This Has to Stop! And, It Has to Stop Yesterday!

Source:http://sportact.net

Yesterday, Florida State University dismissed De'Andre Johnson after his arrest in June after an altercation with a woman at a Tallahassee, Fla. nightclub. Note: I did not include allegedly in the previous sentence because the video below clearly shows Johnson delivering a stiff right to the woman he was arguing with.

There is absolutely no excuse for this. Yes, the woman was clearly aggressive and deserved to probably be removed from the club; but, by security not an ambulance! I don't care how many times she kicked him in the groin or uttered a racial slur! I'm not condoning her behavior at all, but knocking her out is not justified no matter the circumstance. At no point in time is there evidence that Johnson's life was in eminent danger at the hands of woman. Thus, I'm not sure how anyone could say that he was somehow defending himself or that "she deserved it."

I have a daughter and this world that we live in is scary enough to think about raising her in without having to account for instances like this where there are numerous other men around who do absolutely nothing. Has our society become so immune to this type of behavior that we just act as if nothing is going on? I know it's loud, but a woman gets punched and her blood goes flying across the bar and the patrons just continue with their evening?

That has become especially true with our athletes. For instance, Oklahoma Football's Joe Mixon is still a part of the program after nearly destroying a woman's face last spring. He was suspended for the entire season last year, but remained enrolled and eligible for financial aid. Would this have been the case for the humanities major? Ray Rice was floundering around with the benefit of doubt until the brutal elevator video surfaced of him knocking his wife out.

When a man hits a woman he has no business playing football, having a job or the benefit of a first class education! At least not right now. Everyone deserves a second chance, but one must pay for such an egregious act of violence. The whole entitled athlete and Jimbo Fisher's acceptance of any bum off the street who can play ball will be left for another day.

The real issue is that we allow this behavior to continue in all walks of life and it is not OK. It's time that we as a culture say "Enough is enough," and stop talking about it and do something. It starts at home with not forgetting to teach our young men to control the aggression that we instill in them at a young athletic age, how to respect women and how to act like a decent member of society. Now, the woman in the video shows the need to teach many of the same lessons to our young women.

Anyway, my incoherent rambling is over (ode to Billy Madison) is over and I shall move on to much more cohesive content later. Hopefully, as a message to the many young men heading into similar situations as Johnson, he stays CONQUERED and off the football for a few years.

Dillon Takes Flight...In a Car!

 Source: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America

As I sat in the bed in the wee hours of Monday morning, my heart sank and my stomach was in my throat when Austin Dillon, driver of the famous Richard Childress Racing #3 car (made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr.) get airborne and fly into the catch fence after crossing the finish line. I knew right away that he had to be seriously injured; if not worse! You can see the fans reactions here. I was relieved to see the thumbs up from the crew members that rushed to the car. Thankfully, Dillon was able to walk away with not much worse than a bruised tail bone.
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The question now is, what does NASCAR do? Well, I don't know what else they can do short of getting away from restrictor plate racing! The car was completely destroyed after flying to the stands and the driver walked away! On top of that, there was only one fan that was taken to the hospital! So, a 3200 lb. car going 190 mph goes flying into the stands and only one person goes to the hospital, and something needs to be done? To me it was a miracle and a testament to how far things have come since Dale Earnhardt's death in the 2001 Daytona 500.

What do I think NASCAR should do?

First, move the fans back & up. This would increase the distance between the fans and the cars. With cars running in packs, there is no reason for the fans to be so close. You don't get that close at the .5 mile high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. 

Secondly, find a rules package that has less grip. This would bring more driver skill back into it, discourage running so tightly.

Third, get rid of the restrictor plate, use a smaller engine at Daytona and Talladega and let the teams tune them within the given rules package. This should put some distance amongst the cars, but allow the draft, that makes these tracks so exciting, stay. This would also help with the no passing and follow the leader game that is played now.

Last, and most certainly least, go back to the tandem drafting of several years ago. Exciting, yes. However, it gets old quick and let's not forget that it was tandem racing that started the most recent debate when Brad Keselowski clipped Carl Edwards at the end of a race in 2012.

I honestly do not know what they can do. It's a part of the sport. It's an ugly part of the sport. But, it's part of the allure and reason that people (just like me) who were glued to their televisions at 3am to see what happened. The driver's know what they are risking and it's the scariest part of the sport. There is surely something out there that they can do as no one addresses things like this as quick as NASCAR does.

Come back tomorrow for some Florida State football commentary!