MARCUS THOMAS CLEARED--BACK FOR LSU

“…he has been grated the opportunity to play in the LSU game.”

Must’ve shared some of his ganj to get back.

And with Harvin being cleared to play, you’re just trying to make me regret taking LSU this weekend, aren’t you?

I sense some shenanigans. Yup, shenanigans.

Maybe I’m naive, but I’m sure this is just coincidence… And as an incentives package the UF AD said that he’ll be back on suspension unless he records at least 2 sacks against LSU.

Marcus has been suspended three games total, but only two in this most recent suspension. He missed Southern Miss (suspension number 1) then Kentucky and Bama (suspension number 2). He did play against UCF and Tennessee, and Florida’s only had 5 games so far.

That said, I don’t expect him to play much. He’s not in top game shape, and he’s missed practice all week.

Congrats, Scoop! Just wait until after the bowl game to spark up again.

No doubt fans from other teams will make disparaging comments on UF discipline, but if MT won his appeal that actually means he got screwed out of two games, as the basis of the appeal was that the second positive test was in fact picking up the same evidence as the first… and since he was reinstated, that means he got suspended twice (for a total of three games, as noted above) for just one offense. Does even the NFL suspend a player for a quarter of the season for a single toke?

The sad thing is he smoked a bunch of dope once and got caught for it twice. Now everyone is going to label him as a troublemaker, but you know what, if you have chiefed at least once before, you haven’t fulfilled your supposed college life. Glad he won his appeal, upset he got screwed out of two games.

I have it on good word that Marcus Thomas has smoked the reefer many, many times. The “two tests for one dose” arguement may have worked to get the University vice patrol to bend, but I have no doubt that this guy rolls like Cheech and Chong. Scoop loves his maryjane.

Yant – those who rant about Tookie Thomas getting screwed out of two games are just trying to change the argument to one they think they can defend – the University being too harsh rather than too soft. Only an idiot would believe that a guy who tests positive twice during a four week period only smoked once.

MT: “But coach, I didn’t inhale.”

Thomas suspension: Expert says chances of two positives from one incident small
Posted 9/21/2006 | Filed under News, Marcus Thomas | Permalink
The odds of DT Marcus Thomas using marijuana once, but testing positive twice over the same four-week period are slim, according to the president of a California drug testing agency.

> Jean Poole: "There have been cases. The person would have had to ingest an extreme amount of marijuana or have been a chronic user over time."
> Poole: "There are different mitigating circumstances, one being dehydration. Bodies can metabolize substances differently. There are, however, safeguards taken and formulas used in evaluating samples. Most agencies are pretty thorough in what they do."
> Poole: "We deal with a large number of teenagers, and a lot of times kids say it’s from before. Parents want to believe their kids. Generally, it’s a case of re-use."

A school that was concerned about maintaining academic integrity would have kicked the guy off the team for at least the year. But think about the recruiting boost this will give to UF – “Mr. Recruit, if you are good you can smoke weed and pack heat at UF without any significant penalties!!!”

Tuberville – EtOH related problems – miss 1/2 a season.

Meyer – THC related problems – miss 2 games and win an appeal.

Shula – THC and Gun related problems – Two Scoops of Rocky Road.

I think that perhaps Meyer is one of his clients.

Courtesy of Sportsline comes this gem…

 “I think he’s a very good football player,” Meyer said. “He’s a good chemistry guy on the team.”

if foley and machen say it’s okay, it’s okay.

that’s my story, and i’m sticking to it.

and, honestly, even if he is a raging pot head, i don’t give a shit. i did quite a few wake and bakes while in college, and, if anything, i’m just impressed that he can go to class, practice, play on saturdays, AND smoke the jange. MT is a real worker, folks.

This was not a football coach’s decision. The AD and school president had to sign off on this.

nd1990…how exactly does smoking pot affect the “academic integrity” of a university? Was the pot rolled up in the answers to some exam or something?

God, I love the SEC.

