA wants to test for drugs, I’m not completely against it because everyone knows the rules and the possible consequences that come with the tests. However, the timing of these are self-defeating. This is the moral police going overboard, which rarely works when you force it upon someone. Our administrators need to use some common sense and make these tests less random. To have a test anytime around spring break is stupid at the very best. These kids go off to the beach or where ever to take some time off and if they don’t hurt anyone else why should they be punished at all. And as some have stated it will only continue to hurt the football program in many ways… suspensions, recruiting…etc
dumb, dumb, dumb!
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I agree with the sentiment that athletes, especially those as high-profile as Rambo, need to be a lot more circumspect about what they put in their bodies, whether it’s in Athens, Panama City or anywhere else. Some of these guys just don’t seem to understand the microscope that’s trained on them by virtue of their standing as players in one of the nation’s biggest football programs. I wish there were a sure-fire way to impart that lesson on them.
But where I part company with the pro-discipline crowd is this idea that smoking pot is somehow a “moral” failing. Come on, people, this isn’t the age of “Reefer Madness” anymore. I’ve known some good, upstanding, generous people — even some exemplary parents! — who smoke pot from time to time. And I’ve known some absolutely worthless, borderline-sociopathic douchebags who would never touch the stuff. So make whatever personal choice you’re going to make, but let’s get past this archaic notion that someone is automatically a thug, a Commie subversive, or a drag on society just because they like to partake of a little dank every once (or twice) in a while.
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I agree with you but 25% of the votes say that UGA is in the right to test after Spring Break. It’s ludicrous that our society punishes a person for voluntarily participating in something as harmless as smoking weed. I wonder if UGA tested the KA or SAE house the Monday after Spring Break. Something tells me that didn’t happen…..
I’m sick of being embarrassed by my university but at the same time – I’m sick of my university shooting itself in the foot over & over again. Eventually, this stupid testing policy will become a recruiting tactic as well. I live in Birmingham and one of my co-workers recently graduated from Auburn. He lived across the street from four football players. He said you could see the smoke bellowing out of their windows on a daily basis. Yet…..they played every Saturday.
Mark Richt & Michael Adams can’t overturn a culture by themselves. Accept it & play football.
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They aren’t trying to overturn a culture. They’re saying if you want to come here and play we are looking for a certain kind of player and we have rules that we actually enforce. The athletes know this before they sign. No one is forced to play football at UGA. It’s a choice the individual makes if offered the privilege. Richt hasn’t changed. His cards have always been on the table for all to see. We don’t need to be making excuses for adults who make crappy decisions. The best thing we can do for them is make them live with the consequences of their own choices. That’s how people learn. The fact that someone else may look the other way does not make me wish my university did too. It makes me proud my university doesn’t.
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I think Ron’s point is that the “policy” is not even-handed in 2 ways. First, the University of Georgia doesn’t test all of its students, just athletes; and second, other universities in our peer group don’t do this. Is #1 fair? I submit that it is not. Plenty of students at Georgia are getting financial aid (the Hope, other scholarships, etc.) and are not harassed like this. Is #2 rational given that when kids figure out that when they screw up at Georgia they will get thrown under the bus whereas when they screw up at Auburn they won’t? No, it is irrational because it drives good players away from attending UGA and straight into the waiting arms of our rivals.
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“The best thing we can do for them is make them live with the consequences of their own choices.”
Says the man who’s posting anonymously, and consequence-free, on a college football blog.
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Well, if sports have taught me anything, it’s that it is impossible for athletes to perform at peak levels if they smoke weed or get drunk. I mean, look at the professional leagues. There is NO WAY those guys are smoking weed or boozing.
As far as I can tell with the current info available, it looks like only players who already had a strike (or strikes) were tested after Spring Break. As someone who worked in a substance abuse setting for several years, that is exactly when we would have tested if the goal is to enforce the program as strictly as possible. That said, all of this is just so lame. At the vast majority of programs in the country, this stuff is running steps and such. But because of our “cutting edge” policy, UGA gets tons of headlines for behavioral issues.
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That’s just what the Dock said
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This.
