Athlete barred from playing

[Leroy Lizard]

http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/football/news/story?id=4484288

This is not sad news, and it is not a sad situation.

[Collier11]

Stupidity more than anything, we used to have BB gun wars when I was a kid without thinking twice. I know he isnt a kid, my point is that he was probably trying to be "funny" to his boys and something horrible happened. I agree with his sentence though, if he doesnt learn now he never will

[badger]

The average playing career of a pro football player is shorter than a college football career. Best that he focuses on being a better person in the long run, seeing how he probably wouldn't play football for very long regardless.

[setem]

Shooting a kid in the face with a BB is terrible. But that judge just ended any chance of the kid getting a life. He might as well have sentenced him to life in prison. He deserved to be punished but not have his lively hood taken away.

Same thing with Vick, he deserved to be punished but not have his life taken away.

[the_ouskull]

You're kidding, right? He still has the opportunity to go to college and to earn a degree. He may even have the opportunity to play football again at some point. His life wasn't taken away unless his life was football, in which case his life STILL wasn't taken away from him; it was given back to him.

the_ouskull

[starclassic tama]

it's not like this guy can never play football again. hell, a big time school probably will still give him a shot. if not, he can play at a lower level and work his way up like so many other players have done.

[sooneron]

I think this sort of sentence should be handed out more often. Austin would be a great place to start! :D

Let the kid get his "real life" on track. Then, maybe he can play sports.

[stoopified]

Apparently I am in the minority here but I find the punishment unduly harsh and not o0n a level with the CRIME.He fires a BB gun from a vehicle at a human target.Most men on this board I am willing to bet have engaged in BB gun wars or at the very least fired a BB or pellet gun at other kids,and often striking them.I just don't see taking away an outlet for a young man WHO MADE A MISTAKE in this case.Jail time ok,probation sure. Taking all ORGANIZED sports from a young man,evan at a recreational level?How does thst serve justice?

How does depriving him of a pursuit which can and many times does help keep young men from gangs,drugs,alchol help anyone? A man can be convicted of felony rape(of a 12 yr. old),get probation( no jail time) and still pursue athletics on a collegite level and yet this young man should be denied even recreational organized sports?I have never heard of such a thing and think it is FAR over the line.

If taking away sports for a mistake is sound justice than wouldn't many high school,college athletes have suffered this fate?

For comparison sake I will stick with OU players because I know them best.Dusty Dvoracek gets drunk and nearly kills a FRIEND,under this type of justice his career should have ended, no chance to refurbish his college career or reputation.Likwise Lynn McGruder gets booted from Tennessee for drugs,no second chance in athletics;of course he DID help save a family trapped in a burning car while at OU with the second chance he DID get OU.Both young men went on to be standup individuals in their lives at OU and beyond.

I don't know the young man in this article and I don't know his character BUT I do know of many mistakes where young people have injured or even killed others with foolish,reckless behavior.However with atletics as something positive to focus on, many youngsters recove rfrom these errors in life and flourish as athletes and citizens. McGruder,Dvoracek, are just two examples.

What would they have become if denied a chance to stay in sports?I have no idea,just as I have no idea what this young man would do with the chance.I do know that many times when people of any age are deprived of a positive outlet they lose focus and often spiral downward into depression,drugs, and crime.

Let the punishment fit the crime.

[badger]

It is possible that if the kid shows remorse, his sentence will be shortened and he will be able to return to the game sooner. I think it was clear that when Dusty was punished that there was no talk of him returning -- he was gone! He was a captain and he acted nothing like a leader. He was G-O-N-E gone.

But, Dusty completely 180'd (http://newsok.com/dvoraceks-wake-up-call/article/1373759) into being given a second chance to be a Sooner captain. He made the most of it and got into the NFL.

When Dusty's mentioned, I think people often forget that Stoops completely kicked Dusty off the team. It was Dusty's actions after that - staying in school, getting counseling, being a model student - that caused the NCAA to give him a medical hardship and caused Stoops to give Dusty another chance at being a Sooner.

Stoops didn't just give Dusty a second chance - Dusty earned it.

