Minnesotan Hawkeye suspended

[tjgopher]

Hot-shooting Anthony Tucker of Minnetonka was suspended indefinitely from the Iowa basketball team today. He had been lighting it up for them.

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081207/SPORTS/712079888/1058/SPORTS

[coolhandgopher]

Speculation on Iowa's message board was that he hit the sauce too hard and had to get his stomach pumped:
http://iowa.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=803&tid=118718239&mid=118718239&sid=940&style=2

[What Up Guy]

Wow...

Easy to rip the kid, but 18-year olds do stupid stuff from time to time.

[sanowai]

This was the best one from the thread on the Iowa board.

Originally posted by HeRKeYHoPeFuL:
Obviously it's a rule violation. How many true freshman do you know that can legally drink?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Oden?

[DesMoinesGopher]

From this morning's Des Moines Register:

"According to the police report, Tucker was discovered in an alley near the Union Bar, 121 E. College St., in Iowa City at 1:10 a.m. Sunday.

The report indicates Tucker was unconscious, yet breathing. He was taken to a hospital."

Not good for the Hawks.

[From the Barn]

This was the best one from the thread on the Iowa board.

Originally posted by HeRKeYHoPeFuL:
Obviously it's a rule violation. How many true freshman do you know that can legally drink?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Oden?

That would be true freshman with an AARP card.

[Blizzard]

You would have to imagine he was with a teamate or two. My heart goes out to his parents. Their lives just got turned upside down as well.

[cigaretteman]

http://hawkcentral.press-citizen.com/article/20081209/HAWKS0102/812090337/1053

[XMan]

This is too bad. At least he is OK and hopefully he has learned from the experience.

[Jim V2]

You would have to imagine he was with a teamate or two. My heart goes out to his parents. Their lives just got turned upside down as well.

I dunno. I think back to when I was tucker's age. I was legal, and I wasn't on scholarship, but he didn't do anything I and most every other guy I knew didn't do--except maybe be deserted in the alley. I had friends who took care of me, and I wonder where his "friends" were. If he's constantly getting smashed, that's a whole nother issue, but I would hope that a one time learning experience won't distress his parents enough to turn their lives upside down. Sure it was a mistake, and he'll pay a price in terms of the suspension, (and the guilt he'll feel for letting his teammates down,) but if this is the worst thing he ever does in his life he's be a fine upstanding citizen.

I might feel differently if he'd gotten behind the wheel of a car.

[Notorious PLD]

Nice Post Jim V2, I agree with everything said.

[From the Barn]

I can't say I know many people that almost drank themselves into a coma.

[Sour1729]

I can't say I know many people that almost drank themselves into a coma.

You didn't live in the Superblock then.

[MadisonRaisedGopherCrazed]

You didn't live in the Superblock then.

Haha! I used to work student security on the superblock and that was at least a once or twice a weekend occurance

[Blizzard]

Do you have one this age ?


I dunno. I think back to when I was tucker's age. I was legal, and I wasn't on scholarship, but he didn't do anything I and most every other guy I knew didn't do--except maybe be deserted in the alley. I had friends who took care of me, and I wonder where his "friends" were. If he's constantly getting smashed, that's a whole nother issue, but I would hope that a one time learning experience won't distress his parents enough to turn their lives upside down. Sure it was a mistake, and he'll pay a price in terms of the suspension, (and the guilt he'll feel for letting his teammates down,) but if this is the worst thing he ever does in his life he's be a fine upstanding citizen.

Mistakes I can deal with. Potentially life changing or life ending ones are a different story. Most parents don't really want to know what their kids are doing at college. Hear no evil, see no evil, good to go. But regardless you still think they're safe. Well, until they pass out in the middle of winter in an alley. Child=Star player on a Big Ten team. Suspended indefinitely. Well being is questionable.

Call me overbearing but as a parent if this one is mine I've got some issues I don't or didn't think I would have to deal with.

[The Big L]

The big question I have is if he is get really smashed every night. If it was a one time deal, hopefully he has learned and moved on. I understand that this was a serious mistake, but I think most people have had that one day, when you are relatively new to drinking, and you just go overboard. Most people learn from this, learn their tolerance, and learn to be more careful.

At least he wasn't driving, and hopefully he learns. It was only a couple years ago Jamar Smith almost killed one of his Illinois teammates driving drunk, and then was kicked off the team recently for continued issues with drinking. Hopefully Tucker avoids that road.

[Jim V2]

Do you have one this age ?



