The Berry Dilemna
The Herald has more on on the Berry arrest:
Police stopped Berry around midnight for running a stoplight in a silver Nissan Altima near the intersection of Southwest 120th Street and SW 117th Avenue. Officers noticed a bag of marijuana in the prep star’s backseat, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department report. The report said the bag contained about 28 grams of marijuana.
So, the kid had about an ounce on him and you can make a case that there’s intent to distribute, but in reality, the intent was probably directed at nothing more than a couple of close friends looking to celebrate graduation.
For decades, American teenagers have sought out the lettuce to celebrate this occasion — even choir boys. And while I’m probably more liberal in my beliefs here than some of you, it’s still a violation of the law and Tressel has a decision to make with summer quarter just over a week away.
The linked article goes on to provide a little background:
While most first time offenders do not receive the maximum penalties in marijuana possession cases, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report shows that Berry, 18, was also arrested and charged with ”loitering or prowling” on Dec. 23, 2006. No further information is available regarding that case, as Berry was a juvenile at the time. It is also unknown if that case will have any impact on the prosecution of Thursday’s drug charge.
Berry may still get a chance to enroll, but he’ll be living large in the doghouse once he does. Eugene Clifford faced a similar situation and was still accepted into the program, though Clifford earned a misdemeanor, while Berry, living under much stiffer drug laws in Florida1 was hit up with a felony.
Buckeye Commentary with further historical context:
The first question out of most fan’s mouth is whether he will ever play for Ohio State. While these are not perfect parallels, the last two Ohio State arrest for marijuana are Jonathan Skeete’s pot trafficking bust in 2005 and Eric Haw’s arrest a week later for a more pedestrian grade offense for smoking a joint outside a dorm. Skeete was never heard from again. Haw played one more year in the program until his transfer to Jackson State. Berry’s arrest falls somewhere in between in my perspective as Berry had less than an ounce.
Odds are, he pleads down to a misdemeanor (see Brandon James) and Tressel does the right thing and accepts Berry into the program on a tight leash with maybe a game or two suspension to start the season. What would you do in his shoes?
1 FWIW, the 20g+ that triggers a felony in Florida would be just a minor misdemeanor in Ohio (up to 100g), which carries just a $100 fine and no mark on a criminal record. I blame Crockett and Tubbs.
I don’t think Berry will be “suspended” for any certain number of games, but he sure as hell won’t get any playing time for most of the first half of the season, I would expect him to show up on the field about halfway through the year if he successfully navigates his way out of the doghouse
if he doesn’t navigate his way out of the doghouse, I don’t see much of a future for him in Columbus (similar to what happened to Haw, if a kid doesn’t have the right attitude following an incident like this they usually don’t handle the doghouse very well and end up leaving the program)
let’s just hope that Berry learns from the incident and grows and becomes the type of player that we all expect him to be in Scarlet and Gray
A good majority of these kids smoke marijuana, the kid should not have ran a red light and he would have been fine. I expect Tressel to at least give him a chance in Columbus, but keep him on a tight leash. Maybe this is a good thing for Ray Small as Tressel will have a new dog in his house :]
or just another dog. This was stupid.
HEY KID! WANT TO GO TO COLLEGE FOR FREE?! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS NOT DO DRUGS!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i couldnt agree less with the whole “all kids that age smoke pot, so its okay” mindset. if you are going to one of the countrys finest universities for free, you are held to a higher standard – and that begins the MOMENT you sign your name on the dotted line on that piece of paper that reads “the ohio state university” across the top.
while its true that a good majority of us have sparked the leaf at some point during that period of our lives, i wonder how many of us were going to school for free, had an ounce of drugs in our backseat, and ran a red light?
i dont know about you, but i am hesitant to entrust any position on the field to someone that stupid.
Yeah, dude, put the drugs in the trunk where the cops can’t see them. Any self-respecting dealer knows that shit.
I could never afford more than a 20 bag, I mean shit, I was eating ramen-noodles 6 days of the week. Shoulda started selling just to avoid the crackhead soup diet……
first off you don’t smoke the leaf you smoke the flower. 2nd marijuana isn’t as bad as alcohol.
my view is this…. the kids is already showing to be stupid and not use good judgement. He had a violation in 2006 also (not sure what it was exactly). He may be an outstanding player, but I think he sets the wrong example and provides too much to worry about…. as much as I hate to say it, pull the scholarship and say good bye to Berry.
also….. why were the drugs on his backseat?? Is he that stupid to keep them out in the open like that??? Why not lock the back of weed in the glove compartment like any normal person try to not get busted would do??? If he cooperated with the officer, there would have never been a reason to search the car and no arrest. The cop saw the bag on the back seat, and then the ballgame was over. This guy sounds like a real genius… get the MENSA applications ready. Stupid behavior is a predictor of future stupid behavior… he is probably not a bad kid, but stupid…… and YOU JUST CAN’T FIX STUPID. Florida State is a better fit for him.