If O.J. had attended an SEC school, they’d be bestowing upon him an honorary doctorate in medicine, for his ability to wield a ‘scalpel’.

Come on everyone, we all know what he was really up to…he was just engaging in a little Alzheimer’s prevention. He was probably just a part of a study at Shands…

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/10/05/pot.alzheimers.reut/index.html

Mack10zie, do you realize how pitiful this statement is?

“This was not a football coach’s decision. The AD and school president had to sign off on this.”

Can your coach not tell the kid “no” even if the AD and president say “yes”?

Shula “Where’s my book on Discipline ? I had it with me on the trip to Gainesville”.

Actually, a big difference between Simpson and Thomas is that Juwan passed his drug tests, where Thomas didn’t study and flunked his.

Meyer just wants to do everything he can to keep Marcus away from Prof. Howard Hall (the Chong to Marcus’s Cheech).

tony, there is probably a slight difference between smoking pot over the summer, and killing your ex-wife and her boyfriend.

Veeeeeeeeery interesting.

I see absolutely nothing suspicious about this at all. UF is going into a huge 3 game stretch. One of their key players, who was suspended, won’t be able to play. What to do? Make the suspension go away!

From a coaching standpoint, why should you care if your players are snorting blow off a cheerleaders ass on the 50 yard line in front of a packed stadium? So long as they are productive & you win the game, that’s all that matters, right?

If ya playin a top ten, you must amend.

Meathead:

It entertains me to no end that you compare smoking pot and winning an official University Dean of Students Office appeal about it to snorting blow off of a cheerleader in front of many people. Just because now you know you are screwed on Saturday. And like Meyer said, if the DSO says its alright, why shouldn’t it be? You ever done anything illegal? That’s what I thought. Save your crying for Saturday in the Swamp.

SEC footbaw at its finest.

NewAzTiger
please read the attached link:
http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/ed_outreach/health-safety/drug_testing/appeals

This was not a UF decision…

Beer (23) – Perhaps you need to re-read my post. I said that I see NOTHING suspicious about this. It is perfectly understandable that a coach, AD, University President, etc at a school where sports are king, would make sure that the team was given every opportunity & player possible before going into the toughest part of the toughest schedule in the toughest conference in the nation. It is completely & fully understandable & requires no explanation.

The focus here is to win. Anything else is a distraction. You do what you need to do to win, regardless of what the perception may be. Who cares if people talk in whispers behind closed doors about how you got there, in the end, you have the “W” to shove in their face.

Right?

And BTW beer, is there any other way to do blow than off a cheerleader’s ass?

If this had happened at ND he’d be gone for the year at the very least. Yet another reason I’m happy Meyer didn’t end up at ND.

Yes, off of a midget hookers small midget boobies.

I was following the debate right up until LSU meathead’s post ……“is there any other way to do blow than off a cheerleader’s ass?” After that, my brain went south.

I tried to do some blow from that Jenn girl’s cleavage and it just…disappeared. Been fun lookin’ for it, though.

Orson was once hit on repeatedly by a little person at the Star Bar in Atlanta. I think it made him uncomfortable, but maybe that was just because he knew she’d end up a (little) smoking pile of ash if I found out she tried to move in on my man.

“Beer (23) – Perhaps you need to re-read my post. I said that I see NOTHING suspicious about this. It is perfectly understandable that a coach, AD, University President, etc at a school where sports are king, would make sure that the team was given every opportunity & player possible before going into the toughest part of the toughest schedule in the toughest conference in the nation. It is completely & fully understandable & requires no explanation.”

 Hey Meathead,

  The Gators Nation invented sarcasm so we know it when we see it. If you had bothered to read the link Beer provided you will see that the appeal itself had nothing to do with UF and certainly not the athletic department. While they can testify as to a players behavior, they have NO, and I repeat NO, say in the decision whether or not the appeal is granted. As far as Meyer suspending him anyway, why would he? If the appeal was based on a bad second test, and the appeals committee agreed, why punish a guy who had already missed 2 games for a bad test? If Meyer were making the decision, and he was as cut throat as you say, he would have had MT back for the Bama game, which was tight up until the fourth quarter. Anyway, don’t let logic and fairness fog up your purple and yellow glasses. I am sure if UF wins Saturday you will be the first one blaming it on MT being allowed to play when in your eyes the independent appeals process was horribly biased towards the Orange and Blue.

