what's more important? these kids futures or the dream of a national championship? do you honestly believe that kicking them off the team, a structured group that promotes responsibility, hard work, and leadership, would benefit the kids? or does throwing them out for one mistake just make you feel better about the team and its public perception? this is where many of you are completely whiffing on the bigger picture. where would these kids be if not for football? do you think they'd be making better decisions and striving for perfection and success? seriously, it's not about you and your sentiments or the football team and its success on and off the field. it's about the players and watching them grow and learn from experience. i want to see lsu raise the crystal as much as anyone possibly could, but i don't let frustration cloud my reasoning.
Because of privacy laws, we probably will never know the complete and accurate story. I'll just rely on Les to do what's right.
Hang on, kicking them off the team, doesn’t mean that they can’t come back or go play ball elsewhere. Maybe you just remove them for the remainder of the season and enforce drug classes. And seriously, you would say that because they were kicked off the team and they chose the wrong path later in life and became a "F" up, that’s somehow anybody else's fault other than their own? What if they were to get hurt and never be able to play again? Kicking them off the team doesn’t make me feel better for any reason. LSU and its athletic programs enforcing a zero tolerance policy, makes me proud of the institute I received my education at. Kids will be kids, they will make mistakes, its understanding and unfortunate. Maybe kicking them off the team is a bit too harsh, but a one game suspension for drug use, is not teaching any lessons IMO I’m sorry, if a kid is willing to throw their future away because a football coach kick them off a drug free program for drug use and then in turn that kid decided to make his own future worse, in NO way can you come back and blame the coach or the program. My comment on "whats more important" is chosing right from wrong, not football or drugs....or throwing away a national championship season. When I was saying that, football had nothing to do with it. there a tons of kids who face the same challenges of peer pressure EVERY day and dont have the luxury of being a part of a program that can help you make the right choices, or ENFORCE THEM. Those kids manage.
Professional athletes make the same or worse (Steroids IMO) decisions when their careers really do depend on it. The concept that zero tolerance controls behavior has few if any examples of success.
I was listening to a football talk show on xm 91 a couple of hours ago. The guy made a lot of sense players arent any worst today than they were 30 years ago. As a matter of fact he said more junk happened then than now. The reason is now we have so many programs devoted to sports 24 7. We hear about every little thing that happens. We hear about a guy taking a punch and missing we hear about a player on eastern kentucky state getting kicked off the team. Think about it we got up to the minute updates on every plane from Michigan coming to Baton Rouge. I am not advocating drug use but I am more against a player doing something ellegal to get a competitive edge (steroids or bribes) rather than non self improving (underage drinking or a joint).
