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[textarea]Anyone interested in writing this year, feel free to do so. Submit any potential articles to me via PM, or via email at ramsondemand@gmail.com[/textarea]
By: X | On Twitter
http://www.ramsondemand.com/blog/
Previously arrested in October 2010 on a Class C misdemeanor DUI charge, Justin Blackmon, then in college at Oklahoma State, was arrested in Carrollton, Texas, at 3:45 a.m. While driving 92 in a 60-mph zone. Said Blackmon of the experience, “I look forward to redeeming myself and proving to everybody that this isn’t who I am. I am humbled by it, and I will grow from it.”
Fair enough. Everybody screws up. Who amongst us can begrudge a college kid for getting drunk and putting himself behind the wheel of a 3,000 lb vehicle and going 32 MPH over the speed limit? Well, yeah. Everybody. But let’s not be hypocritical here. If you’ve never found yourself at a bar at 3:00 and felt chill enough to drive, then you’re a model fucking citizen and this article isn’t for you. Tend to your avocado tree or put the finishing touches on that family album, because you’re not going to dig this.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50.9% percent of adults 18 years of age and over were current regular drinkers in the past year (at least 12 drinks per year). That’s more than half the population of adults 18 years of age and over, for those too baked to do the math.
As sobering as those statistics are, so too was Blackmon’s experience. Typically when you get locked up for Driving Under the Influence, (as long as you’re not a complete asshole), you tow the line. Blackmon reflected on the incident when he was drafted by saying, “I view it as something that happened. I’ve grown from it, and it’s in the past.” The Jaguars apparently did their due diligence by asking him if he was serious. Sounded like it. With no other prior incidents, the Jaguars felt comfortable enough with his sincerity to grant him the benefit of the doubt.
Aw shit.
At 3:01 a.m. on Sunday June 3rd, a Stillwater, Oklahoma police officer attempted to make a traffic stop on a white Chevy Tahoe for speeding (60 mph in a 35-mph zone) and for driving left of center. The vehicle failed to yield to the officer for about four blocks before stopping at a gas station parking lot.
The report said Blackmon had an odor of alcohol on his breath and was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. He admitted to consuming alcohol before driving and was arrested. There were no other occupants in the vehicle, and he was transported to the Stillwater city jail where he agreed to take the test that showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.24. According to factsontap.org, a 220-pound man would need to have 12 drinks in an hour to register 0.24. Blackmon is listed at 215 pounds.
Oklahoma law states a first-time offender who is convicted on a DUI charge can serve five days to a year in jail, have his license suspended for 30 days and face an alcohol education and treatment program. Additionally, he could be entered into the NFL’s Stage One Intervention Program that includes an evaluation, a possible treatment plan and random testing. The league, however, won’t announce if he is in the program unless he is suspended because the program is confidential, and players usually aren’t suspended for a first offense as an NFL player. Having a BOC of nearly twice the legal limit (while speeding) could lead to an exception to the suspension rule, however. Rodger Goodell hasn’t exactly been doling out compassionate advice as of late.
At any rate, Justin Blackmon is again remorseful for his actions, and will in short order, undoubtedly, tell us all that he’s learned from the experienced and will grow from it.
So what does this mean to the Rams? Nothing. Other than to say that Jeff Fisher and Les Snead continue to build on their incredible luck. It was rumored that the Rams would indeed draft Blackmon if he were to fall to them at #6 in the draft this past April. Since the Jaguars took it upon themselves to saddle the Organization with the draft’s first red card recipient, the Rams were compelled to trade back and pick up Michael Brockers (DT LSU) and use their garnered 2nd rounder to select Cincinnati RB Isaiah Pead (after trading back again to pick up an additional 5th rounder). With the additional 2nd rounder the Rams secured in the blockbuster trade with Washington prior to the draft, the Rams secured the services of Florida/North Alabama cornerback Janoris Jenkins; who, incidentally, is still walking the straight and narrow. No pun intended.
The moral? Alcohol is the most readily available and accessible legal “drug” in the Free World, and its effect on young adults is devastating. While a call to roll back prohibition is futile, one has to wonder how interested in bars and driving Blackmon would be, if he were simply laid back at his crib smoking a fat blunt. Sure, marijuana can also impair your ability to drive, and it is, after all, illegal; but the motivation to go out and consume 12 drinks in an hour would surely have been curbed. We instead may have been reading about a slightly overweight and less motivated Justin Blackmon reporting for Jaguars Training Camp. But at least he would have been able to report.
I’ll stop short of turning this into a “legalize marijuana and raise the drinking age” rant, but not before I have the opportunity (and the platform) to say:
Legalize marijuana and raise the legal drinking age.
