Kirby Smart and UGA continue to ignore the serious stuff
- Thread starter Prestonyte
- Start date
Pray tell how. Young adult males drive fast, some get caught. What does Kirby do, kick them off the team? He can make them run stadium steps but are traffic offenses really the responsibility of the football coach to address? He can't take their cars away and he isn't going to set himself up to lose games due to suspending players for traffic offenses. The state/county has a punishment system in place, Kirby should let them dish out the punishment.
Kirby pulling the old "look, there's a squirrel" 
There are much bigger problems than speeding in Athens.
There are much bigger problems than speeding in Athens.
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Kirby has an enabler who is cozy with the police and he shows up on the player's behalf, often appearing in court personally paying the offender's fine. The athlete feels entitled to go out and do it again. Sitting the player for a game or multiple games for repeats would certainly get the athlete's attention.
So you're saying Kirby has no ability to make rules for the team and enforce them? Gotcha.
This. If he’s doing it for simple speeding tickets he’s doing it for other stuff too.
I'm saying Kirby can't enforce traffic laws and it really isn't his job to do so. There is a mechanism in place to punish people who break traffic laws and Kirby needs to let that system do its job.
Every program has someone in that position. If you don't think the gamecocks have a guy exactly like that you are not living in the real world. The guy can't be personally paying player's fines or that would be an impermissible benefit in the eyes of the NCAA.
The players have plenty of money now, they are more than capable of paying their own fines. Why should Kirby add punishment on top of the fine? When regular students get speeding tickets, the university does not add any sort of penalty on top of the fine.
Correct. It is all about winning and it is the same at every school and every football program. As someone pointed out in another thread, people only seem to be outraged over this stuff when a team is winning big. The same thing is going on at all programs but there isn't any outrage about it at the mediocre ones.
Players get kicked off teams, or punished while on the team, for breaking laws all the time. It’s a very common practice, and maybe more than common - it’s expected.
Discipline is key to UGA’s success (Kirby learned from the best in Saban) - for him to throw up his hands and claim to not know what to do is just silly.
I'd say kicking players off of the team for traffic offenses would be silly. Kirby has thrown several players off the team for breaking laws but none for traffic offenses. I think the hysteria over college kids getting speeding tickets is what is silly. I don't think for a minute Kirby is throwing up his hands and doesn't know what to do. I do think he isn't going to cripple his team by overreacting to traffic tickets.
If Georgia were a 7-5 or 8-4 program this would be a total non story. Every football program has kids who get speeding tickets. All of the pearl clutching and outrage is based on the fact that Georgia is one of the top programs in the country right now.
Bingo! Goes along with what I said in a similar thread about UGA that these whispers of "culture problems" don't make into the news if you're an average or bad team.
I mean, we're talking about speeding here. And, not to minimize the damage that can result from speeding, but it's hardly a moral sin. You find someone in this forum who didn't speed as a teenager or in their early 20s and I'll give you a million bucks. Sure, if it seems to be a persistent problem, Kirby should talk to the team and warn them about other things that could result from speeding which would lead to disciplinary issues. But am I the only one who ignored my own parents advice not to speed?
If every team disciplined every player for speeding, there would be no players left. People are desperate for something, anything, to try and cast a cloud over UGA's recent dominance. What's next, a gripping expose on UGA players and overdue fees at the library?
Sure, every program has kids that speed. But the issue here isn’t because they’re a good team, it’s because two people died from speeding six months ago. And it appears that UGA is fine with that. I’ll bet the AD steps in, because if any of these speeders hurts someone else, be sure that Kirby and school will be named in the lawsuit.
It’s not the speeding as much as the deaths. No deaths - this is a non-story. But it appears that there is a tacit approval by the program for something that could lead to more deaths. That’s it.
Some important distinctions. Most critically, in the case of the fatal crash, a University employee was driving a vehicle that was leased by the athletic department. That's an entirely different ball of wax than a football player speeding in his own vehicle and makes the University liable in some way. Also, in that case, they weren't just speeding, but street racing.
There is almost no chance that the University or Kirby could be implicated if a UGA football player is driving his own vehicle, is speeding and is in an accident in which someone else is hurt/killed. Outside of some exotic situation where the player is intoxicated with alcohol provided by Kirby or the University. Nobody would think the University would be liable for harm/damage caused by a regular student speeding.
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I think Todd has made up his mind and isn't going to be swayed by facts. To say UGA is "fine" with two people being killed in an auto accident tells me he really has no idea about what he is talking about. I guess if any program has a player killed in an auto accident and has any other players get speeding tickets that is proof that the program is "fine" with the death and speeding.
