DUI Disappointment

<p><em class="gnmEkDate">Originally Published: Oct 26, 2010 7:24 PM CDT</em></p>What are we to make of the DUI arrest of OSU&amp;rsquo;s Justin Blackmon? &lt;/P&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/P&gt;I have been around

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 1:28 pm

By: News On 6


Originally Published: Oct 26, 2010 7:24 PM CDT

What are we to make of the DUI arrest of OSU&rsquo;s Justin Blackmon? </P>&#160;</P>I have been around the OSU wide receiver.&#160; In fact, I&rsquo;ve been around him in a hospital and have watched him interact with pediatric cancer patients.&#160; He was one of the first players to step forward and offer a smile, an autograph and a piece of Cowboy memorabilia to kids just looking for attention from one of their favorite athletes and a distraction from the difficulty of their everyday lives.</P>&#160;</P>Blackmon has always been courteous, respectful and accommodating with the media.&#160; He has been quite likeable.&#160; The kind of hard-working, emerged-from-anonymity-to-stardom player you can root for.&#160; I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s a bad kid, just a college athlete who made a bad mistake.&#160; </P>&#160;</P>Perhaps it&rsquo;s all of those things about Blackmon that make his transgression all the more disappointing.&#160; </P>&#160;</P>It&rsquo;s disappointing for those teammates who work hard, play hard, go to class and keep their noses clean.&#160; They deserve better than to have to answer questions about something they had no part in.&#160; And they deserve better than to have a negative light cast upon their team.&#160; They&rsquo;ll be watching the Boise State game on ESPN Tuesday night and have to watch the words.Oklahoma State.Justin BlackmonDUIscroll across the bottom of the screen what will seem like a thousand times.</P>&#160;</P>It&rsquo;s disappointing for Olivia Hamilton and her family.&#160; She&rsquo;s the young leukemia patient that Blackmon has become close to.&#160; Part of me hopes they just keep Olivia away from newspapers, computers and television sets for the next three weeks.&#160; But I know that&rsquo;s impossible.</P>&#160;</P>It&rsquo;s disappointing for fans who bought #81 OSU jerseys and for coaches who constantly remind players that nothing good happens after midnight.</P>&#160;</P>It&rsquo;s disappointing that I have to go on the nightly news and do another &ldquo;athlete run afoul of the law&rdquo; story.&#160; </P>&#160;</P>It&rsquo;s disappointing that once again we will have to remind kids to choose their heroes and role models carefully.&#160; They are, after all, disappointingly human just like you and me.</P><BR/>
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