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Think the high school coach has a point. The culture in Athens is a problem. Where did they get this stuff? Hard to understand how students have the resources to acquire this. What I would like to see is some facts. Where? When? From whom? Is there a person or persons who has a line to these players? When are the players going to start respecting there teammates, coaches, and University? Tired of hearing about these situations, suspensions, policies, testing, and rules.
How about this rule? Tell me who you got this from so I can have the GBI and law enforcement deal with it. Amazing how this continues with athletes in Athens. Never hear of anybody being punished but the athlete in Athens. Again, I say, the big three men’s programs have been in the tank for awhile and with the current bunch running the show I guess we will continue to pay for nothing but bad news. Some much for institutions of higher learning and big salaries.
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Hyperbolic much? I spent five years in Athens from 2002-2007 getting my undergrad and graduate degrees and I assure you weed is not a rarity to find in that town and it’s not anymore expensive than going out to the bars drinking. I come from a lower/middle class background and if I had wanted to (not going to say I didn’t partake from time to time) develop a serious weed habit, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to budget. I instead developed a pretty serious downtown bar habit! Hooray for using legal drugs to have the same effect as the illegal ones! 🙂
To Doug’s point above, I’m a practicing CPA that partook from time to time in college and consider myself pretty hard working and successful. I used to work for one of the Big 4 firms and knew quite a few people that toked up during our busy season to just calm the stress levels down and I consider most of us to be pretty hard-working successful people that provide a pretty valuable service to the general public.
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I wonder how many people realize that smoking weed is pretty common in the US. Far more so than some people seem to think. I know teachers, college professors, professional chefs, musicians (ok, no surprise there), businessmen (pretty much any career you can think of actually) who smoke.
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And how long is the AD going to put up with Perno? Gone from ranking in the top ten to almost out of the ranking. Do you ever listen to this coach talk?
If we had an AD with some courage and knowledge he would dismiss Perno and go to South Carolina and hire a coach on their staff. But hell no, McGarity has fallen into the same mold as the last AD. We have some of the best assets in D1 sports, but the worst damn people running them.
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Dang Will. You might want to take some of Audit Dawg’s advice. Roll yourself a fatty and lower that stress level. 😉 TGIF!
I am not too sure I want AuditDawg’s firm doing my taxes while they are high though. I tried lowering my stress level once before an organic chem exam and the results were less than acceptable. LOL.
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And you, sir, are back on my favorite list. I’ll hoist a beer to you today and to the rest of these unpretentious Dawgs that are making a downer week into an upper. Here’s to you and your son. It’s funny how the kids are the first to detect hypocrisy. Sounds like your’s won’t. And Audit Dawg is right there too. He, of all people, knows he can’t do his work while high. He can do my audit work any time for his honesty. I’ve smoked off and on throughout a professional career. During my consulting time, drug testing was invoked by several corporations and I never tested positive because I cleaned up and never smoked when doing someone else’s work that depended upon all my expertise. I’ve respected all other professionals for doing the same and I knew some who smoked on occasion, never on or during a consult. What was humorous (to some people) was how we disdained those we knew who did coke or meth,ever, because we knew both were highly habituating. Even the drug culture has a hierarchy.
Someday I’ll tell you of my drug advice to my children. I’ll just say it was honest and open and it was heeded by all three.
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more and more I get the feeling that those leading the football program dont understand how to play the game. The self imposed punishments are beyond offensive to me and my wallet.
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All I can do is thank God that there were no cell phones with cameras back in the day … Oy.
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I gotcha. I’m thankful as well.
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oops … should have gone under Cojones comment. I wonder what was in my breakfast brownie?
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Back in the ‘Old Corp’, the 1990s the USMC thought they were gonna eradicate drug use by testing everyone after every 72 or 96. Instead of heading to the field for training we spent every Monday following a holiday standing in line waiting for every single guy in the company (120/130) to pee in a little bottle. Everyone knew they would get tested everyone was reminded repeatedly prior dismissing the Co, PLT, or Squad. And everytime we had guys pop on a test. And I can promise you we had more time and more control over our Marines than Richt does over his players. The Marine Corp still tests and guys still fail them all the time. Other than a ZERO tolerance, 1st time offender = dismissal, I just don’t see what more Richt can do. These guys aren’t freshman, they aren’t kids, they’ve been off momma’s tit for at least a few years. They made a choice as a man and they will live with the consequences of that choice.
