Athletic department warns about alcohol

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Athletic Department warns about alcohol

Policy changes in place for football team, student-athletes, after weekend's troubles

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NU football coach Bo Pelini Courtesy Photo

by Johnny Perez

March 11, 2008

The University of Nebraska’s athletic director and head football coach responded Tuesday to the legal problems haunting NU’s football team.

Certain establishments are now off-limits to football players and Head Coach Bo Pelini has created a no tolerance alcohol policy for the football team.

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“Our players understand the intent of this rule and what we are trying to accomplish,” Pelini said.

“Therefore, any violation will be handled individually as it pertains to the specific circumstance.”

The rash of disciplinary issues facing Pelini began this weekend, when senior offensive lineman Andy Christensen was arrested at a Lincoln bar for first-degree sexual assault and other charges.

Christensen was released Tuesday afternoon after posting a $50,000 bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

The team’s run-ins with the law didn’t stop with Christensen.

This weekend, three current Husker players and two former players were also cited with an array of charges after police interrupted house parties they attended.

Tom Osborne, NU’s athletic director, addressed alcohol’s involvement in the weekend’s troubles in his statement.

“Alcohol abuse and binge drinking continues to be the number one problem affecting college students today,” Osborne said.

 

“We do not take these recent violations of alcohol abuse lightly.”

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Pelini met with the team earlier this week and explained the zero tolerance alcohol policy.

Pelini also said certain establishments were off-limits to team members.

He did not name specific businesses, nor did he name the Brass Rail, where Christensen was arrested. But he did say players knew the policy would be strictly enforced.

Athletic department officials also met with NU’s student-athletes this week to warn of the dangers of alcohol abuse, Osborne said.

“Educating our student-athletes regarding these issues is a priority for our athletic department,” Osborne said.

“We expect our student-athletes to go beyond the education process and to be good role models acting appropriately at all times.”
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context, people... context.

 
Bo Pelini is also of legal age to drink where as the majority of his football team is not. These guys need to be real careful on getting these minor in possession tickets i.e. Nick Covey. They also need to be conscience of the fact that parties that have lots of college age kids being hosted at a minors' house can be a big problem for them. I've been to my fair share of college parties and I'm surprised that booze was the only thing found at Ben Martin's house. Players need to be aware of the legal dangers that can be present when hosting these parties.

Bo Pelini also did not sexually assault a female at a downtown bar, i.e. Christiansen. The media scrutiny is too much for these guys to be screwing around at bars and getting in trouble. I don't think that LPD is too fond of giving these guys a break anymore. Heck, they might even be a little bias towards players now.

Kids are going to get alcohol and drink it around here and I know that you can't stop that. They also have to know that if they are going to drink, that it might be a good idea to keep it a little more low key. Keeping them off of O street or even out of certain bars just might keep them from getting into as much trouble.

I don't think that this is hypocritical for Bo to put his foot down, it's not like he's giving breathalyzer tests to his players every night. He can't however let his players run wild all over this town and take the chances that they have been. It's just like a parent trying to teach their kids about alcohol. You can't stop them from drinking if they have their minds set upon doing it. You can only educate them about the dangers of getting smashed and doing something stupid.

By the way that picture is hilarious, Bo looks absolutely plowed.

 
captain obvious said:
The dude just won an NC... oh yeah, and he was IN NEW ORLEANS!!
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Exactly.

I guess two issues come to mind here.

First. Political correctness. If the guy is guilty for throwing a few down , is it that uncommon of a thing to do if your celebrating?........Occasionally??...

Second . Should a individual like a student who has been fortunate enough to get a free college education with a very bright future if they can show self control indulge ?

Both answers are fairly obvious to me.

 
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Third. That picture might be over-exaggerating how "drunk" he might have been.

Looks to me like at least half of the look on his face is the result of grinning foolishly and then being caught off guard by a camera.

 
Anybody remember Devaney? Now there was a boy who could throw down with anyone.

I look at the picture as a bunch of crap. He may not have been drinking at all. Cameras catch intants in time. Just someone wanting to make him look bad is my guess, or thought it was funny.