See, I really view getting caught with marijuana mostly as being unlucky. 43% of men have smoked weed at least once in their life, and I’m pretty damn sure most of them don’t have a conviction for it. I’m *really* willing to bet that that includes most college athletes at some point or another.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/6394/who-smoked-pot-may-surprised.aspx
I’m pretty sure quite a few of our athletes and students have illegally downloaded music ($150k per song in damages), looked at some image or another on the internet (or sent from a cheerleader) that could be considered illegal pornography (a felony for possession), or even fooled around in a car with a girl (reckless endangerment, also a felony). There’s a ton of stupid laws that people are breaking constantly. But hey, let’s all jump on the guy who was unlucky enough to get caught with some weed for his friends.
I’m fine with keeping him on a very very short leash, but I don’t think he deserves the boot quite yet.
I agree with you on the Marijuana use, but leaving it on the backseat is just plain stupid and tells me the kid doesnt give a crap. If he did, he would have had a friend get it or hide it well… this guy had close to 50 scholarship offers and his future is set if he stays clean…. he couldnt pass up the temptation or at least go the extra mile to conceal his stuff.
Also, you cannot equate drug use and illegal downloads of music, etc… Drug use is self destructive and marijuana use can lead to the use of other drugs… experience talking here — 2 cousins started with Marijuana use in early teens… one died at 17 the other just died at 40…. both from drugs and both from graduating to bigger and better drugs.
My point is that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior and this guy will likely screw up again…. he had his whole life depend on one decision and he made his choice. Why was the scholorship on someone who will screw it up…. plenty of good players out there who wont make a similar choice. I hope this kid has a good support network and a father who will help keep him on the straight and narrow.
I guess that, while I agree this was a stupid thing to do, dogging on the guy for not being a savvy criminal seems a little counterproductive.
Marijuana use is not destructive. It is non-addictive and has no significant proven long term side effects. It no more hurts anyone than downloading music does.
Now heroin? That shit will kill you. But he wasn’t doing heroin. Just because a drug is illegal doesn’t make it equally dangerous.
The sort of people who are more likely to get into the drug scene are more likely to go on to other drugs – but the weed had nothing to do with it, it’s a symptom not a cause. Most people’s user’s first illegal drug was cigarettes or alcohol before they were 18 – are cigarettes a gateway drug?
Just saying that if we are actually concerned about this kid getting his life on track – killing his chance to go to college and do what he’s good at isn’t really the best way. I don’t care about whether he’s playing or not – but if he pleads down and takes his stint in the dog house I wouldn’t pull the scholarship. One count of possession (that would be a misdemeanor here) with no previous convictions for drug use or dealing still falls under second chance rules in my opinion.
…. off the subject… you are naive about drug use… I have lost 2 close relatives who began on Marijuana and upgraded… I also work in the medical field and I deal with drug users on a daily basis…. most of them started with Pot and worked their way up….. I dont care what the academic research shows… the truth is very different. Some people can handle smoking pot like drinking an occasional beer, some people like the high and keep looking for a bigger and better high.
My question would be how many of the people were well balanced before they began their drug use?
People abuse drugs to escape something, or because they feel like they need something. Some people can’t deal with it. I have several people in my family who abused alcohol in the same way. That doesn’t mean that I think alcohol is itself destructive – they had other issues that it exacerbated. It was a bad thing for them, but it doesn’t hurt me at all to have a pint with dinner. Does that mean alcohol should be illegal, or that someone who drinks is likely to use harder stuff later?
I guess that’s my problem with the weed leads to worse things argument. It’s no more inherently destructive than drugs we have that are legal, and that some people do abuse, but many more people enjoy without incidence.
I know people who have major health problems because they are morbidly obese, who enjoy eating so much that they can’t bring themselves to diet and lose weight. Their life span and quality of life are drastically impacted by it. But we don’t consider a cheeseburger to be a gateway food.