Looking forward to a great game Saturday. BTW, I will be the guy in the North Endzone whose yelling causes at least one LSU false start in case you want to drop by!!

Considering the academic reputation of UF compared to LSU, MT could have snorted coke off a cheerleader on the 50 yard line and it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Gator84 – If things don’t go our way on Saturday (doubtful, unless we get the same officiating crew we had at Auburn), I will not be here on Monday bitching about one player. It is true that sometimes one player can make an impact, but to think that one player, and a non-skill position player at that, would single handedly cause our demise in a game would be short sighted.

MT may have a great game. He may even get to JaMarcus a few times, but his presence won’t be the only reason for the outcome of the game.

To be honest, I am more worried about your offense than I am your defense. It may not be the most effective offense in the SEC, but I have a feeling that UM has been lining up Tebow for something hellacious.

Allegedly, Adam, allegedly.

Incredible is the only word
http://loserwithsocks.blogspot.com/2006/10/something-stinks-to-high-hell-and-its_05.html

For all the UF apologists, please, oh please explain to me why his second suspension started for KY when the positive came back before the UT game….hmmm? Also, if the uF school had nothing to do with this, then why was Tokie Thomas practicing this week before the answer to the appeal came out. Honestly, I don’t really care one way or another about the offense except that I have had to hear that Meyer is the best disciplinarian in the world- he makes hurt players run stairs and carry chains!- for over a year now. And so, yes, after this year when he tried his hardest to keep Atkins on the team, the whole gun incident, and now this, I can’t help but skip with glee at his total hypocrisy.

Good post Meathead. It shoulkd be a great game regardless.

Interesting too that he was reinstated so late in a critical game week. I’m sure LSU’s gameplan all week has been to exploit the void in the D line created by Thomas. Now, after not finding out about this until Friday morning most likely, LSU has to scramble and adjust their gameplan. Hmmmm….coincidence?

I would imagine LSU would have had any plans on running up the middle regardless of who was playing on the line. They are a pass first, 2nd, 3rd and 4th team this year.

Meg…why don’t you man up and state your affiliation? I’m thinking you follow the team from the school that starts with F…and ends with U.

Wait… I could’ve appealed my marijuana suspension while at UF? Damn.

re: Coke.

As the Los Angeles connection here, I’m going to have to offer the advice(warning?) of Gary Busey:
http://www.google.com/search?q=gary+busey+coke+dog&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

You can snort coke off your dog, if you’re desperate enough.

“When asked about fellow actor Gary Busey’s bout with coke, Grammer defended Busey’s reported decision to snort off a dog. "Well, you snort cocaine off a dog because you spilled it on him," Grammer explained. "You don’t do it intentionally."”

zzgator, the fact that you do not recognize the detrimenal impact of illegal and destructive behavior by a student athlete on UF’s academic credibility is sad but not surprising. The pathetic aspect of this whole situation is that it isn’t just the coach that has sold UF’s soul – the board of trustees has officially weighed in on it. I guess this would be a bigger deal if UF had academic credibility to tarnish in the first place…

Hey Meg..

  How about some sources for your rambling on the results of Thomas’s second test? Let’s see, Atkins was gone as soon as he was charged. In your world there is no such thing as waiting until the facts are in before taking action I guess. Tookes was stupid with a gun, not criminal. It went off accidentally, he didn’t fire it into the air at a party or at someone else. Guess he should have been gone as well in your world. Thomas did some conditioning at practice but was not allowed to participate in any practices with the team so your conspiracy theory is right up there with the CIA was behind 9/11. Just so we know why you are so bitter, which team are you a fan of? Since UT has gone down twice to Meyer that would be my guess. Either way your info is off the mark unless you have some sources I don’t know about. BTW, Anyone who “skips with glee” when college kids get in trouble must really enjoy driving slowly by gruesome car wrecks.

haven’t been looking at academic rankings lately, huh nd1990?

