AJ SUSPENDED

In that we're within a couple of weeks of Prefontaine's untimely demise, the alcohol message is clear.

And if you're on the UofO Track or XC team, you should probably have a heightened sense of awareness of alcohol use and what can happen....because their icon (Pre) consumed alchohol prior to his accident.

Think about it...I'll bet you every guy on the UofO team knows the story of Prefontaine...and holds him up as a hero - but understand that alcohol may have led to his accident - which definitely tarnishes his stature a bit.

You'd think that perhaps...just maybe...they might have a little better understanding of what alcohol abuse can lead to.

Apparently not though.

Dear lord, it is simply amazing the amount of complete pansie haters there are. I was in college not too long ago and on one of the topt distance programs in the country. Nearly every where we went and raced, we would go out and party with the majority of the top runners from the other teams there. In terms of the top runner guys, I honestly think that 70-80% of them from every team we hung out with were very liberal in how much they consumed. Most of the time all that happened was a lot of joking, laughing and harmless stunts. Occassionally things got more serious. It's really about the same as when I meet colleagues or friends now at a bar on a weeknight in the business district.

I think most college runners (especially the men) get their hands around beer before they are legally able to, and probably fairly often. Also, a great majority of them have one or two pretty bad nights. But all in all they mature, the get their homework done and show up for workouts and race day and perform.

What happened here is no different. You crusaders might as well start a useless crusade against the vast majority of every track and cross country team (or all atletic teams for that matter) in the NCAA. As long as alohol is a freedom to enjoy for our nation (as it is for most of the world) it will be enjoyed by our young adults too. There is almost nothing that is fun or enjoyable that doesn't pose some risk as well, and people will never stop doing things to have fun.

This post is dead on. Some of you are ridiculous...they are having fun..running fast...get off their dicks...they are grown men and can make their own decisions...as far as the ppl that want to see them get in some serious trouble..what is wrong with you? please tell me if you aren't those ppl you see that run that think they are better than every other non-runner athlete...

words to live by right here.......worry about what you do what let other ppl do what they do

*worry about what you do and let other ppl do what they do

I agree that the people who are shocked and appalled about college athletes drinking seem to have no direct experience with college students in general, or college athletes specifically.

If you find yourself alarmed at this story of college freshman Puskedra getting drunk and falling down, you shouldn't be thinking "What a bad guy!" You should be realizing "I guess I have no clue what 99% of college students, including college athletes, do for entertainment on weekends."

yes, seriously, back 20 years ago i won NCAAs after getting hammered the night before.

3200guy wrote:

not only do drunks become self-centered but they do things to others that they think are funny. They don't consider that other people may not like someone messing with them. It's pretty rude, and when you cross the line of just drinking for your enjoyment to disturbing others, that's a problem.

I was working in the office one Sunday afternoon, heard a big BOOM outside, saw a few people rushing by the windows and went outside myself to see what had happened.

The first thing that I saw was a woman's head laying by the side of the street. I will never forget that the rest of my life. It was so sad and makes me cry now just to think of it. She was sitting on a bus bench waiting for a bus, when a drunk driver going 90 mph the wrong way ran right over her, took out the entire bench, and wrapped the car around a light pole on the corner. Had the pole not been there he would have crashed through the office next door and probably right into where I was sitting.

That poor woman.

In some sort of poetic justice, the man died the next morning. I don't know how he could have lived with himself after that anyway.

I thought you were going to say AJ was driving.

fjdsla;jb wrote:

if you dont drink in college then your a fairy

or you go to Liberty and hold the collegiate record for the 10,000

either way, you might as well have magical powers

Flame on flame on wrote:

fjdsla;jb wrote:

if you dont drink in college then your a fairy

or you go to Liberty and hold the collegiate record for the 10,000

either way, you might as well have magical powers

Sam is great, but the only reason he has that record is because Galen didn't run a 10K at Cardinal the past two seasons. But Sam would still be the 2nd fastest collegiate which is still very impressive.

fjdsla;jb wrote:

yes, seriously, back 20 years ago i won NCAAs after getting hammered the night before.

Good for you. Some years ago I was at the funeral of my 30 year old brother who died from excessive drinking and followed that up a few years later at the funeral of my mother, pretty much from the same cause.

So, all of you who want to encourage widespread drinking, just realize that a certain percentage of people cannot handle it. Me, I'll always talk up sobriety. I grew up in an alcoholic household, so I know first hand what a hell that can be for children.

Of course most people can drink and handle it. But I still know a few college guys who suffered severe lifelong in alcohol incidents (one was burned, the other suffered major brain damage). A good friend of mine is a quadrapalegic following a diving accident while he was drinking in his late twenties.

By the way, it takes more balls not to drink in the college crowd than the reverse.

Certainly bad things do happen to binge drinkers and chronic alcoholics, but that doesn't mean that every college kid who cuts loose with alcohol even moderately is going to die, or should end up in jail.

than than than.....sorry mate....i am a 2 finger typer who seldom proof reads......

I don't mean to belittle this whole situation of those so against underage drinking, but where else in the western world do we have a drinking age of 21????

Having travelled and lived in various parts of the wld (and live in a nation where the drinking age varies from 18-19) it's ludicrous to judge some underage drinker.

The larger issue is more along the lines of how u act when drinking egs binge drinker, angry, poor judgement, etc....

Agent Provocateur wrote:

A place like Oregon, where its most famous runner killed himself in a drunken driving accident, has a special obligation to respond to alcohol related incidences. First of all, underage drinking is a crime, on par with shop-lifting. Providing alcohol to a minor is a crime. Both athletes should be suspended and if they have any further incidents should be expelled from school.