Mistakes I can deal with. Potentially life changing or life ending ones are a different story. Most parents don't really want to know what their kids are doing at college. Hear no evil, see no evil, good to go. But regardless you still think they're safe. Well, until they pass out in the middle of winter in an alley. Child=Star player on a Big Ten team. Suspended indefinitely. Well being is questionable.

Call me overbearing but as a parent if this one is mine I've got some issues I don't or didn't think I would have to deal with.

I have a bball playing son precisely that age. Unlike a lot of boys, he communicates with us very well. He's chosen not to drink, and we understand his reasons. He has an older sibling who chose to drink in school, and would tell us about it when it happened. No drinking and driving, no drinking without friends there with you. As parents, we were very grateful that our kids were so forthcoming with us, and grateful that they had an open ear for our thoughts when things came up that really were life changing. We absolutely did want to know what was/is going on at college.

Did you never pass out? (Someplace safe--not an alley.) I just don't see this as potentially life ending--or even significantly changing much. The fact that his friends let him be in an alley is troubling, but I don't know the details--he could have stepped outside for a minute for fresh air, sat down to rest, and was found a minute later. That's not the same as someone who was laying there for half an hour. And of course if this is a routine occurance, that's very troubling. I could be misremembering, but I don't think he was remotely close to drinking himself into a coma. He was under .2%. What's that--six beers? IF Barn doesn't know many people who have drunk that much, then he's had a far different college experience than anyone I know.

I assume from your question you do have one this age. Obviously I know nothing specific about him or you. But if he's in college, and if what I hear from my kids and the others of that age I regualrly talk to is accurate, then he's got about a 90% chance of getting smashed at least once this semester. And at least a 50% chance of getting smashed on multiple occasions. Sorry if that bothers you, but that's life on campus.

I wouldn't say Tucker is the team star. I'd say he's an 18(?) year old freshman who plays basketball. And while athletes get a little more oversight than most other students, they still have lots of opportunity for mischief. ANd for the most part, they're going to do what all the other kids their age are doing.

[Blizzard]

I have a bball playing son precisely that age. Unlike a lot of boys, he communicates with us very well. He's chosen not to drink, and we understand his reasons. He has an older sibling who chose to drink in school, and would tell us about it when it happened. No drinking and driving, no drinking without friends there with you. As parents, we were very grateful that our kids were so forthcoming with us, and grateful that they had an open ear for our thoughts when things came up that really were life changing. We absolutely did want to know what was/is going on at college.

We're in the same frame of reference. My question whether you had one that age wasn't a challenge, only to see if we were on the same page or not. :)

Ours does communicate with us as well. As a matter of fact we hear more from him now than we did we he was in HS ! Figure that out, lol. We aren't though privy to his extra curricular activities. I certainly do understand how it goes in college.

My deal with this as a parent is that we when send them away to college we assume, or least I do, that we hope we've given them a decent base to make decisions on, situations to stay away from, etc. and pray when they make a mistake or use bad judgement it won't be a life changing or altering moment for them. At least for me and the reason I think his parents most likely got quite a jolt is that yes, he got drunk, no big deal, kids do that at college. I can live with that. But now my security blanket of knowing that if hopefully he has the knowledge to stay from bad situations is gone. My trust in him is lost, I know his friends aren't watching out for him, what else could happen ? I'm sorry the kid was unconscious, in an alley, and the low in Des Moines was 12 degrees that night. I see that as a potential life ending situation.

Speaking from experience, he probably went out there to puke and passed out. Not wanting to be embarrassed I would imagine no one noticed he was gone and probably slipped out the door quietly.

As the leader scorer I would say he's a team star.

[From the Barn]

Most people I went to school with didn't have much interest in drinking their education or tuition away. And to get to his BAC he would have had to have something like 10 drinks in an hour. http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

And five or more drinks in an hour can lead to alcohol poisoning, which is deadly.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol-poisoning/DS00861

Getting smashed is one thing, ending up unconscious in an alley is entirely different.

[Sour1729]

Most people I went to school with didn't have much interest in drinking their education or tuition away. And to get to his BAC he would have had to have something like 10 drinks in an hour. http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

And five or more drinks in an hour can lead to alcohol poisoning, which is deadly.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol-poisoning/DS00861

Getting smashed is one thing, ending up unconscious in an alley is entirely different.

You are a real hoot. "Drinking your education or tuition away?" So you think a potentially one-time incident of drinking too much (likely on a weekend!) and passing out means that you are "drinking your education or tuition away?" Look, the alley thing is bad, we all get that. But you are insinuating that nobody you knew drank too much and ended up passing out on ONE occasion. If they did, you would consider that pissing away education and tuition. WOW. I guess there is a lot you haven't experienced. That does not sound like any college experience of which I have ever heard.

