Sam Mellinger

The Kansas City Star

Maybe it’s that the standards for a college sports scandal have been dishearteningly redefined. Maybe it’s that, thankfully, nobody got hurt. Maybe it’s that, sadly, too many of us (me included) have driven when we should’ve called for a ride.

Whatever it is, I’m like Dennis Dodd and having a hard time raising hell about Gary Pinkel’s arrest on suspicion of DWI last night.

Of course it is an inexcusable mistake by a man who should and does know better. More than one-third of traffic deaths in Missouri are DUI-related, senseless and selfish deaths that we all should work harder to prevent.

Again, thankfully nobody got hurt last night. The arrest puts Missouri in position to either play this weekend’s game against Texas Tech without its head coach or be called hypocrites by some for not holding the head coach to the same behavioral standards as the players.

And it is, as this^ comment on the Star’s first story on this says, “the highlight of the KU football season.”

^ UPDATE: I mistakingly thought this was the first comment. It’s not, only the most recent when I checked. I’m easily confused early in the morning.

Pinkel is in his 11th season at Missouri, and has built enough capital to get through this and move on. Pinkel’s arrest is senseless and impossible to defend.

It also hardly registers in a new world of what constitutes a scandal.

Comments

1. 

   Dave Feit

   1 year, 6 months ago

   Glad to see my snark is getting noticed by Sam the Man.

2. 

   Mark Peavy

   1 year, 6 months ago

   Sam, as you pointed out, more than one-third of traffic deaths in Missouri are DUI-related. That’s 300 people in one year who were senselessly killed because someone acted totally selfishly and irresponsibly. Despite what many of your “cool” readers think, drinking-and-driving is not macho, it’s not a rite-of-passage, and it shouldn’t be socially acceptable because “everyone has done it.” Drunk driving is a big deal, and we should raise hell about it.

   Players get suspended for DUIs, and, if he was driving under the influence, Pinkel should be suspended for the rest of the season. Also, he should be put on notice that there will be zero-tolerance for future DUIs.

3. 

   Troy Cook

   1 year, 6 months ago

   Such a lame take from a person paid to have an opinion about sports.

4. 

   Clinton Thomas

   1 year, 6 months ago

   As I said on twitter today: “Pinkel blew a .081? You can get drunker than that sitting in the same row as @fakenedyost at a Royals game.”

   Less than 10 years ago, the limit was .10 and Pinkel wouldn’t even have been arrested for this. Technically he was driving drunk, but I have a hard time getting mad at a guy who was one-thousandth of a point over the limit.

5. 

   Nate Jones

   1 year, 6 months ago

   If Pinkel did indeed blow a .081, there will be no formal charges for DWI from the prosecutor as that amount falls within the margin of error for the machines the police use.

6. 

   Anonymous

   1 year, 6 months ago

   You have some early morning syntax in the next to last sentence: the arrest isn’t senseless and impossible to defend, the act of drinking and driving is.

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