Anything that feels good is psychologically addicting, and some people can’t deal well with that. Unless there is an underlying chemical addiction (like with heroin, or crack, or nicotine) it’s a problem inherent to the person, not the drug.
You know, I’m all for not ruining a kids life, but at the same time, this was totally avoidable and he most likely will be doing it again, just won’t drive with it. I’m more concerned about football and bringing in kids who know what’s on the line and what it means to be a college athlete at any institution. The bottom line is this kid wouldn’t even come close to a 2nd chance if he weren’t a football player. If he was a cross country runner, he’d be gone, if he were an academic see you later.
mike, saying that marijuana is not addictive and has no significant long term side effects is completely, absolutley, and 100 percent ridiculous.
and debating if pot should be illegal or not is not the point here – the point is that it IS currently illegal and possesing it is against the law. by having an ounce, berry broke the law. bottom line.
http://www.nida.nih.gov/researchreports/marijuana/Marijuana3.html
Because nih.gov never publishes half-truths or distortions…
uh oh…we got ourselves a regular conspiracy theorist. we all know what comes next from you anony…
the guvmint is run by them zionist jews in their underground lab beneath the UN. they are just trying to play mind control with you through their “science” and “statistics”
“Not addictive” may be a stretch, but it is significantly less addictive than alcohol and I believe even caffeine.
Here’s a report from a British medical journal.
http://www.antiproibizionisti.it/public/docs/thelancet_20070323.pdf
Similarly, there are some long-term health risks posed by smoking anything, but the consensus on long-term memory loss is nowhere close to clear in the medical community. In general, though, it is as safe or safer than quite a few legal drugs.
I don’t even like pot – I tried it once in high school and hated it. Smoking it seems like kind of a stupid thing to do. I just don’t think the stupid stuff is worth arresting someone over, given the actual minor health risks it poses.
My point with the various statistics and comparisons is that this is a law that a huge number of people have broken and NOT had their scholarships revoked over. The only thing “unique” about this situation is that he got caught.
He broke a law that apparently 40% of men don’t or didn’t think is worth following, and that hurt no one. It was stupid… but apparently the law is fairly stupid as well. Once a law makes criminals out of that much of the population I don’t have a huge problem with people ignoring it.
Mike:
I appreciate your insight and your ideas, but you are missing one key part of this argument…. drugs are destructive and addiction happens so quickly that it spirals downward before people realize it. That is the trap, it is not the pot in itself that is bad, it is the addiction that it can bring and once somone goes after a bigger and better high, those substances are lethal and addiction controls an abusers life. You have to witness the downward spiral to understand… my lifelong friend and cousin just passed away in this exact scenario and I have worked with many individuals who have unfortunately gone down this road as well.
I agree with Mike. If you didn’t classify grass in with other drugs you wouldn’t make this same argument. The problem starts with the illegality of said lettuce. If you get the herb from a guy who also slangs meth (and you have no self control and/or stupid) you may take the meth in the “hey why not” thread. That is a “gateway” scenario. Weed itself, has no bearing on drug addiction of other categories. On a chemical level, they are not even in the same world. Psycholobins, opiates etc…it literally makes no sense to say one thing leads to the other, it is the atmosphere we put said drugs in that makes them related. Like saying, I like beer so I like heroin, different levels of the same effect…I realize this is a stupid and ridiculous argument (in its entirety) but that is the extrapolation that the “gateway drug” argument presents. Imagine if weed were legal, does smoking cigarettes or cigars lead to other drugs? Would smoking a legal substance lead to use of illegal drugs? There is no logical way to link one to the other besides the mutual illegality and their shared atmosphere. If you change the atmosphere, the apperant link would no longer exist.
Signed,
Hippies
lol smoking pot makes you no more likely to do any other drugs. to suggest that it does is just foolish. Most people that have those views have never smoked or done any real research to back up the fact. Alcohol cause far more deaths and social problems then weed. Don’t believe me count the number of drunk homeless people downtown vs. the number of stoned homeless people. Marijuana has been getting a bum rep for years due to the gov’t. lack of control over the sale and TAXATION of it. Bottom line!!!
Also, if we legalize gay marriage then people will be marrying their dogs and horses a few days later. The slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy.
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/slippery-slope.html
Agreed
ski… is that Buckye leaf or a Marijuana leaf?? LOL
It doubles as both for those loooooong days at work.