I think he borrowed Marion Jones’ “B” sample.

Orson-

You could’ve banged a little person? You’re young enough to write it off as a youthful indiscretion. You, a midget, a dwarf, and one of those lifelike love dolls (posted by TCOAN) at a tailgate party and you’d be The Emperor of Blogdom. Add to the Southern Legend, man.

nd1990…didn’t Former President Clinton admit to “inhaling” while on a Rhodes Scholarship? I’m sure no one at any bastion of “academic integrity” has ever consumed an illegal substance. Don’t get me wrong, I am not supporting breaking the law, I just fail to see how pot smoking affects “academic” integrity. Changing grades (cough Tennessee cough), “independent” study courses (cough Auburn cough), “Everything I Know About Basketball I Learned in Kindergarten” as taught by Jim Harrick, Jr. (cough Georgia cough)…these are occurrences which actually affect the ACADEMIC integrity of an institution.

""zzgator, the fact that you do not recognize the detrimenal impact of illegal and destructive behavior by a student athlete on UF’s academic credibility is sad but not surprising"

  ND,

  I’ll take a pot smoker over your fans dancing on the tailgate video any day. If they weren’t on drugs, that only makes it worse!

You want to question UF’s academic integrity? Foot, meet mouth. You can bray like a donkey after you see this list..

http://www.webometrics.info/top100_continent.asp?cont=usa_canada

That’s right JA. UF comes in at 19 and ND a lowly 76 (behind FSU, UT and UK no less) on the list. Please post again and give me some more ammo. Thanks for playing…

The man smoked pot, probably still smokes pot. What great crime has he committed. Those who would say that weed is illegal and evil are pansies and should probably be on another board.

Besides, if James Caan can watch Latimer paint his face like a skeleton and look the other way then Urban can sure as hell let the fact that Scoop was doing gravity hits in the pool in the O Dome slide.

nd1990,
   sorry to pile it on, but your post had absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with fondling your sanctimonious, engorged and completely unwarranted ego that many irish fans seem to carry around. it’s been interesting to watch how bitter you irish fans have become since the “ND National Championship/Quinn for Heisman” suckfest train has derailed. I guess I wouldn’t have been so offended at your comment if the realization that your school’s administration is hypocritically racist wasn’t the first thought to pop into my head after reading it….

So what about the driving on a suspended license part?

Oh, that’s right. UF still has Western Carolina on the schedule for that one…..barring bad weather, of course.

“So what about the driving on a suspended license part?

Oh, that’s right. UF still has Western Carolina on the schedule for that one…..barring bad weather, of course. "

  Oh my Gawd! I didn’t know he was cited for a traffic violation! By all means, he should be thrown off the team, out of the SEC, and lashed with a cane until he bleeds! Since when do we live in Singapore? Besides, we’re saving Western Carolina for suspending Chris Leak. Seems he was doing 25 in a 20 on his Vespa while looking at hot UF coeds, got a little excited and was cited for a “wet” reckless!

Because They Can, thanks for the laugh of the day!

Funny, UGA had a guy suspended a couple of weeks ago for that exact charge.

Singapore, cane lashing, etc……ah, the hyperbole in the Gainesville air on a crisp Autumn day!

gator84—

Not to defend nd1990, but using rankings to compare schools is like letting human polls decide a national champion. It is subjective to the criteria used. Forr comparison to the one you cited, look at US News rankings for National Universities (ND is 20, Florida 47). A little different, eh? What it comes down to is that the one you cite uses criteria based in the amount of web publications that cite a particular college or university.