Sheesh!
Who knows? Maybe Kirby is secretly running a sinister street racing ring, using the football team as cover for his exploits.
Exactly the way Kirby and his PR team wanted this to go - everyone is focused on speeding tickets 
Exactly the way Kirby and his PR team wanted this to go - everyone is focused on speeding tickets
What else is there to focus on?
Kirby loves the "disrespect" angle. He will paint this as "Everyone thinks we are undisciplined and unfocused, let's show them how focused we are". He actually had the team believing the media were calling for them to go 7-5 last season so they played with a huge chip on their shoulder.
AJC research and stories have raised many other things for investigation and discussion as well as other news outlets with quotes like these:
The Georgia Bulldogs can’t seem to right the ship with bad off-the-field behavior from players.
Players have illegally brought weapons onto Georgia’s campus. They’ve gotten into bar fights and some have even been charged with domestic violence and sexual assault. Off-the-field problems have brought down coaches and programs in college football for years. Kirby Smart needs to be careful or he could be next.
Regarding your last paragraph, a cause of action could be found if the coach or the athletic administration has either stepped in on a regular basis or worse has some deal with the local police to ignore speeding violations by players. It is similar to a situation where a large store has insufficient lighting in its parking areas and several people have been assaulted. The business at that point is on notice that they have a problem that needs to be solved and if they fail to do so, those harmed after have a great CoA against the store.
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I'm pretty sure that situation doesn't exist in Athens. The players are being arrested, charged and fined for the traffic issues. This whole story is a tempest in a tea pot stirred up by the AJC trying to get clicks. The State has a history of doing similar things regarding the USC football team.
Yeah, like I said, there are some exotic situations where the University could be implicated. A clandestine arrangement arrangement with the police would fall under that category.
For now, it doesn't seem like the speeding is being ignored as players are being fined. The driving habits of players certainly lies outside the purview of the football coach, though.
I like Kirbi’s mutts or Kirbi’s flea bags better. That’s about all their fans are too
I've come to the conclusion that all fan bases, maybe with clemson as an exception, are about the same. Alumni are usually pretty good people and so are the "fans" who have/had a child or other family member go to the school. The "fans" who have no actual connection to the school other than being a fan of the team are usually the bad ones. The current success of the team determines the number of "fans". Since they have no real connection to the school they come and go with the rising and falling success of the team.
Exception being the uga mutts. Maybe tenn in there too, but definitely the fleabags. Also their fans don’t seem to be real bright. Maybe because of it being a penal colony originally
Two people killed in a high speed race exceeding 100 mph on city streets and another with serious life altering injuries after a night of partying is a tempest in a tea pot? Not to mention the UGA driver had numerous speeding violations as did the UGA player. Or did the AJC make all this up?
So, the player who was a passenger in the vehicle and was killed in the accident had speeding violations? Please explain how this is in any way UGA's fault or his previous speeding tickets contributed in any way to the accident. I'm unaware of any legal precedent for a passenger's driving record being a causal factor in an accident. The fact the driver had violations too and the athletic association let her drive an association vehicle is why the athletic association is facing legal issues because of the accident.
Sadly; people are killed very frequently street racing, some of them are college students. The colleges these students attend bear no responsibility for those accidents. As to the AJC making things up, I would suggest you do a little research and learn more about the author of the article and his past employment history and how his disregard for the actual truth has affected that previous employment. I would also suggest you look into the failure of the author or the AJC to provide ANY evidence to back up many of the allegations made in their articles.
Uh. I said driver had violation and was still allowed to use a athletic association suv. I intended nothing about the passenger but the uga player involved in the street racing that resulted in two deaths had traffic violations which does not reflect well on this case and the upcoming civil suits. Since you are a big UGA defender and their spokesman on this board, perhaps you can defend the UGA Athletic Association at the upcoming civil suit trials. Opps. I doubt you will get a chance. I suspect the suits will be settled out of court and all will be sealed and secret.
Overdue fees at the library would assume that UGA players actually go to class...
Since you brought up what I should do, I'll give my opinion of what you might want to do.
Seeing as how you feel you and your family are in danger due to the obvious rampant street racing and speeding by UGA football players, you should strongly considering moving to another city where no one speeds. I'm thinking The Villages in central Florida or some planned community where everyone drives golf carts would give you the peace of mind to live a life without the constant fear of death or serious injury posed by UGA football players driving. I would strongly suggest you make sure there are no young males in whatever new place you choose to live since they, by their nature, tend to drive fast.