I was thinking the same thing about him being perfect for FSU lol. Look, I’m not worried about this guy playing. We’re set at RB this year, let him redshirt this year and get his ass kicked in practice all year, then see if he still wants to be here. Everyone thought he may play this year, but tey were also excited about Hyde. Herron and Saine are going to be good.
On to this pot thing though, it my be true that most people try it, however most people don’t drive around with an ounce sitting on their seat. Then on top of it, most people don’t drie like a damn fool when they do have it on their seat. I am very liberal in my views, and I don’t care if you smoke pot, that’s your business, but don’t be DUMB enough to get caught. It wasn’t unlucky, they guy Ran a red light with it on his seat. If you had that much weed on you, and you know it, why the hell are you not going 25 and stopping at before the light hits yellow.
I said it on an ealier post from yesterday, I know people who lost academic scholarships because of a weed possession charge or DUI. Should their futures have been alterred because of weed? Maybe not, but when they sign for that scholarship there are expectations and one of them is to not get arrested. We aren’t here to debate what laws are fair or unfair. In addition, pot is quite a bit more serious than downloading music from the internet. I honestly don’t think that many people even know that’s against the law.
I don’t think pot is that big of deal at all. It is however, a big deal to do something this stuupid when you know youare going to be in the spotlight. It’s just plain idiotic.
As officers are fond of reminding you – ignorance of the law is not a defense.
But like I said above, dogging the guy for not doing a good job of being a criminal seems a little weak.
Who knows what his situation is. Maybe he is an idiot who sells weed on the side. Maybe his friends just asked him to bring the pot to the party and he had no idea about the smart way to take it home. We have no idea.
Either way, in his position you tell one of the friends to bring the bag of weed, he has the most to lose by doing it.
I’m not sure I’d consider it a credit to his character to pass all the risk onto his friend, either.
If you are carrying drugs in your car and whether we like it or not, pot is an illegal drug, don’t run a freakin’ stop light. He wasn’t “unlucky” at all. My BF is a cop and is always amazed that someone who is drunk or has drugs/guns etc. in the car, gets pulled over for some stupid shit like a broken tail light. Mo C made an illegal U-turn to put the cops on his tail. I smoked my brains out in HS and college, but we did it in our parents basement or in someones apt. on campus. I agree that someone this stupid is bound to screw up again ala Percy Harvin. I have no issue with pot, I do with stupidity.
amen…. I drank alot in High School and college… One person always stayed sober and we bought him the cokes…. we never had open container ……. thinking ahead…… stupid is as stupid does.
I guess I’d say that of course most of the people they catch did something stupid, because why else would they have ever caught them? It’s a bit of a selection bias :)
He must be trying to get his money right for the trip up to c-bus this summer. Can’t fault him for that. Maybe its time to change these out dated laws.
Running shine use to be Illegal too now they call it NASCAR. It time for a change if there can be a black man in the white house there can be legal use and distribution of marijuana.
I also love when someone comments with a friend or spouse that is a cop. Who gives a rats ass. That offers no insight to this case or anything marijuana related.
wow…. is this a serious post?? can’t fault him for selling drugs?? Outdated laws?? not even gonna comment on the White House comment…. you are totally missing the point…….
It wasn’t supposed to offer “insight”, only that it is amazing that someone with illegal stuff (i.e.pot,so it is marijuana related) in their car gets caught because they ran a red light or had a broken tail light. I hear these type of stories all the time because, yes, I live with a PO. Sorry to have annoyed you.
Seriously hilarious post. +1
i am missing the obvious connection btwn there being “a black man in the white house” and the absurdness of a prohibition on weed.
but then again, i got cheese powder for brains.
whether he smokes, downloads music, views porn, practices his night moves in a car, whatever, what should be noted are the choices he makes. Successful people are consistently good decision makers and that, I believe, is what Tressel has in front of him. If Tressel perceives a greater risk down the road, he should pull the offer.
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed. I think how the kid handles this how he handles himself in general is more important than the specific data point. A mistake is just a mistake unless it becomes a pattern.
We don’t pull offers for pedestrian lettuce possession, if this had happened in Cbus, it would be a glorified ticket. It will be a misty at best. Pull the offer, hilarious. Why are people so high and mighty about our football players? Do you get like this when students get pinched with herb? Should they be kicked out of school for potential “problems down the road”? Get off your high horses, it is a freaking football team not a sunday school. You want Eagle scouts? Root for Harvard.
dude, you realize there is a difference between revoking a scholly and kicking a kid out of school, right?
