High school athlete sentenced to "no sports"

No, it doesn't..
And let's remember: This kid's crime was not committed on the football field. If he'd taken a knife out of his sock and slashed the QB, then the punishment would fit the crime. In this case, the punishment fits the judge's anti-athlete bigotry

 

It isn't about sympathy. The kid sounds like a jackass. It is about a punishment that makes it more likely that he will continue to behave like an ass rather than less. If the judge was going to do that, the better option would have been to ignore the victim's wishes and give the longer jail sentence.

And the scholarship offers are definitely going to be gone five years from now no matter how good a job the kid does of staying in shape. Maybe some small school will take a chance, but he will be 24 years old, so that is far from a sure thing.

 

Feel like I've seen that before...

 

Like it's been said above, he's 19. He's not a kid. He's an adult, and needs to face punishment as an adult.

Grow up, pal.

 

So, if a football player steals a candy bar out of a store and sprints away, using his speed, he can be punished as a football player, but by using a weapon to assault someone else, he should just be treated like anyone else?

 

Still not an exact comparison. Take a hacker's computer away and he can no longer hack. Take this kid's ability to compete in sports away and he can still shoot somebody in the face with a BB gun.

 

I was referring to a kid's enjoyment of an activity. Kid enjoys sports, but gets in trouble. Take away his sports. Kid enjoys computers, take away his computer.

 

I get your argument, I suppose, but you're making it sound like this kid will go off the deep end if he can't play organized sports.

Sure, kids have been plucked off the streets and turned their lives around by playing sports. This kid? He'll have to be a law-abiding citizen without sports. It's not unheard of. I'm quite sure a few people are already doing that.

And a scholarship should be the last thing on this kid's mind. Staying out of jail and perhaps not breaking the law should be a little higher on the priority list.

Let's not act like this kid is a goner just because he can't play sports. Boo-effing-hoo.

 

Not a goner, but definitely more likely to stay on the wrong path than turn onto the right one. As I said earlier, I would much rather see the judge put him in jail longer or take away sports for a year or two with the stipulation that he must be a perfect citizen during that time if he wants to return to the field.

Sure, plenty of people are capable of living decent lives without sports. But some need it more than others. And I have had far too many people tell me that the worst thing you can do to borderline kids like this one is take away sports entirely for me to agree with what this judge decided to do.

 

Again, you're acting like this kid is a goner without sports. Otherwise, you'd agree with the judge. As it stands, sure, maybe this kid is more likely to get into trouble without sports. But you know what? Deal with it. Be a man. If you can't do that, you don't deserve sports to begin with.

It's really as simple as that. Man up. Do the right thing. It's pretty said that some people think jail is better than life without sports. I mean, really. What does that say?

 

Nobody is saying jail is better than life without sports. Let's be clear here. I'm not sympathetic to the kid at all. I'm saying if the judge things he should have gotten more jail time, he should have given it to him rather than pull this silly crap.

The kid is more likely to get into more trouble than less without sports. That is exactly why I disagree with what the judge did. He put the kid out on the streets sooner than he had to, then made him more likely to do something bad with his freedom.

 

Fair enough, but here's my thing....there are a lot of things that make it more likely for this kid to do something bad with his freedom. You can't cater to the kid. Whether it's sports or anything else. Follow the rules or deal with the punishment.

And like I said before, if you can't do the right thing without being able to put on shoulder pads or whatever, you don't deserve to play in the first place.