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Considering we’re now in the spring practice period, with G-Day coming up in 2 weeks, I believe the timing is appropriate. If you’re not going to test players at this time of year, then don’t practice either.
Having said that, I also don’t believe we should be penalizing kids for pot, at least not so severely. If I had any complaint about the situation, it would be that we deal out severe penalties for what seems to me as very minor infractions. Hey! Teacher! Leave them (pot head) kids alone!
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If Rambo is suspended for 4 games and leaves UGA for the NFL then it will be a major recruiting point. See son UGA is as close to a religious school as it gets, you screw up there and they will run you off. No chance an SEC school with 70 scholarship guys is going to win the SECC just look at the way LSU killed them in the second half.
What really bothers me is that the rest of the SEC (except KY) are laughing their butts off at us. Hell if we want to shoot ourseves they will give us the bullets. The other schools don’t need to get UGA on probation heck we have less scholarships than USC and it’s self inflicted.
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Call me stupid and naive if you wish, but I hope Bacarri can get some of the people he was with to man up as witnesses to his not being aware of brownies laced with weed. I’ve had some that had so much in them that they tasted like hay smells. I’ve had others that had more powerful THC content such that not much was needed and you couldn’t detect it by taste. If he has never lied to his HS coach, why would he have to start now? I hope he gets some validation to his statement and that his intent was not to try the drug policy by playing roulette. What ever the punishment is then, is.
Hasn’t anyone been innocent in involvement and it to turn out disastrous? I’ve been involved in one where, along with two girls, we decided to have a sports rally (BBall) at a school ; they would lead the girls from their dorm and I would get the men. When several hundred guys showed up at the women’s dorms, the girls thought it would be fun to place red lights in their windows and dare the men to come and get them. You know what happened as soon as the words “Panty Raid!” escaped someone’s mouth . After the ensuing riot (that lasted through the night), I was pulled from classes the next morning and went before a disciplinary board in the Dean of Men’s Office where one of the members was on the University System Board of Regents. Seems he wanted my ass booted out for instigating a riot that ended up with the Dean’s car(a VW) carried up two flights to his office, the local airport’s sign stolen and implanted on campus that read”Danger! Low Flying Aircraft!”, various palm trees set afire on main campus and numerous acts of vandalism that the local paper couldn’t believe. Although placed on disciplinarian probation (through the grace of the Dean of Men and another Professor I knew on the Board who both went to bat for me and presented my academic record for mitigation) I graduated within the year and went into the Service of my country as contractually obligated.
It was an innocent act that nearly got me kicked out my final year of undergraduate study. I Follow Bacarri’s story with other than a jaundiced eye and hope he gets heard in an appeal. If it’s just his word alone, he will lose, but if any of his buddies could help in convincing it was indeed an innocent act, it could mitigate the judgement. Hope so.
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The way Rambo described the incident. I ate the brownie felt high right away. Hmmmm…. you’ve been around the block. He ain’t feeling nothing for a couple of hours and then will feel it longer than if he would have toked up. THC is fat soluble and it takes awhile.
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Yes, but the rapidity of onset varies from individual to individual. I didn’t quite digest(excuse the pun) the time period he spoke of, but if others awoke later to tell him his breakfast was delicious and, by the way, herbal, that could start him early psychologically. Since he ate two, I would say he was high all day. I’ve felt it strongly inside an hour, beginning before 1/2 hour, depending on my sensitivity and purity of my blood(spring water class). How much of that was psychological I couldn’t tell you. If it took hours, I’d question the amount of THC available. I can easily see it affecting Rambo quickly if he hasn’t been around it for some time. Anyway, I can hope. 🙂 Yes, the fat solubility is what keeps it in an overweight persons fat cells for some months of slow release, but low fat level athletes can purge it fairly rapidly,so I’m not sure about what the time lapse for ingestion and testing was. Personally, if I was purging, it involved a great deal of running on the beach (in Ca) together with gallons of water over approx 10 days in order to test negative (paid for my own testing). I always gave a time for contract initiation to allow for testing if that’s what the company’s policy was. If they needed my services immediately, they didn’t test. If it had come up on short notice(the testing) I would have turned the job down. Since you always sign mutual contracts in consulting, the info is always upfront and with contracts overlapping so there was always plenty of time permitted if I wanted to take the job on.