They won’t revoke an academic scholorship for any offense of this nature, that much I can vouch for. And for all intents and purposes, revoking a scholorship to a 5-star football player is kicking him out of school. My main point is that all this mock outrage is bullshit. Trumping for him to lose his ride is hipocrisy on every level unless you demand that all financial benefits be claused with behavioral and legal performance triggers (which the vast majority are NOT). A top performing scholastic student benefiting from their scholorship wouldn’t lose their ride for this exact offense. So yeah, taking away someone’s full ride scholorship is essential kicking them out of school but I do in fact grasp the difference.
meh.
1. dude can always go somewhere else
2. dude is a public figure bc of his association with a high profile athletic team. he is going to be held to a different standard.
i am not even advocating pulling the scholly…just listening to all the forgiveness non-sense on some sociological reasons is ridiculous. dude screwed up and should be punished regardless of your sociology prof’s protestations that drug laws hurt this or that group more than others and there are cultural biases in this or that social norm.
Harvard kids aren’t exactly saints, you know. Less than a month ago there was an apparently drug-related murder in a Harvard dorm.
You want Eagle scouts? Root for 10 year olds
I think the kid will be alright, as long as he learns and doesn’t f* up again. BTW thanks for the link to good ol’ Andrea Cambern. Nice.
No question he should be allowed to enroll and play. Suspend him for a game or two. We ALL screw up from time to time so don’t forget that!
He is a kid and I think Tressel will take that into consideration. However, I don think he should suspend him and redshirt him this first year.
honestly? i think a six game suspension sounds about right. we’re fine at RB, and the truth is that we’ve got several non-boom and zoom RBs who have kept their nose clean and deserve a chance to establish themselves in-game. i also think Tressel needs to send a message to the team with this incident, and berry is a good opportunity to do that.
it won’t ruin his life, but it will give him a good long time to watch his teammates accomplish things he might’ve been able to share in had he not been a dumbass.
Boy are the Penn State fans hating on us or what. I mean we give michigan everything because they deserve it but man Penn state is jealous. The Penn State game is always good – two good midwestern teams – I hope they don’t fall apart when Jopa dies.
i loved that article from BSD…it was almost as if we needed to remind the author that he is not part of the team and no disjustice has been done to him.
his homerism was hilarious…”why do the buckeyes get #1 and us poor old white trash nittany lions get no love@?@!!1111″ — might have something to do with you penn st’s conference finishes the last 8 years looking like a g-d sin curve.
That was pretty much the whiniest thing you’ll read on the internet all month.
If anyone knows him it would be me he doesn’t even do drugs he just got caught up in the fast life he deserves a 2nd chance mia 305 palmetto #6
Not to change the subject, but I was playing NBA2K9 on my 360 last night….. and I can’t seem to find the “Kobe throws an elbow and gets away with it” button.
Can anyone help me out? I would love to elbow a couple of defenders in the throat or chin or face to help my team get some open looks.
That late in the game – with a superstar no less – I’m not surprised a foul wasn’t called but I get your point. Still, the Magic have nobody to blame but themselves for last nights’ debacle. Howard’s two missed free throws and Nelson not fouling or getting up on Fisher can’t be blamed on preferential treatment for Kobe. I was glad to hear Van Gundy on the telecast totally slam the lack of basketball IQ some players show.
How did Kobe throw an elbow if Nelson came running right into it? Its playoof bball and that was a great no-call, one of the better calls by the officials all night.
Quit crying about officials, don’t leave it in their hands, simple as that.
iball…..my IQ just dropped for reading that comment of yours. I agree that the Magic had every chance to win that game. But to say that was a good no call is insane. I could give two shits which of these teams wins this series……as a matter of fact, until that happened last night, I was rooting for the Lakers (I can’t bring myself to root for a team that gets such preferential treatment).
Also, I wasn’t referring to that 1 particular call. If you have watched the playoffs at all you would know that Kobe has thrown several elbows that have not been called in the playoffs this year. In no way do I think that last nights elbow was deliberate, BUT, if it was anyone other than Kobe throwing that elbow, it’s an offensive foul.
It’s this type of B.S. that drove people away from the NBA in the 1st place. Stern will find a way to “F” up this new popularity that Lebron has brought them.
Is pulling the ’ship even an option? I’m no expert on NCAA bylaws, but isn’t the university bound to honor the scholarship offer once the letter of intent is signed? Even if it’s not, I think the time to investigate a guy’s character is before you offer the ’ship, not after. Once he signs on the dotted line, and completes the required academic stuff at his high school, he’s a Buckeye for better or worse. He’s part of the family. It’s too late to talk about sending him to FSU, IMO.
