I hesitate to even launch into this one, for many reasons... But I gotta at least ask: WTF is going on?!!
The near-daily bummers and bad news of late concerning recruits and now starting upperclassmen too--failing, leaving, being charged with one thing or another...
For now, I'm not here to list, categorize, generalize or judge ANY of it--it's a "mixed bag" in every way, and it seems that for the most part time will tell, and the truth and relative seriousness of the various incidents and situations will reveal themselves, will sort/IS sorting themselves out and likewise will resolve themselves. This particular offseason/recruiting cycle more and more looks to amount at best to a "do over" deal for us, after all the hopeful signs of a big "return"...
I just hope and pray all these blindside hits DON'T keep coming and eventually build to a true disaster: Our losing our Head Coach, whom I otherwise still believe remains the absolute answer to our needs and prayers: HE needs OUR steadfast support, more than ever.
But there remains one puzzling aspect to all of this I just cannot remain silent about any longer--though I also KNOW I must be careful, circumspect in what I say, how I say it, and the exact words I use.
So here goes:
Where the HELL is the COMMUNITY in all of this?!!
When does it begin to INSIST on these young men, who give so much on our behalf, at least be given a little better treatment, rather than as an opportunity for a chance for an officer to make an example of them and oh by-the-way ANYONE to make a name for himself and/or impress higher-ups with their OWN agenda, whatever it may be? And THOSE people are all either elected, hired or appointed by those who are. I'm talking now about and TO the adult population of Gainesville and Alachua County: When do y'all start asking questions, looking a little deeper into all of THAT--Make it an ISSUE come next election day?
I assure you, the day you do, all of this will start to change. For example, our starting RB WON'T be dealing with a ridiculous "administrative arrest" that even the prosecuter, upon looking at the cellphone video of the actual incident, calls "probably without merit". Meanwhile, it's still out there, still ongoing "news". How does it even GO this far?
I was GOING to start with this whole thing surrounding Perrine and his mama's car getting towed... The towtruck drivers who specialize solely in "enforcement" are essentially "legal car thieves" who get to ransom your car BACK to you, the way "privateers with letters of marque from foreign governments" were really pirates--their incomes to a great extent derive from swooping in and getting a hook on your bumper asap, then the money you owe (and they get) goes up quickly from there.
I'm NOT supporting some further intensification of the "expectation of entitlement" so rampant in our society in general and these young athletes in particular, but there must and OUGHT to be some "fair middle ground" between spoiled hero-worship and going after a highly visible target for selfish reasons, all because someone with a badge and/or authoritative power figures "I CAN".
That "power and authority" derives from you, the public citizenry: That's what it means to live in a "Republic". At a certain point, only YOU can determine and control what is being done in your name.
The near-daily bummers and bad news of late concerning recruits and now starting upperclassmen too--failing, leaving, being charged with one thing or another...
For now, I'm not here to list, categorize, generalize or judge ANY of it--it's a "mixed bag" in every way, and it seems that for the most part time will tell, and the truth and relative seriousness of the various incidents and situations will reveal themselves, will sort/IS sorting themselves out and likewise will resolve themselves. This particular offseason/recruiting cycle more and more looks to amount at best to a "do over" deal for us, after all the hopeful signs of a big "return"...
I just hope and pray all these blindside hits DON'T keep coming and eventually build to a true disaster: Our losing our Head Coach, whom I otherwise still believe remains the absolute answer to our needs and prayers: HE needs OUR steadfast support, more than ever.
But there remains one puzzling aspect to all of this I just cannot remain silent about any longer--though I also KNOW I must be careful, circumspect in what I say, how I say it, and the exact words I use.
So here goes:
Where the HELL is the COMMUNITY in all of this?!!
When does it begin to INSIST on these young men, who give so much on our behalf, at least be given a little better treatment, rather than as an opportunity for a chance for an officer to make an example of them and oh by-the-way ANYONE to make a name for himself and/or impress higher-ups with their OWN agenda, whatever it may be? And THOSE people are all either elected, hired or appointed by those who are. I'm talking now about and TO the adult population of Gainesville and Alachua County: When do y'all start asking questions, looking a little deeper into all of THAT--Make it an ISSUE come next election day?
I assure you, the day you do, all of this will start to change. For example, our starting RB WON'T be dealing with a ridiculous "administrative arrest" that even the prosecuter, upon looking at the cellphone video of the actual incident, calls "probably without merit". Meanwhile, it's still out there, still ongoing "news". How does it even GO this far?
I was GOING to start with this whole thing surrounding Perrine and his mama's car getting towed... The towtruck drivers who specialize solely in "enforcement" are essentially "legal car thieves" who get to ransom your car BACK to you, the way "privateers with letters of marque from foreign governments" were really pirates--their incomes to a great extent derive from swooping in and getting a hook on your bumper asap, then the money you owe (and they get) goes up quickly from there.
I'm NOT supporting some further intensification of the "expectation of entitlement" so rampant in our society in general and these young athletes in particular, but there must and OUGHT to be some "fair middle ground" between spoiled hero-worship and going after a highly visible target for selfish reasons, all because someone with a badge and/or authoritative power figures "I CAN".
That "power and authority" derives from you, the public citizenry: That's what it means to live in a "Republic". At a certain point, only YOU can determine and control what is being done in your name.