Now, maybe this is a good way to rank universities, maybe it isn’t. nd1990 may have “spoken out of turn” about the “academic integrity” of Florida in this instance, but the rankings you cite have as much bearing on the statement as Ty Willingham’s race did in his firing (I’m looking at you rjsplow).

i don’t have a problem with saying that ND has a better academic reputation than UF. but it’s stupid to act like UF is a clown school or something. It’s the 13th best public school in the nation, and i’m praying for a 170 LSAT score so that I can get into the law school.

gator84—

One other thing. This is directly from the website you cited:

“The aim of this project is not to rank the institutions according to quality of the education provided nor their academic prestige, so it should not be used for comparing them or as a guide for choosing university by candidate students.”

Is that clear enough?

RE: TCOAN vs. Little Woman – Comment # 33:

Ms. TCOAN: I would be careful about fighting ‘em little people. I have seen enough wrastlin’ shows to notice that those little buggers are tough….tough as nails.

Urban Meyer – Notre Dame Sour Grapes Dept:

It seems that quite a few Domies have been acting ‘holier than though’ on this thread. A few are glad that Urban turned down ND, it seems.

To me it is quite apparent that some Domies still have not gotten over the major league spurning of their beloved ND Du Lac from U Meyer. Get over it! Get a life!

At Florida, better facilities, better worm dancers, better weather, better chicks, no discrimination against the Black Man in comparison to ND. It was a no brain choice for Urban Meyer.

Charlie Weis, on the other hand, had been passed over for more jobs than the "homely-chick-hanging-out-with-the-cute-chick" at the local bar on Saturday night, and took the ND job right away. Those sloppy seconds ain’t that bad, actually. So do not cry too much, Domies.

Mak, you missed the point. Urban could continue his suspension regardless of what the AD and president said.

Like, 4-6 games for THC.

UF is now 3 years behind the Bama’s bastion of whiffle-ball-bat punishment. Start the clock.

There isn’t an ND fan in the world who wants any coach but Weis. You know, the guy who’s team with all these supposed terrible disadvantages finished ahead of UF/FUCUM and will do so again this year. How many superbowl rings does Urban have again???

“How many superbowl rings does Urban have again???”

Yawn.

CMC…last time I checked, they don’t give out super bowl rings for MNCs.

How many MNC rings does Weis have? Even better, how many BCS victories does Weis have?

“gator84–

One other thing. This is directly from the website you cited:

"The aim of this project is not to rank the institutions according to quality of the education provided nor their academic prestige, so it should not be used for comparing them or as a guide for choosing university by candidate students."

Is that clear enough? "

  Guess I need to put that criteria into my next Google search! It wasn’t worth more than a quick Google to me to respond to ND but glad you had the time to research. Yonder, you got my point, which is ND was out of line to question UF’s academic integrity. Glad you weren’t defending him.

Make fun of our fat coach and our embarassing grad students all you want, but Notre Dame is not a racist institution.

Notre Dame’s athletes are students first and athletes second. That’s why we graduate 95% of our football players. If I were a highly touted recruit with some semblance of intelligence, black or white, I know where I’d be headed.

(Good on UF, by the way, for graduating 80% of the football team. Shame on…well, the whole rest of the SEC besides Vandy.)

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/stories/2006/09/27/ncaagradchart.html

Phil K.—

To Florida State, just as Lorenzo Booker did?

“Make fun of our fat coach and our embarassing grad students all you want, but Notre Dame is not a racist institution.”

Says a fan of the FIGHTIN’ IRISH.

Nothing says racial harmony more than a drunken violent leprechaun.

orson, did slowrenzo make that comment as well? i know myron rolle did. he wants to be a doctor. except, his school had to start a med school because their undergrads weren’t getting into the med school at UF.

Orson – snap.

zzgator – Notre Dame is proud of its Irish Catholic heritage. We also proud of the fact that we were fighting bigotry when Jim Crow was king.

“There are several legends of how Notre Dame came to be the ‘Fighting Irish’…One possible origin is the violent 1924 confrontation between Notre Dame Students and the Ku Klux Klan in South Bend. This event is described in Todd Tucker’s book Notre Dame Vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan.