[soonerinabilene]

i shot my neighbor in the *** when i was 11. My dad spanked my bare butt with the bb gun. It broke. Lesson learned, never did it again. Maybe the judge should just do that.

[stoopified]

i shot my neighbor in the *** when i was 11. My dad spanked my bare butt with the bb gun. It broke. Lesson learned, never did it again. Maybe the judge should just do that.Thankfully I never got caught or I too would have sufferred that fate.BTW are you Brad Steinart the neighbor boy that shot me in the ***?

[Leroy Lizard]

Apparently I am in the minority here but I find the punishment unduly harsh and not o0n a level with the CRIME.He fires a BB gun from a vehicle at a human target.Most men on this board I am willing to bet have engaged in BB gun wars or at the very least fired a BB or pellet gun at other kids,and often striking them.

I haven't because my first gun was a .22 rifle. I never owned a bb gun. But if I did, I certainly wouldn't be shooting 15 year-olds when 19. And certainly never, ever in the face.

BB guns are for 12-year-old kids. I can understand a pre-adolescent being so clueless that he cannot connect shootings in the face with blindness.

At what point is it ever a good idea to shoot someone in the face with a bb gun? Any 19-year-old with half a brain (which probably excludes Hunter) knows better. This is collegiate material?


I just don't see taking away an outlet for a young man WHO MADE A MISTAKE in this case. Jail time ok,probation sure. Taking all ORGANIZED sports from a young man,evan at a recreational level?How does thst serve justice?

It wasn't a mistake, btw. A mistake would be if he thought he was shooting a water pistol, but it turned out to be a bb gun.

So he stuck a bb gun and shot a kid in the face. He probably laughed his *** off when he did it. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" Well, the joke's on him now.

Is the penalty too harsh? Maybe. Just keep the jerk off my college's campus.

By the way, note the quote: ""We're going to see who Dwayne Hunter the person is, not who Dwayne Hunter the star athlete is," Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer."

It seems as if the judge is calling him an arrogant little jerk who thinks he is above the law because he is (was) a star player. Can't be sure, but that is how I read it.

Now, he is just another Al Bundy.


How does depriving him of a pursuit which can and many times does help keep young men from gangs,drugs,alchol help anyone?

I would respond by saying that organized sports didn't keep him from shooting kids with a bb gun. Why would they keep him from doing drugs and alcohol?

It comes down to basic character.


A man can be convicted of felony rape(of a 12 yr. old),get probation( no jail time) and still pursue athletics on a collegite level and yet this young man should be denied even recreational organized sports?

Yes, people get chances to play at the collegiate level who have done far worse. But they shouldn't. To me, that doesn't say anything one way or the other about whether this kid should be allowed the opportunity.


For comparison sake I will stick with OU players because I know them best.Dusty Dvoracek gets drunk and nearly kills a FRIEND,under this type of justice his career should have ended, no chance to refurbish his college career or reputation.

I am not sure I understand what all happened with Dusty, so I'll pass on commenting.


Likwise Lynn McGruder gets booted from Tennessee for drugs,no second chance in athletics;of course he DID help save a family trapped in a burning car while at OU with the second chance he DID get OU.

No matter to me. I was against Lynn being allowed on the Sooner team, and I haven't changed my mind. Sure, we got some good play out of him, but standards are standards. Drug pusher? Nope, not on my team.

[Scott D]

He'll be a Gator when his probation is up...mark it down.

[Blitzkrieg]

We used to have BB guns wars on a bi weekly basis, we'd wear trench coats (in July in OK) and sunglasses and had a two pump rule. Of course, you'd hear someone pump 10 or 12 times, so you'd have to do the same to keep up with the arms race.

BTW, that whole wife's tale about shooting someone in the temple will kill them is pure BS. I scored a shot on carl when he was on a full run right in his temple with 10 pumps at about 30 feet, he bled a lot, but did not die!

[Crucifax Autumn]

Perhaps his real mistake was not using a more lethal gun so as to avoid being identified by the victim.

[Leroy Lizard]

Or using an even more lethal weapon so they can't identify the victim.