But, oh wait, "getting smashed is one thing." Ahhh, I forgot you put that in there. So which is it? Take out the alley, which is just an attendant circumstance, and we are simply talking about getting drunk and passing out. So if on one hand "getting smashed" doesn't really matter (unless in an alley), but on the other if you or any of your friends did it, it would be pissing away your education and tuition? Which is it? Because you are clearly contradicting yourself.

Look, this is obviously a serious issue. Hopefully it does not become a trend and the fact that he ended up in an alley is concerning. But man alive, you must have led a sheltered college life if what you are saying is true. Regardless of what you or your friends did, I can't imagine not even KNOWING somebody who passed out drunk, unless you never left your dorm room.

[The Big L]

Most people I went to school with didn't have much interest in drinking their education or tuition away. And to get to his BAC he would have had to have something like 10 drinks in an hour. http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

And five or more drinks in an hour can lead to alcohol poisoning, which is deadly.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcohol-poisoning/DS00861

Getting smashed is one thing, ending up unconscious in an alley is entirely different.

LOL! Hilarious. I don't even know what to say about this post. If you didn't drink, or hang out with people who drank, then you really don't have the experience to judge this situation with such certainty.

[From the Barn]

Who said I never drank?
I said I never passed out.

[Sour1729]

Who said I never drank?
I said I never passed out.

Or anyone you ever interacted with, ever.

The fact that you used an internet calculator tells me that your know-it-all attitude on the subject does not arise from actually "knowing it all." Everyone makes life choices and that is a good thing, but passing judgment when you know so little about a subject seems irresponsible.

[From the Barn]

I know of people that passed out, of course. I put that there to show that to get to his BAC it was more than a few drinks, contrary to what someone suggested. Sorry if I don't see how passing out because of lack of self control is a badge of honor. I knew my limits and I stuck to them. I also know more than a few people who did stupid thing when they were drunk and got kicked out of school, and others whose grades suffered because of their drinking.

[Sour1729]

I know of people that passed out, of course. I put that there to show that to get to his BAC it was more than a few drinks, contrary to what someone suggested. Sorry if I don't see how passing out because of lack of self control is a badge of honor. I knew my limits and I stuck to them. I also know more than a few people who did stupid thing when they were drunk and got kicked out of school, and others whose grades suffered because of their drinking.

Nobody said it was a badge of honor. Not sure where you got that.

Now saying that you know more than a few people who did those things directly contradicts your earlier statements.

[From the Barn]

You mean where I said I didn't know many people who almost drank themselves into a coma?

Do you really want to continue to debate the meaning of "a few"?

[From the Barn]

And do you want to also debate the meaning of "knowing" vs "knowing of" vs being "friends"?

[Sour1729]

No. I just want you to quit your elitist attitude re: everything.

[From the Barn]

But I learned it all from you!

[Sour1729]

But I learned it all from you!

Flattery will get you everywhere.

[MNSnowman]

FtB is right about the amount of alcohol it would take to get to a BAC of about 0.20. But it's not necessarily the number of drinks but the ounces of alcohol (one ounce of alcohol is approximately the same as a can of beer or a five-ounce glass of wine).

I've seen folks who normally understand that they can't drink a large number of mixed drinks forget that some of the concoctions served have substantial amounts of alcohol. Maybe it's changed since the almost-40 years I went to college but I recall that some of the parties we attended had these "drinks" that were largely alcohol masked with some sweet fruit base. (This was before the days of Long Island Teas but you get the idea)

I'm not trying to excuse Tucker's behavior or decision-making but I am pointing out that the phrase "drinks" can be really misleading. Without knowing more details, it's hard to say what the situation is with Tucker.

If he has some substantial drinking history and he was drinking beer, wine and/or "conventional" mixed drinks, he might be chemically dependent as it takes a lot of alcohol (in this case, "drinks") to get to that BAC and chemically dependent folks develop a "tolerance" to the effects of alcohol so it takes more to get the buzz.

OTOH, if he ingested a few more potent drinks ... or was binging and drinking a lot in a concentrated period ... it's possible he didn't realize he was getting over his head until it was too late.

Poor decision making? Sure ... but not that unusual, especially with someone who's not had much to drink before and is taking in a large amount of alcohol in a concentrated time. I'd be more concerned if that someone had been drinking before and felt the onset of earlier symptoms of intoxication but persisted to the point of unconsciousness. We just don't have enough information to do anything but speculate, IMO.