Thank you sir. My ideas exactly. Sometimes we have a higher obligation due to the place, our position etc. You said it better than I without all my rambling.

White guys can distance run wrote:

Sam is great, but the only reason he has that record is because Galen didn't run a 10K at Cardinal the past two seasons. But Sam would still be the 2nd fastest collegiate which is still very impressive.

I hope you realize that Sam did not run it at Cardinal.

I hope you realize Sam is going to get destroyed at nats.

Your wrong wrote:

Look said:

Who is buying the alcohol? Who is the supply man to 18 year olds? If its a 21 year old buying then where are the criminal charges. An 18 year old goes to the hospital smelling of alcohol, getting stitched up, then the HOSPITAL IS UNDER STRICT GUIDELINES TO CALL POLICE! Was this done or not. If not why are police not involved now investigating an active case. Is Puskedra even 18 yet! This should be looked into before some great young guy like A.J. or Luke roll their car. The coaches should show NO FREAKIN MERCY!

You are wrong sir. In college towns, hospitals encourage kids to go to the hospital and advertise that they will not ask any questions. They realize kids would rather try their luck sleeping it off and getting alcohol poisoning than going to the hospital and getting arrested.

I live in a college town and work in emergency. You are talking about a different program and its not quite like you say. Everyone is terrified of that stuff because the day will come when the law suits will fly. If one of those guys rolls his car two months from now, a law firm could make a great case against Oregon. Believe me been there done that I know how this COULD all go down. You know how everyone in this country is a victim, it could not be the drinkers fault it had to be the Doctors, Coaches, Admin etc. Everyone dropped the ball. Peace I am out, just hope the coaches kick some ass is all I want.

Well.....! wrote:

Agent Provocateur wrote:

A place like Oregon, where its most famous runner killed himself in a drunken driving accident, has a special obligation to respond to alcohol related incidences. First of all, underage drinking is a crime, on par with shop-lifting. Providing alcohol to a minor is a crime. Both athletes should be suspended and if they have any further incidents should be expelled from school.

Thank you sir. My ideas exactly. Sometimes we have a higher obligation due to the place, our position etc. You said it better than I without all my rambling.

Does this mean that every other location in the U.S. gets to go ahead and drink alcohol (something that has been done around the world for as long as people could read) while anyone at the U of O should refrain because a runner 34 years ago died in a car accident and had alcohol in his blood, and yet we can't prove that alcohol was responsible for the death.

What if a top athelete from another program dies in a car accident and we see that his cell phone has an unfinished text message? Do all the athletes (or possibly all students) have to refrain from using cell phones late a night (even while not driving?) Anyone caught walking on the sidewalk texting needs to be suspended from their team?

There was no incident with a car, you do know that right? This statement is pretty nuts.

Let's be reasonable here. There is an element of danger in life. There are things that we do that can in many ways end up endangering ourselves or others.

A lot of them involve the use of a motor vehicle WHITHOUT the use of alchohol or drugs. For example, driving while talking on the cell phone, driving while texting, driving home after working a night shift, driving after a very busy work day with work still at the front of your mind, driving at dusk, driving through a late yellow light, etc. etc. etc. Yet this is life and everyone we know does several of these things on a regular basis. How about skiing or snowboarding in deep powder? How about travelling to central america? How about eating sushi? A sunnyside up egg?

The drinking "under age" thing is actually pretty silly for college kids. In almost any other country that embraces alchohol (almost every other country in the world) the "drinking age" is substantially lower than ours and in many cases it is used more as a good measure mark or something to be used for public consumption while the kids are allowed to consume at home or with family at parks etc. And you know what, it actually seems to work out better that way!

There is for anybody some risk involved with drinking. And like everything with some risk, there will be accidents or incidents that happen. Ask a ski resort owner, ask a water park owner, ask an auto insurance company, ask an elemantary PE teacher, ask a lifeguard, etc. etc.

If someone starts a pattern of negligent behavior while on alcohol, then we have a real problem. Just like the idiots who drive way under the speed limit in a fast lane weaving over their lines with a cell phone to their ear talking about their crummy boyfriend or rumors at work, and do it everytime they get in their car.

Well.....! wrote:

WRONG!

Well guess depends on the state and the hospital. Lets say YOU are a doctor. Like any person coming in who is injured you have to look at the liability here. Is it a knife wound, maybe you got attempted homicide. You got a female with a black eye, is this a domestic? You got an 17 or 18 yr old STUDENT from OREGON who is under the influence of alcohol. Whats he gonna do go drive later after you stitch him up. Maybe drink some more, maybe he is depressed, you got a minor crime. You got to turn this over to the next step people to protect yourself and him. Anything happens to that kid and you let him walk out of your hospital the media will be interviewing your ass real soon.

Did you just refute your own argument for me? Nice work.

OK, let's say I am doctor. ;)

What actually happens in the ED: A college kid comes in drunk and needs stitches. He gets triaged and waits for a few hours. Sobers up, finally gets stitches. Waits another hour or two to be discharged. Is completely sober and feels stupid. Goes home with friend. Trust me, we are on a university campus. It happens ALL THE TIME. We are under no legal obligation to report underage drinking to anyone in this context.

If kid has gunshot wounds or has no safe place to go, you've got another situation. Then your legal obligations come into play but more importantly you need to look after the kid and make sure they are safe. Not the case, here.

Thanks for playing.