That being said, he does need to be disciplined in some way. The law is the law, even if some don’t agree with it. For those of you who are saying this is no big deal, everyone does it, etc., let me ask you this question: how would you feel if the entire team got in this kind of trouble? That would give the university a black eye, would it not? If it’s not OK for the whole team to do it, then it’s not OK for one guy to do it. If nothing else, Mr. Berry needs to learn that he’s part of a team now, and it’s not good to put yourself above everyone else. I know he never thought of it that way, but he needs to start. Everything he does individually is going to reflect on the team at large, for better or worse. Suspension might be a good idea, or maybe a redshirt, or maybe just some internal team discipline. But there should be a price to pay.
Mr. Berry, you are a Buckeye now. Start living up to it.
i’m fairly sure that the school can pull the scholarship if the recruit doesn’t meet certain conditions or violates some aspect of the contract. if the college HAD to honor the scholarship, recruits could do whatever the hell they wanted and still get a free ride for a year.
Suspension of some sort sounds fine to me, and is appropriate relative to the size of the crime. Pulling the offer is not.
Ah, speaking of basketball. NBA officiating really sucks! The zebras gave the Magic too many free throws and were clearly pulling for them to win.
He made a mistake and he deserves to be disciplined. But all you Johnny B. Goodes on this site saying an 18 yr old’s entire future be ripped away for 1 mistake, need to go get a bag and smoke one yourselves. I dont partake in the hippie lettuce myself, but I definitely am not a great enough person to cast judgement on a kid who screwed up once. Does anyone know Jamaal personally? If not, then keep your mouth shut. I guarantee everyone of you who want him kicked out will forget this ever happened as long as he is helping the team put up W’s.
In all fairness, how do you know it’s only been one mistake. I’m not a Johnny B Good, but I do care about the other 100 players and coaches and towel boys involved with the team. They will all be judged based off of one moron, and lets just say this team can’t afford to get beat up anymore. First it was Clarrett, then they can’t win the big game, now every year there is at least one guy doing something stupid and getting in the news.
I understand this isn’t as bad as Georgia, who half their team was arrested or in trouble last year, but still this isn’t a good trend. Eventually, someone is going to have to make an example out of a player and well this seems as good a time as any. I remember a few years back a UK football player was killed in a drunk driving accident, then one of the basketball players got busted for a DUI, he was suspended for a whole year which seemed a little harsh, but the university took a tough stance and made an example out of the guy. It straitened the players up, and it worked.
What about redshirting him? He’ll be forced to sit the entire year as punishment and growing up, but the Buckeyes get to spread their talent out a few more years.
The only game we really need him will be against USC. Saine, Herron, and Pryor pack plenty of 1-2-3 punch in most games, but we need to open an encyclopedia of creativity to beat the Trojans. Of course, he might continue being a fumble factory in practice and never see the field this year. If he’s going to be suspended for USC anyway because of this, might as well get something in return for it a few years from now.
Also, you aren’t ruining a kids future. Somone else will take a chance on him if he’s talented. There’s always a kid who ends up getting in trouble, failing out, or just doesn’t fit into the program so they leave and go somewhere else and thrive. The kids future is in his hands and no one else. He doesn’t have to keep driving with bags of pot on his seat where a cop can see it when he runs a red light. He can learn from this mistake and do something different for now on. There’s no ruining of his future.
First off, CUE FEIGNED OUTRAGE
Second, anything more than two-game suspension (assuming the felony really can be bartered down to a misdemeanor) would be ludicrous. Kids smoke pot. Football players smoke an obscene amount of pot. It’s not a big deal. Hell, it should be legal, but that’s an entirely different debate.
We should legalize it and tax the hell out of it to help with the National deficit.
Not a bad idea.
