I am not 100 percent sure I am ready to do this, but my conscience dictates that I have to publicize (let 4 people read about) this story. Kyle McAlarney, the now former starting point guard for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team was kicked off the team. Under the direction of Mike Brey, this team is 16-4 and, barring a collapse down the stretch, is most likely NCAA tournament bound. Getting back to McAlarney, he was picked up for possession of Marijuana following a routine traffic stop. Apparently, the cops detected a strong odor in the car, and then found a blunt in the vehicle’s ashtray. Nice, Kyle. Well, at first Brey suspended McAlarney indefinitely to allow the university and the South Bend police make a ruling. Well a decision has been reached and McAlarney has been kicked off the team. Wait, isn’t this kid an athlete? Doesn’t Notre Dame know that he deserves 8-12 second chances? All I can say is, “Bravo, Notre Dame.” I may very well dislike your football team and football coach, but how can you not respect this move? Before you say, “who the hell cares about those goldbricking Irish administrators,” I say you should care because there are very few colleges who would have pulled the trigger on his kind of move.
Marcus Williams steals laptops from student dormitories and is allowed to re-join the UConn basketball team (nice headline). He very nearly committed grand larceny in attempting to steal laptops from members of the women’s basketball team. Fantastic. If that doesn’t scream character, I am not sure what does. Everybody makes mistakes, so let’s give Marcus a break here…right? Well, this was his second second chance, because he was already suspended for the majority of his freshman year due to academic problems. But you know, he is only a kid…why should he be denied an opportunity to earn a degree because of a couple dumb mistakes? Oh that’s right, he left after his sophomore year. Nice program Calhoun, and nice standards UConn. Onto the next case.
My very favorite collegiate institution, the University of Michigan, has also been soft on athletes. In 2005, Daniel Horton choked the hell out of his girlfriend and was suspended for the season after pleading guilty to domestic violence charges. Of course, because he was the team’s best player, he wasn’t kicked off the team or out of school. He came back the following season with a “renewed attitude” and better “perspective” on his life and the game of basketball. Is that the company line for felons or what? Again, great university standards. This guy choked a woman. To me, that’s just not something that you can gain “perspective” on and come back as a better person. I think that was Jason Kidd’s line after he gave Jumana Kidd a European Upper-Cut and a right cross with the brass knucks.
And if you think either of these is bad, you need look no further than to Brandon Meriweather to really make yourself violently ill. Last summer, Brandon Meriweather was involved in an altercation that led to a Miami player, Willie Cooper, being shot in the ass. An unidentified man walked up to the group of players and started an altercation. Cooper was shot and Meriweather immediately pulled a pistol from his pants and returned fire. Oh yes, he had a pistol on him. Very convenient in this sort of situation. This is the same Meriweather that was also involved in the FIU vs. Miami brawl that took place last season. Meriweather made headlines by stomping on a player during the brawl. For all these indiscretions, he was suspended for one game overall. This should really come as no surprise. Ray Lewis was only suspended for 1 half or a game in 1994 for participating in the murder of his Pysch 100 professor after a lecture and encouraging all the witnesses to keep their mouths shut. (Do some digging, you will find it)
Some have said that the punishment did not find the crime in Mr. McAlarney’s case. I have to disagree with those bleeding-heart carpetbaggers. This guy knew what was at stake if he were to get caught. I think if you asked him before this incident, if you asked him what he thought would happen if he was caught with weed, he would have probably described a situation similar to what actually happened. But like everyone who drives drunk or smokes weed, he didn’t think he was going to get caught. A very small percentage of smokers actually do. Unfortunately for Kyle, he did get caught and as per the conduct code of the University, he was kicked out. The stakes were especially high (ha), because he was on a 40k/year scholarship. Not to mention that anything negative that he did would reflect negatively on a university that holds its moral standards in high (ha) regard.
Don’t expect anything complimentary towards Notre Dame to ever again be posted in this blog. I do feel the need to mention that McAlarney’s expulsion was not the most severe penalty that Notre Dame considered. AD Kevin White suggested that McAlarney should be shackled to the leg of Charlies Weis for the duration of the basketball season ala Jabba the Hut and the Princess in Star Wars. It could be worse Kyle, always remember that my friend.