The most generally accepted explanation is that the press coined the nickname as a characterization of Notre Dame teams in the 1920’s as a result of preexisting Irish stereotypes, the widely reported events of 1924, and the grit, determination, and tenacity of Coach Knute Rockne’s football teams of the era. Although Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace popularized it in his New York Daily News columns in the 1920s with respect to the university, as early as the civil war Father Corby and the Irish Brigade of the Union Army had been dubbed “The Fighting Irish.”

Wow…do you domers ever throw out an elbow from all the self-congratulatory back patting?

Call us arrogant if it makes you feel better. Just can the “racist” bullshit.

hey, it’s not notre dame’s fault that touchdown jesus wrote “the bell curve.”

Leave it to a bunch of Notre Lamers to hijack a thread that should be devoted to midgets and pot and turn it into a scintillating courtroom defense of their university.
Geez, the fact that reefer’s on the training table for the Fla. D-lineman and Orson is viewed as a Bunyanesque stud by the li’l ladies is slightly more interesting than grad school rankings and civil rights.
C’mon people.

Phil K. – ND racist?

Paul Hornung of Notre Dame made the following racist comment about African Americans: "Notre Dame, needs to lower its academic standards to “get the black athlete.” “We can’t stay as strict as we are as far as the academic structure is concerned because we’ve got to get the black athlete. We must get the black athlete if we’re going to compete.”

Harvey, we saw Paul drinking at J’nJ’s here in ATL, and we blame the alcohol. Dude bends elbows long time.

NDFANs-
Please Note that Urban Meyer not only has more BCS victories thans Weis, but also that Florida finsihed with the same amount of wins as did the Irish last year. Finally, please remeber that Urban Meyer has actually beaten Top Flight Competition something Weiss and the Irish have yet to do.

“NDFANs-
Please Note that Urban Meyer not only has more BCS victories thans Weis, but also that Florida finsihed with the same amount of wins as did the Irish last year. Finally, please remeber that Urban Meyer has actually beaten Top Flight Competition something Weiss and the Irish have yet to do.”

  Easy there..they did manage to lose a close one to USC. That loss was thier best win last year!

SeaTrojan, we didn’t bring it up.

Harvey, I’m talking about Notre Dame as an institution, not one graduate. The fact that you can’t or won’t make the distinction tells me all I need to know.

Must I point out that Hornung’s comments would still put him left of the ACLU at many SEC tailgates?

I kno wfor a fact that the only Marcus Thomas did wron was accidentally roll down his window at a stop light while some thugs in the car next were hitting their j’s. he is totally innocent.

there IS a god. I’m changing my prediction. UF now wins.

Phil K.

Here is a section of an article in the ND Observer written about how an African American was treated at Notre Dame, not LA, NY or Oxford, Miss.:

“…Incidentally, aside from her two fists of fury, she carried nothing but a pack of cigarettes so I am unsure what violent harm she would have caused to five male cops all her size or bigger. She was made to cry. She was made to believe she was going to jail. She was, upon reflection, treated in a manner not equal to the situation. Why was she forced to the ground? Surely, she was not the first intoxicated person the Notre Dame Security/Police have ever run across.

I am greatly angered and offended for her, not only because her birthday week will not be the same, but also because this is Notre Dame, not simply a downtown street in some inner city. We are a family. If a member of my family is treated this way, I cannot sit idly by.

We live in dorms; we eat the same foods; we take the same classes; we go to the same parties; we see the same people. The only difference is that she is black and I am white. I do not know, but I wonder if the only difference between us was also noticed by those five security officers? But perhaps this was just the routine Notre Dame security treatment. In either case, though, whether racist or overly militant, this is not Notre Dame treatment.

This event occurred on the Notre Dame campus. If it happened once, could it not happen again?"

http://www.nd.edu/~observer/11062001/Viewpoint/3.html

Phil K. – Racism in ND Part 3:

From the ND Observer again, here is a kid writing about his experience at Notre Dame:

“The number of racist remarks I have heard since arriving on campus only a few months ago is staggering.”

