After hearing the issue of Chris L Rucker discussed ad nauseum the past few days, I've decided I must speak my piece on this. I cannot deal with the knee-jerk any more. Mitch Albom penned a column that I won't link because I refuse to even modestly contribute to it's traffic.
Drunk Driving is not something to be taken lightly. Most people know someone who has been hurt or killed by a drunk driver. Drunk driving has evolved from something that was treated as a joke 25 years ago to something that is both treated very seriously and is a moneymaker for police departments in 2010. But corner someone over the age of 50 and ask them their favorite story about getting out of a ticket. I'll bet you one dollar they had something to drink that night. There's a hypocrisy here by all the people who have had a little too much to drink, driven anyway and didn't get caught and arrested.
Further complicating the issue is that this is not Chris L Rucker's first time in front of a judge this year. A specific condition of his probation was to stay away from the boozeahol and avoid negative contact with an officer of the law for the next two years. He failed. He's committed a mistake, served time in jail and has completed his punishment in the eyes of the law. He has not however, completed his punishment from the fanbase and depending on what happens Saturday, he might never finish that sentence.
The stakes for the decision to play Chris L Rucker Saturday could not be higher. Dantonio stated after the Rather Hall incident that there is a zero tolerance policy for the players involved. Dantonio probably did not realize that he would be going to Iowa 10 short months later to hurdle the last major opponent between him and an undefeated season and potentially a national title game. It's an easy thing to say when your players screwed up and there's no game next Saturday, and the game on Saturday is not the biggest of your career. This Saturday is the biggest game of Mark Dantonio's career.
Conversely, this is the first repeat offender since Glenn Winston. How he handles this situation matters. What Mark Dantonio cannot do is allow the perception that second offenses are okay. He would certainly have the moral high ground should he get up in front of a room of reporters and say: "Hear ye, hear ye. Chris L Rucker has committed a second offense and as a result will be bludgeoned to death by an angry pack of neglected five year old children." However, would Dantonio have helped Rucker, the program or himself? It's hard to say.
Dantonio to date, has not let Mr. Rucker play since he backed into another car at 7-11. Not in a game, not in practice. This week Mark Dantonio plays the biggest game of his career and it is my belief that he has elected not to inform the media of Rucker's suspension from this game to prevent Iowa from gaining an offensive advantage.
As a fan enjoying the best MSU season of my lifetime, I'd like to see us sit Rucker, go out and destroy Ricky Stanzi and make Adrian Clayborn sad in his heart. If Rucker plays and we win, I'll be a little sad that we can't win and have our integrity too. If Rucker plays and we lose, then well we lost both battles.
Should Rucker sit the rest of the season? I don't know and I honestly don't care. The damage will be done after this weekend. Either we've maintained our integrity or we haven't. Either we're still undefeated or we aren't. We won't need Rucker for Minnesota, Purdue or PSU, by the bowl game his backup Dennard should be good enough to avoid being a complete liability. If we drop any more of our regular season games after Iowa it's not because of Chris L Rucker, it's because JoePa is retiring or we didn't show up to a home game against Purdue or Minny.
I know this. I'll be watching at 3:30 on Saturday to see how Dantonio chooses to use his second chance.
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