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.