NCAA's Suspension Of Darren Carrington For The National Championship Is Possibly The Most Brainless Suspension In Sports History

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/09/oregon-receiver-carrington-suspended_n_6446852.html

Huffington Post- Oregon wide receiver Darren Carrington is suspended for the national championship game after testing positive for marijuana during an NCAA drug test, a person with direct knowledge of test results said Friday.



​Wait, the NCAA gives drug tests? On a regular basis? And what did Darren Carrington do wrong to be 'awarded' one just days before the biggest game of his life? You probably didn't even need to give the test. They could have flat out asked him if he has smoked some pot recently and he most likely would have said "yeah, why?". I don't think college athletes, that have their way paid through school, should be out every night getting loaded off narcotics and what not, but I certainly don' t think they should be suspended for smoking a little weed. Regardless of your thoughts on the ever growing legalization of marijuana, I think the one time we can all agree it is acceptable is in college. That's the period of your life when you are supposed to experiment. Supposed to make bad decisions. Supposed to be a dredge on society. Hell, in all honesty, the use of marijuana probably deterred Carrington from doing something far more stupid. Any one that didn't at least dabble in a session or two certainly can't be trusted to have the social skills necessary to be a productive member of a college football team. 

Why Carrington? Why now? Chances are, if you gave ever player set to play in monday night's National Championship game a drug test, the pass rate would be about 1%, and that's because kicker's have no one to smoke with. Honestly, I am surprised they didn't hot box the locker rooms following last weekend's games. Look at the two semifinal games. Oregon put a 40 point (well 39, but they get the benefit of the doubt since they had to create new ways not to embarrass Florida State for the better part of the 4th quarter) beat down on a team that was coming off 29 consecutive wins. Ohio State, a team that was given a mere puncher's chance of winning by experts (if the puncher was deaf, dumb , and blind) defeated a team most thought was the best in the country. If you can't light up a few blunts in celebration after those two performances then we are basically living in a police state. Word to the wise, if you want college athletes to maintain their sobriety don't hold the semifinal games in Pasadena, California and New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Not to mention, half of this damn country is skipping through the streets legally taking pulls from their peace pipes, but a couple of successful college athletes can't take 'Puff The Magic Dragon' for a walk? That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard. We aren't talking about performance enhancing drugs. We aren't talking about life threatening substance abuse. We are most likely talking about a kid that wanted to enhance the taste of his shitty Portland pizza. A kid that came home after a beer, or 12, and sat around enjoying a night cap with some buddies. If that's not permissible in college anymore then I don't even know why people still go to college. It's certainly not the reliability of the job market. Telling me that a college kid has to miss the biggest opportunity of his life for smoking weed, while the entirety of the state that he resides in does so legally, is just about the most ass backwards thing I have ever heard in my life. 

This is why the NCAA is such a joke. Can we please put someone that understands what it means to be a college athlete in charge of the organization? Food for thought; College athletes can't make a dime off their production, or off their popularity, or off their likeness, or off their signature. The reason behind that is because they are merely kids. Kids who haven't earned the right to profit off themselves. I'm not saying I agree, but I am assuming that's the thought process behind the rule. Meanwhile the same kids, that are being treated as such, also can't indulge in the social aspects of being a college kid that make it such a great growing experience. I'm not saying that college athletes are slaves to the NCAA. They are, however, unpaid employees that are governed by a leading body which makes billions of dollars off their hard work. At the very least can we respect what they do in their free time, as long as it isn't damaging their health or their university's reputation?