(((((So, if a bunch of people, including some Domers, are pointing out the obvious, that there seems to be racism at ND, I would suggest you not just brush it away like it does not exist. H.W.))))))

http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/media/storage/paper660/news/2005/11/08/Viewpoint/Racism.Still.Alive-1048617.shtml?norewrite200610062007&sourcedomain=www.ndsmcobserver.com

This is all real interesting but can we get back to the original topic?

A committee from UF is reinstating a player after three games, right before the LSU game, mind you, when he was supposed to serve a five-game suspension?

This site (and the Florida fans) are very quick to point out when other SEC school’s players run afoul, but when it’s their own they hide behind a bunch of lame excuses (it’s the commitee’s decision, not Meyer’s). What a joke.

I guess if you continue to justify and rationalize this incident enough in your minds then it eventually becomes the truth, at least with the Gators’ fans.

SEC fever. Catch it.

This thread has gone way stupid. By the way, Rockne hated the name “Fighting Irish.” And if the name reflected the ethnicity of the guys who actually played for the team, we would be the Fighting Polacks. I think the guys who run the site acknowledge that this is a shady decision to reinstate this guy and there is no reason for ND guys to beat their chest about it.

I graduated from ND in ‘95 but I went to West Point until I lost my arm in a car accident in ’93. The only thing I have to say about my alma mater is that ot would be great execpt for all the f’in Domers.

Yes, Bill. That would be the right read.

I am so fucking sick of this thread.

Here’s a quote from that Observer piece you decided not to use, Harvey:

Well, one thing led to another. That afternoon, near the library, she wound up being surrounded by five Notre Dame security officers: two officers in a car, two upon bikes and one on a motorcycle. The story as told by an eyewitness is that she was intoxicated and shouting an obscenity…The officers are said to have claimed that she was belligerent and displaying violent tendencies.

One thing led to another, huh? Yeah sometimes that gets the cops involved. The police have cracked down hard on underage tailgating; I’ve seen people tased at off-campus parties for less. So basically what we have here is the author of an editorial (not a newspaper article) injecting the issue of racism without giving any evidence for it. She asks whether maybe it’s possible that the woman in question was treated differently because of her race. She doesn’t answer her own question, nor give any justification for asking it in the first place. A nice little rhetorical trick, if you’re writing a paper for freshman comp. Or if you’re Scoop Jackson.

The second piece you linked, a letter to the editor of The Observer, is hardly more convincing. Am I disappointed to hear that a freshman heard some racist jokes in the dorm? Absolutely. I never claimed that the entire student body is fit for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Racism exists in America, and Notre Dame is part of America.

However, you still fail to make the distinction between the actions of a few individuals and the actions of Notre Dame as an institution. I already pointed out your inability or unwillingness to do so in my last comment. This is simply idiotic

I’d hate to be lumped into that category, Bill and Orson, and maybe I’m the idiot for gratifying the trolls, but it’s not like I’m arguing about SAT scores here.

I realize the moment has long passed and was never relevant in the first place, but the college rankings that were linked actually placed Penn State ahead of Penn. Heh.

Other notables:
35. Yale
36. Princeton
80. Brown
85. Dartmouth
94. Vanderbilt
100. Georgetown

I’m sure most people already considered the University of Hawaii to be better than Dartmouth and Mississippi State better than Georgetown, but now we have incontrovertible evidence. Thank you, webometrics.info!

For the person who attempted to support an argument with this web site, it shouldn’t have even passed the sniff test. Then, if you actually read the methodology, you would see that the it is intended to rank the “web presence of institutions” using various internet search engines. The express purpose of webometrics is “the quantitative study of the Internet and specially the processes of scholar communication in the Web.” You might have also noticed that the title of the page you linked is “World Universities’ Ranking ON THE WEB.”

You’re not acquitting the UF education well today. “Foot, meet mouth. You can bray like a donkey after you see this list…”

Too funny.