Monday, September 10, 2012

The Notre Dame chronicles- part 4

Nothing like a good, old fashioned quarterback controversy with a new twist.

In Notre Dame's last home game before the one I will attend, Tommy Rees came in the game, in relief of Everett Golson and promptly led the Irish to the winning score (a Kyle Brindza field goal).

As a football decision, I really thought it was a no-brainer. Golson, the red-shirt freshman has lights out potential but he is still green and putting the steady, seasoned junior in to save the day, made perfect sense.

Where this controversy begins goes to the heart of who Notre Dame supposedly is. In the summer, Rees was arrested when he fled an off-campus party where under-aged drinking was taking place, resisted arrest and assaulted a police officer.

There are some that are none-too-pleased that his charges got bumped down to misdemeanors and he was given community service and required to write a letter of apology. People were equally appalled that he served only a one-game suspension. After it was stated by coach Kelly that he would have to earn his way back up the depth chart, here he is, in the waning moments of the season's second game, back on the field, pulling the coach's bacon out of the fire.

Now, by all accounts, Tommy has learned from his mistake, spoken to kids, taken his punishment, been a total supporting team player. That's all good stuff.

But he assaulted a police officer. A letter of apology? Community service? A one-game suspension?

There are those who say that the community of South Bend, the administration at this university and the coaching staff were more concerned with getting Tommy back on the field of play then they were setting a positive example about real-world consequences for real-world actions.

I do not know if I can truly disagree. I'm thrilled to be 2-0 but did we get there the right way?






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