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For the best brownie use real butter! 😉
Have a great weekend. We r Charleston bound.
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THAT is an awesome story, sir. I take my hat off to you and your classmates.
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Does the University of Georgia test all students for drugs? After spring break in particular? Sounds like disparate treatment for football players.
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I appreciate Ingram’s candor, even if it might be ill-advised.
On another note, if Rambo faces University Judiciary action, Rambo needs to pay close attention to the language of the University’s Code of Conduct (Code of Conduct Regulation 4, I believe). The regulations prohibit the use of drugs and alcohol except as permitted by law and university policy. University policy essentially prohibits the use of drugs and alcohol except as permitted by law. Hence, both the University Code of Conduct and University policy are predicated on the law. Because drug use is not a strict liability crime under the law, it is not a strict liability conduct regulation. So, as long as Rambo did not know there was weed in the brownies he consumed, he did not violate any university policy. The University will have to prove its case by a preponderance of the evidence; it likely cannot do that (prove that he KNEW the brownies were laced).
As for team violation, I don’t know CMR’s policy. However, if he believes Rambo–that Rambo did not KNOW the brownies were laced–he should cut Rambo a break. Perhaps Rambo was acting stupidly by putting himself in that position. But, it is quite plausible that Rambo didn’t actually know. College students are notorious for stupid pranks. So, if CMR believes him, punish him for being stupid/reckless; don’t punish him for failing a drug test.
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Hear, hear!.
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Bobby, what your post also implies is that since it is a violation of the University’s Code of Conduct, which applies to all students, to use drugs at all or alcohol illegally (i.e. under the age of 21) then shouldn’t the University of Georgia do random drug/alcohol screening of ALL the students, not just the football team? And wouldn’t a particularly good time for that to be the first day after spring break? Let’s see how long that policy would stand up.
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+1
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At least for the first few games, our defense can survive w/o 3 starters in the secondary. If 3 other defenders are in trouble, though, defense is going to be seriously impaired, especially if the other 3 are in the secondary.
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It’s incredibly stupid, but the UGA leadership is incredibly stupid, so why is anyone surprised?
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So, the bottom line, as far as I can tell, is that Mark Richt’s morality is getting in the way of winning championships. Not just his policy against over-signing, but also in his enforcement of the over-extended drug policy.
In short, to be competitive in the SEC, we need to be more like Alabama, LSU, and Florida in terms of discipline and how we treat players.
Did I get the gist of the sentiment?
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^ This! I have been preaching (no pun intended) this for years.
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Apparently smoking the weed carries the same penalty as stomping a guy outside a bar.
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No, stomping a guy outside a bar apparently carries no penalty, at least in Knoxville.
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Or the same penalty as getting a DUI. Drinking and Driving puts your life and others on the road in danger. Smoking pot on spring break makes you giggle and eat more seafood. Both result in a 1 game suspension. Go figure
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I am in favor of drug testing after spring break and it should start with the administration and academia.
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Can you imagine the hue and cry that would emanate from the faculty?
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Yeah. And you would see your most social ones going on an exercise jaunt or maybe a weekend at a fat ranch. Plus not being available for a certain period of time. Plus all will have contacted their Teacher’s Union rep.
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One last thought on this and then I’ll shut up about it. I personally know several guys who played on several UGA football teams including the one that won the SEC Championship in 1968. I promise you that if there had been drug/alcohol tests administered to them on Mondays during the season NONE of them would have passed and everybody, coaches, students, faculty and the President of the University knew it. Hell, I’d see those guys on Saturday night at frat parties drunk as skunks and nobody said sh!t. The student body was the same way. If the coaching staff or University suspended players back then for drinking or smoking dope the school would not have been able to field a team. That is why sanctimonious BS from some of our older posters on this subject particularly galls me.
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