Rockne's Roundtable

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IFR said...

I may be the lone person in this boat, but I find it sad/hypocritical that performance on the field equates to punishment. Every Notre Dame player, whether he rides the bench or be our main weapon, needs to be punished/mentored in the same way for whatever trouble he gets himself into. As Notre Dame fans, we seem to spend an awful lot of time preaching morals. We talk about how Notre Dame does it the right way. The student in student-athlete actually means something. Catholic values and such.

Now, as of this moment, Notre Dame has yet to punish Rees for his incident yesterday. However, the message board has already led him to the gallows. He's been branded a tool. A dumb drunk. An idiot. He sucks. His entire family has a drinking problem. And BK has no choice now but to appoint Golson as the savior of Notre Dame.

The response after Floyd's numerous issues with drinking? Give him a chance. Young man needs a mentor. Let's pray that Res Life goes easy on him. Hope Floyd learns from this small mistake. This is nothing - I drank in college.

Now, some of you are going to argue that Rees is facing a felony for battery on law enforcement or something to that nature. Ok. Floyd got drunk and got behind the wheel of a 3,000-pound vehicle. Again. And again. Yet, with Floyd, we hoped for maturation, leniancy, forgiveness, and compassion. With Rees...well...this is our chance to write him off. Why? Because he's not as athletic as Floyd? Not as gifted on the field?

And that's what is sad about the whole situation.

We are so wrapped up in the football-only aspect of Notre Dame (all under the "good Christian" disguise) that some of us don't even realize we're crucifying a kid based on his inability to hand us a championship. And let me stop any assumptions before they start - I don't want Rees as Notre Dame's quarterback. That plan didn't work. Someone else needs a shot. But why the hate? Why hand him over to the Taliban because he got drunk one night and acted like a fool? All you who mentioned drinking when you were in college after Floyd's issues...why no defense for Rees? All you Floyd sympathizers - lose your religion?

Or is it different because one is a record-breaking, first round draft choice while the other didn't perform to our expectations? That's the only reason I can think of. I hope Rees gets a chance to finish his degree. I hope he gets to stay on the team as our most experienced back-up. If he does need help with alcohol issues, I hope he gets that. I should hope we give him that chance.

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