Roll another number: ESPN mag on pot in college football

Pretty good reporting on the increasing use among NFL players and how that's rolled down to the college ranks.

Mark Schlabach wrote the main article, which looks at the image/eligibility problems for CFB: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7819005/ncf-tcu-marijuana-problem-just-one-many-elite-college-programs-espn-magazine

... but I liked this sidebar, on the pot culture among the University of Oregon football team, by Sam Allpour: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7819621/ncf-oregon-ducks-deny-drug-culture-eugene-espn-magazine

It's probably no exaggeration to say at least half the UO campus is smoking weed, and this article estimates the football team has a "higher" percentage than that. Allpour also talks to Bill Moos, now AD at Washington St., to show it's not just the Ducks who like weed in the Pacific Northwest college football world.

"These young people are growing up in a culture where smoking a joint is no different than having a beer," Moos says.

 

Sorry, I got the giggles reading much of the story (but not the munchies).

It was well-reported, but marijuana is such a ludicrous thing to be worked up about (but it is illegal, so it's naughty to do) and I couldn't help but picture Nick Saban signing up to star in a remake of Reefer Madness.

 

Interesting that Allpour got a current player to be so open about it. Then again, he was high.

 

Can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Clay Travis!

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/espn-discovers-oregon-football-players-smoke-pot.php

 

Is there an article in that link?

 

I mean is ESPN playing this up as some sort of demonizing scoop? It seems to me like the point of the ESPN story is exactly what Clay is making--it's not that big of a deal, and it's sort of silly that we pretend it is.

 

I agree with him in that I don't care that players smoke pot. Whether or not ESPN is trying to play this as some groundbreaking scoop....meh. Seems as though it's a secondary theme in the NFL Draft issue of the Mag, but they're playing it up pretty big online. I'm sure it'll show up on Outside the Lines, too. But no. I haven't seen a "BREAKING NEWS" tag or anything with it.

 

I'm with him on the expose on the Oregon cheerleaders ... nice photo!

 

It's the No. 2 centerpiece on ESPN.com. And I'd "Why isn't more being done to stop the illegal activity?" is making a big deal of it. It's the kind of enterprise and investigation that I've come to expect of ESPN, though: It demonizes the players more than the coaches or the institutions or the system, and no one will care about it in two days.

And where's the article about underage drinking? That's the No. 1 crime among college students/athletes. It's just an equally stupid premise.

 

Ah. I had not seen the frontpage. I was referring to the U of O story, in particular, which Travis commented on. I don't think it took that approach.

 

It's all in the same package.