I have been arguing to have a more severe penalty for the guy because I feel like in order to gain total control over the discipline of the team you must make an example out of someone. I mean I’m sure my parents smoked weed in high school, but I got caught doing it I would’ve been dead. The issue isn’t about everyone doing it so it’s not a big deal. The issue is someone has to be the authority and set an example. I guess that’s what’s wrong today in society. I have heard people my age say, well I did so I can’t say anything, well yeah you can. If you smoke is it ok for your 12 year old to smoke cigarrettes. It’s like no one wants to be the boss, and 1 or 2 games on the bench doesn’t teach anyone anything.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter anyway, lots of freshman running back recruits never pan out and he may be one that just kind of fades out too. Making and example of him or not probably won’t have any lasting or long term impacts to the team, and that’s really all I care about is how the team comes out of this. I don’t care about the pot debate, or law, or if the kids future is ruined. I care about Ohio State football and the image it has as well as how one person doing something stupid or selfish can harm the rest of the team.
i agree with this. an ounce of pot is an ounce of pot. whatever your feelings might be toward the legality of weed, all that should matter to you is that a recruit broke a law pretty thoroughly and should be punished for it. given the amount of pot berry had on him, it’d be really naive to think that having him run sprints will cause him to think twice before doing this again.
also i can almost 100% guarantee Jim Tressel does not share the same lax views on the legality of pot that it seems most of the people here seem to have (including myself to an extent)
“he may be one that just kind of fades out ”
Fading out may not be so much of a problem.
Burning out is what he seems more likely to do.
One important thing we did learn: He is 5′8″, he could destroy USC at that height.
hah, i love that it takes an arrest to find out the actual height of football players
The DDN is ripping OSU for “reneging” on Cam Wright’s scholly. Im so tired of this second class newspaper trying everything they can to cast tOSU in a bad light. It makes me wonder how tOSU gets through with all the haters out there.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayton-sports/university-of-dayton-flyers/former-ohio-state-hoops-recruit-now-looking-at-flyers-161474.html?showComments=true&postingId=161652
If Tressel wanted to put a land mine on this kid he would red shirt him for a year which technically would be a 1 year suspension. I would just have him run sprints and do ridiculous team drills and conditioning so it not only helps him but it helps everybody. I wanna see that offensive line run up and down the stairs in Ohio stadium!
No surprise that fans of “thee” Ohio State would punish a felon with a couple game suspension. Great perspective bucks. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is as important as the success of a college football team. Why even suspend him? Just tell him he was a bad boy, make him stand in the corner for 15 minutes, and put him on the field. Nice standards…
I don’t think it’s quite like that. The felony is one in name only as his offense (possession of 28g of pot) is a misdemeanor in Ohio and just about every other state in the union.
Not all felonies are created equal.
Tressel has coached 4 felons in his 7 years at “thee” OSU. Berry would be the 5th. The previous 4 were dismissed from the team – must not have 4-star RB’s? So, his penalty will be based on his potential contribution to the team? Again, nice standards bucks…
Are you serious? What is the point of your posts? I’m sure Tressel can babysit all of his adult-student athletes.
Point is – despite 5 felons, over 30 player arrests, and leading the league in recruiting violations, Tressel has done the right thing to dismiss players after felony convictions. If the punishment is less severe in this case, it would only be due to the potential talent of the player in question.
Maybe he was just trying to score some for Mario Manningham.
He was also going to pick up Kevin Grady some booze, but came up a few dollars short. I’m personally impressed with Jaamal’s magnanimity, aren’t you?
In the words of the inimitable (though I used to do a pretty mean impression) Andrew “Dice” Clay: Why are you the way you are?
Charged with a felony does not equal felon, jackass. When he pleads down as a first time offender then he will be a convicted misdemeanor offender and can sit for a game or two. There are your standards.
OK. So, charged with felony, guilty of misdemeanor drug charge, and a true freshman will miss his first two games in college… Drop the hammer Tress!
No, stupid.
Louis Irizarry (Four-star TE) and Ira Guilford (Four-star S): charged with violent crimes, dismissed from the team and university.
Jonathan Skeete (K): charged with selling pot, scholarship yanked but allowed to TRY to walk on. He didn’t succeed.
Albert Dukes (Four-star WR): charged with “lewd and lascivious sexual battery”. Played three years (on scholarship) and caught 4 passes. Transferred to Valdosta State.
So you’re wrong about all of them being dismissed, and you’re wrong about it being just their talent level that was considered in each case.
I think he was talking about Marco Cooper and not Albert Dukes.
Dukes was charged but not convicted of anything.
I’m a bit late to this thread, but I’ve been busy straight up killing fools on this subject @ OHD (Viva Vico!). Unfortunately – and, I guess, unsurprisingly – there’s some of the same stupidness going on here. To wit:
The idea that we should “make an example” of Berry is patently unfair. If the foibles of today’s “urban” youths just really get under your skin, well, just deal with it – that’s not an argument for treating some people differently than others. Jamaal Berry’s fate is in the hands of the State of Florida, Jim Tressel, Gene Smith, The Ohio State University, and Berry himself – we might let some of their processes play themselves out a bit before we render a final verdict on this 18-year-old kid.