And if he was drinking that is his right. He is 21 or a little older, should know how to control his useage and is in charge. Even if it is do as I say not as I do, it still isn't a problem.

A kid is going to what ever he wants. No amount of yelling or screaming, grounding or threats make a bit of difference at that time. Now running the stairs a few times may get the point accross. But young kids will be kids and drinking at college is a given.

He has set boundries, and as long as he sticks to keeping them within those boundries I have no problems with what ever he says. Just no favortism. You screw up you pay the consequenses period. But I think Bo is that type of guy.

 
Hmmm....don't recall seeing a police blotter with Bo's name on it....think he was okay doing what he did, seeing he just won a NC, unless you can show he was either violating a law or any LSU school policy or his contract with LSU - or Nebraska.

These players on the other hand....what have they done to celebrate? Not much if I recall what last year looked like. I do recall seeing that the police were involved in a couple of incidents involving players. And you want to defend them?

They are at Nebraska to play football and they represent the university...they are receiving a free education as "payment" for doing so. I think the university has every right to expect that they would represent them in a positive manner, not having their name associated with the university in a police report or newspaper article about criminal activity.

IMHO there is NO excuse for this behavior, and therefore a No Tolerance policy is in order, if not to protect the player from himself, to protect the university's good name. These are supposed to be adults...they should be expected to act as such. And those that are not yet adults, have no business drinking anyway. The law is the law...if you think it is alright to be drunk in public, disorderly, assaulting someone, I suppose you will next tell us that it is okay to kill someone....after all it is only a law.

Certain members, past and present, have taken it upon themselves to prove they can't handle drinking alcohol. As a result, the whole team will suffer. That is the way it is, the way it should be - to put a stop to the behavior that the city of Lincoln had to deal with last weekend. Alcohol was the common denominator, therefore the ban on certain establishments and the warning on the abuse of alcohol is justified.

 
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HuskerTrucker said:
Hmmm....don't recall seeing a police blotter with Bo's name on it....think he was okay doing what he did, seeing he just won a NC.

These players on the other hand....what have they done to celebrate? I do recall seeing that the police were involved in a couple of incidents involving players. And you want to defend them?

They are at Nebraska to play football and to represent the university...they are receiving a free education doing so. I think the university has every right to expect that they would represent them in a positive manner, not having their name associated with the university in a police report or newspaper article.

IMHO there is NO excuse for this behavior, and therefore a No Tolerance policy is in order, if not to protect the player from himself, to protect the university's good name.
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:yeah

 
I took a picture of my dad yesterday while he was chewing and he looked pretty much like that. We don't even know he was drunk.

Sure LOOKS like it, but I'm just saying.

 
papersun87 said:
I took a picture of my dad yesterday while he was chewing and he looked pretty much like that. We don't even know he was drunk.

Sure LOOKS like it, but I'm just saying.
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I have a picture of my 3 day old granddaughter drinking from a bottle that kind of looks like that too...but I am pretty certain that there was no alcohol involved or was she named on any Police Blotter that I know of...but her name did appear in the paper. :clap

 
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papersun87 said:
I took a picture of my dad yesterday while he was chewing and he looked pretty much like that. We don't even know he was drunk.

Sure LOOKS like it, but I'm just saying.
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He was drinking and thats ok. Thats his privilege. There comes a time when certain privileges need to be revoked. Bo didn't violently assault anyone or cause problems to anyone. For christ's sake the man had recently been given his dream job as well as ending his other job on the highest note possible. So when the players act up and give a black eye to the whole team the whole team needs to step back, take a good look and fix themselves fast. If that means giving up some privileges then so be it. We do it in the military and though every case is unique it is generally a very effective tool. Noone wants to be the guy that makes it hard for everyone else.

Oh and the reply was simply meant to point out he was drinking. I wasn't making a counterargument to anything you said I was just adding my general thoughts about the topic at hand.

 
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The real question is, is this really Bo anyways? I can put a picture of anyone on the internet doing some pretty sick and crazy things with just a couple clicks of the mouse.

If it is him, he is of age and can drink if he sees fit. He is not signing a contract that states he will not take part in any illegal acts. I am sure the college has their athletes sign off on some kind of agreement about representing the university and following certain rules.

 
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