By: X | On Twitter
http://www.ramsondemand.com/blog/
Previously arrested in October 2010 on a Class C misdemeanor DUI charge, Justin Blackmon, then in college at Oklahoma State, was arrested in Carrollton, Texas, at 3:45 a.m. While driving 92 in a 60-mph zone. Said Blackmon of the experience, “I look forward to redeeming myself and proving to everybody that this isn’t who I am. I am humbled by it, and I will grow from it.”
Fair enough. Everybody screws up. Who amongst us can begrudge a college kid for getting drunk and putting himself behind the wheel of a 3,000 lb vehicle and going 32 MPH over the speed limit? Well, yeah. Everybody. But let’s not be hypocritical here. If you’ve never found yourself at a bar at 3:00 and felt chill enough to drive, then you’re a model fucking citizen and this article isn’t for you. Tend to your avocado tree or put the finishing touches on that family album, because you’re not going to dig this.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50.9% percent of adults 18 years of age and over were current regular drinkers in the past year (at least 12 drinks per year). That’s more than half the population of adults 18 years of age and over, for those too baked to do the math.
As sobering as those statistics are, so too was Blackmon’s experience. Typically when you get locked up for Driving Under the Influence, (as long as you’re not a complete asshole), you tow the line. Blackmon reflected on the incident when he was drafted by saying, “I view it as something that happened. I’ve grown from it, and it’s in the past.” The Jaguars apparently did their due diligence by asking him if he was serious. Sounded like it. With no other prior incidents, the Jaguars felt comfortable enough with his sincerity to grant him the benefit of the doubt.
Aw shit.
At 3:01 a.m. on Sunday June 3rd, a Stillwater, Oklahoma police officer attempted to make a traffic stop on a white Chevy Tahoe for speeding (60 mph in a 35-mph zone) and for driving left of center. The vehicle failed to yield to the officer for about four blocks before stopping at a gas station parking lot.
The report said Blackmon had an odor of alcohol on his breath and was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred and his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. He admitted to consuming alcohol before driving and was arrested. There were no other occupants in the vehicle, and he was transported to the Stillwater city jail where he agreed to take the test that showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.24. According to factsontap.org, a 220-pound man would need to have 12 drinks in an hour to register 0.24. Blackmon is listed at 215 pounds.
Oklahoma law states a first-time offender who is convicted on a DUI charge can serve five days to a year in jail, have his license suspended for 30 days and face an alcohol education and treatment program. Additionally, he could be entered into the NFL’s Stage One Intervention Program that includes an evaluation, a possible treatment plan and random testing. The league, however, won’t announce if he is in the program unless he is suspended because the program is confidential, and players usually aren’t suspended for a first offense as an NFL player. Having a BOC of nearly twice the legal limit (while speeding) could lead to an exception to the suspension rule, however. Rodger Goodell hasn’t exactly been doling out compassionate advice as of late.
At any rate, Justin Blackmon is again remorseful for his actions, and will in short order, undoubtedly, tell us all that he’s learned from the experienced and will grow from it.
So what does this mean to the Rams? Nothing. Other than to say that Jeff Fisher and Les Snead continue to build on their incredible luck. It was rumored that the Rams would indeed draft Blackmon if he were to fall to them at #6 in the draft this past April. Since the Jaguars took it upon themselves to saddle the Organization with the draft’s first red card recipient, the Rams were compelled to trade back and pick up Michael Brockers (DT LSU) and use their garnered 2nd rounder to select Cincinnati RB Isaiah Pead (after trading back again to pick up an additional 5th rounder). With the additional 2nd rounder the Rams secured in the blockbuster trade with Washington prior to the draft, the Rams secured the services of Florida/North Alabama cornerback Janoris Jenkins; who, incidentally, is still walking the straight and narrow. No pun intended.
The moral? Alcohol is the most readily available and accessible legal “drug” in the Free World, and its effect on young adults is devastating. While a call to roll back prohibition is futile, one has to wonder how interested in bars and driving Blackmon would be, if he were simply laid back at his crib smoking a fat blunt. Sure, marijuana can also impair your ability to drive, and it is, after all, illegal; but the motivation to go out and consume 12 drinks in an hour would surely have been curbed. We instead may have been reading about a slightly overweight and less motivated Justin Blackmon reporting for Jaguars Training Camp. But at least he would have been able to report.
I’ll stop short of turning this into a “legalize marijuana and raise the drinking age” rant, but not before I have the opportunity (and the platform) to say:
Legalize marijuana and raise the legal drinking age.