Also: there’s an awful lot of ignorance about marijuana going on here. If you think that pot IN ITSELF is a “gateway drug”, and that pot PROHIBITION isn’t the culprit here, then you’re pretty much disqualified. The scholarship on this question is extensive and unequivocal: the reason pot use leads in some cases to using other, harder illegal drugs is that YOU HAVE TO GO TO AN ILLEGAL DRUG DEALER TO GET POT, AND MANY OF THOSE PEOPLE OFTEN SELL OTHER, HARDER ILLEGAL DRUGS. Further, an ounce is really not all that large a quantity of weed, and the fact that the banana republic that calls itself Florida thinks that “<3/4 oz. = Felony” is an absolute outrage. FURTHER, if you think that this kid’s scholly should be yanked for this, then I’d like to issue a challenge: explain why this should be the case but that people like Steve Bellisari and Alex Boone should have been allowed to remain on the team. I mean, there is really no question at all that drunk driving is far more dangerous to society and the perpetrator than simple marijuana possession. So: explain. If you think that Stevie and Alex SHOULD have been kicked off the team/out of school, then I guess you get points for consistency, but you’ve also got an unreasonably high standard when it comes to the behavior of college-age kids. If you DON’T think that, then you should probably STFU about young Mr. Berry.
I’ll leave it there for now.
Cigarettes and alcohol are the true gateway drugs. Most people limit their narcotic experimentation to marijuana. I feel, if you decide to take that experimentation a step further, then you have underlying emotional issues you are dealing with and should seek professional help. As I said before, no way is this worth yanking a young man’s future from him. I mean, Im sure Jamaal is an intelligent young man, but I hardly think he dreams of being an accountant or an attorney, his chosen career field is athletics, taking advantage of his God-given skills. He will not recieve the full punishment for this offense as it is his first time, and I don’t think OSU is in the business of crushing dreams of any student who made a mistake.
I like your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
No problem, Homer – though I’m pretty sure the correct quote is “I’m intrigued by your ideas…”
You’re a better Simpsons fan than I.
I understand what you’re saying mr. horse of blood, but when you stated that these pot users turn to harder drugs because they are forced to go to a dealer who sells harder drugs, is that not a gateway? You are completely right when you say that drunk driving is way more dangerous, but that doesnt make what berry did right, does it? They may only be 18 year old kids, but lets face it, they should be held to a higher standard. Younger people look up to these guys and what kind of signs are being put out by these actions. Berry is being given the chance of a life time, handed to him on a silver platter. Im not saying he doesnt deserve a 2nd chance, but these kind of actions should not be accept, even if you think pot should be legal. Because as of today, its not…
I could not have been clearer that the dealer and not the drug is the “gateway” – this is not really in question. There is vast and definitive research on this subject. That said, I’m really not sure what you’re asking here.
I didn’t at all discuss whether what Berry did was “right” – again you’re going to have to be a little more specific about what you mean. What I DID say was that in the larger scheme of things, what he did is not that big a deal. Read up on state laws in this area if you want to know why it’s outrageous that this kid is charged with a felony. Conceptions of “right” and “wrong” really have very little to do with the law.
It would be interesting to hear what you think the “higher standard” should be – without details, you’ve made a pretty much meaningless statement there. So elaborate, please, since you seem to think you know what’s “right”. And remember that you’ve already said that he deserves a 2nd chance. I don’t see a lot of room left for your “standards” – if we go by what you’ve said – other than the heightened scrutiny from the program, and the media, and the blogs that Berry is already going to be subjected to if and when he arrives in Columbus.
I don’t know “what kind of signs are being put out by these actions”, whatever that means. Do you? Who are the “younger people” that you suppose are looking at Jamaal Berry and drawing the lesson that being charged with a felony is an example to emulate? Or is that not what you meant to imply? AGAIN, it’s hard to tell what the eff you’re talking about.
Finally, and sorry to pile on, but you just make it so hard not to: “these kind (sic) of actions should not be accept (sic).” So, what’s the remedy? You can’t just say “I don’t accept these kind (sic) of actions” and walk away, dude. It might help for you to consider the idea that the fact that people whose behavior is less than ideal from time to time are still allowed to play football at a school doesn’t necessarily mean that the school ENDORSES the less-than-ideal behavior.