and they said all the right things. Here are the transcripts for UA Head Coach Bobby Petrino, QB Ryan Mallett, Defensive End Jake Bequette and Tight End D.J. Williams (transcripts for Bequette and D.J. are combined).
See below for some of my favorites. Oh, and I love Petrino’s swagger. He isn’t afraid to take on the golden calf of the league, (now that College Football Baby Jesus Tim Tebow has ascended a Mile High to the NFL) Bama Head Coach Nick Saban.
From Mallett:
Q. Talk about the expectations this season and how well do you think this offense can click? Do you think it’s going to be just as good as last year’s offense? RYAN MALLETT: You know, obviously, especially in the state of Arkansas, the expectations are really high. We have even higher expectations of ourselves as a team.
As far as the offense, we lost some great players and we also got some players coming back and incoming freshmen that are going to help. You look at the defense, they’re going to be better. We got guys coming in on the defense that are going to help the defense be better. We’re going to gel better, especially during camp, is really when we’re going to gel. I feel like this is the closest team I’ve ever played on, especially the three years I’ve been here. Really my whole life, this is the closest group of guys, especially as many of us as there are, that I’ve ever been a part of.
and Coach Petrino:
Q. There have been a lot of comparisons made between the expectations for Arkansas this year and Ole Miss last year. Have you used Ole Miss as an example with your players of how to handle or not handle expectations?
COACH PETRINO: No, not at all. We always try to worry about ourselves. I like the high expectations. I think that’s why you’re in the profession, is you want to have people think that you’re gonna be good. You want our players to understand we have an opportunity to be good, and our coaches to really be driven by that. It’s taken us a while to get to the point where we have high expectations as a university and as a fan base and players. I think it’s a good thing. I think the one thing we can’t do is shy away from it. Let’s embrace it, let it motivate us, then let’s go out and do everything we can to make ‘em come true.
The SEC Has Addressed Its Horrible Officiating Situation by Hiring Phil Fullmer?
and another
Q. With your brief experience in the NFL, Coach Saban was talking a lot about how he thought the NFL Players Association and the NFL commissioner should get involved in the agent process in regard to the student-athlete. What is your take on that?
COACH PETRINO: You know, I think that’s wishful thinking. I think what we have to do is just do something my mom taught me a long time ago, and that’s worry about the things we can control. So it’s up to us to control the education, the decision making, to help the young men.
It would be nice if everybody in America was 100% and we all hit it just right. The truth of the matter is, there’s going to be young men that don’t make the right decisions all the time. But we have to worry about what we can control, our educating, our continuing to work on the decision making, the understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong, not try to think that somebody else is going to handle it for us.
What About the Barefoot Bandit Mama?
Posted by Jeff on July 22, 2010
Colton Harris-Moore
Earlier this evening I came across a New York Times article by William Yardley that pieces together the early life of the “Barefoot Bandit,” Colton Harris-Moore. The description of his childhood reads like the opening statement of a defense attorney. Harris-Moore was apparently verbally abused and according to a report when he was twelve years old: he wanted his mother to quit drinking. She had been investigated for negligence and maltreatment but never charged with either. In the article one neighbor asks the reporter for anonymity for fear of the boy’s mother, Pam Kohler.
This case would not be a national headline nor be ripe for novelization or a movie script were it not for a teenage boy’s wit, daring, intuitiveness and well… bare feet. Harris-Moore certainly felt little fear. From an early age he was stealing frozen pizzas and other treats from a neighbor’s freezer. Later he ordered something with a stolen credit card and had it delivered to that same neighbor’s address. And while on the run after escaping from a halfway house, he stole five airplanes which he had apparently taught himself to fly. He crash-landed all five and walked away each time. Fear it seems is relative when you go home to an abusive parent every day.
My goal for writing this is not to assign blame but rather to open the eyes and hearts of people who do not witness behavior like this in person. Seeing it on the news allows for assumptions and quick judgment. It is easy to say that this kid is just a punk with little regard for either his fellow man or his own life. But would you be brave enough to steal a frozen pizza if you did not have food in your house? The article mentions that Harris-Moore tended to bullying behavior. Not an uncommon characteristic among those who are abused. The article also mentioned that his mother – who was in contact with him until the end of his run – even suggested that he escape to a country that did not extradite to the U.S.
In my work in a high school I see kids who do things like lying, stealing, cheating, fighting, and bullying. Sometimes these things are completely uncharacteristic of the family from which the child was reared. But more often, it is behavior that is at worst modeled and at best just condoned at home. Sometimes I joke with friends that you have to have a license to hunt; you have to have a license to fish; you have to have a license to drive a car. But you don’t have to have a license to be a parent. Funny but sadly true. I mean would you be issued a license to be a parent if instead of racing to see your captured son after two years on the run, you hire a lawyer to handle news media inquiries and film and book proposals based on your son’s story?
We have different laws for juveniles in this country and different penalties for violating those laws. The reason for that is because they are kids and they don’t have the maturity to correctly discern right from wrong. We also have laws that protect juveniles from adults who take advantage of that same adolescent inability. So tell me. How do you handle a case like this? Do you charge a 19 year old boy as an adult for crimes ranging from petty theft to illegally transporting stolen property outside the country? Or do you look up the family tree to an allegedly abusive mother that not only condones but also encourages her child’s crime spree so as to make the book deal that much more lucrative?
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