***The Schmack Report***
--Bringing the Bull into the china shop of fragile minds—
University of Florida and Ron Zook continue to show lack of good judgement regarding player suspensions. In June 2003, Gator LB Taurean Charles pleaded to a simple battery charge in an altercation with a female student in her dorm room the previous March. He was given a year of probation, underwent anger counseling, and was suspended from the team for a total of… one game (the season opener)… for that misdemeanor charge. June 13th, 2004… almost one year later, he punched another student, Dane Eagle, in the head without provocation at a party. The “punch” toppled the student off a wooden deck onto the ground leaving him quite dazed and rather startled. Charles then proceeded to lift a partially filled keg of beer and toss it towards the semiconscious student. Another attendee (witness) attempted to intercept and deflect the massive projectile, but his heroic efforts were met with limited success. Eagle sustained a concussion, a broken nose (requiring corrective surgery), and multiple stitches to his head. Charles was arrested and charged with aggravated battery, a second-degree felony, just a little over... one month later on Tuesday, July 20th. Why over a month later? Apparently, the Gainesville police detective, John Nabet, assigned the case was on vacation in June and then had to interview a number of people once he got back to work on the case. What?! I don’t really understand that one either…. Perhaps you, the reader, can do some detective work and get back to me on that one… say in a month or two, no rush. Getting back to the charge, Nabet stated, “It could have been much more serious if someone hadn’t been there to deflect it in some way. That’s why the charge is so severe.” Immediately upon learning of the arrest, Jeremy Foley, UF’s athletic director, suspended Charles from the team and said his status would be determined “as we gather more information.” What?! …suspended from the team? …will make a determination as we gather more information? How much more is needed?! Where is Ron Zook?! He should be the one to suspend Charles immediately from the team, and Jeremy should have suspended him from the university. “More information….” Let’s see, he pleaded no contest the previous year to simple battery against a female student in her dorm room, and two UF offensive linemen, Anthony Guerrero and Carlton Medder, were witnesses to the account described above where he senselessly knocked a student down and attempted to bash in his head with a beer keg. I don’t know; I may need some more information. Give me a break!
And now, more good news on the Florida front. Charles was the 3rd UF player “suspended” for an arrest... this WEEK! Also on Tuesday, LB Channing Crowder and S Jarvis Herring were suspended for… (oh no, you know what’s coming, don’t you?) yes, one game (the season opener) after both were arrested for “scuffling” with police (sounds like “resisting an officer” to me) outside a local nightclub… “earlier this summer.” I guess they needed a month's investigation to decide if that offense was worthy of an arrest. Or maybe, those officers were actually on vacation and had to wait to return to work before they could arrest 'em?!
And as Randy Travis sang, “… on the other hand…”:
Tennessee WR James Banks remains suspended and will miss the season’s opener against UNLV, the following key SEC East matchup game versus the aforementioned Florida Gators, and (just for good measure) the third game versus Louisiana Tech. Why? He was charged with “underage drinking” and the serious crime of “defying police orders to… turn down his radio.”
I’m sorry, but something is seriously out of alignment down in the SWAMP. Personally… I think Foley is just trying to set the stage for Spurrier’s return. You know Zook has to be looking over his shoulder with SS on the loose in Florida. In any event, this whole situation invites suspicion and conspiracy theories. And that is the schmack, the whole schmack and nothing but the SCHMACK.
TSR reporter and BOC’s VolEnforcement Officer, VolStan
A proud member of the BOC VolEnforcement community.
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