Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous…

First, Gerald Jones gets caught smoking a fatty (I simply can’t do it the way Basilio“>Basilio does it) in his car — which just happened to be full of recruits.

Then Daryl Vereen was arrested for public intoxication and underage consumption after trying to leave the scene of a dorm fight with a bloody lip, a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, slurred speech and bloodshot eyes (“No sir, Ossifur, I wuddn’t doin’ shit!! Got any tickets to the ball?”).

Now Anthony Parker has managed to get himself arrested for “standing in the parking lot of the [Sutter's Mill apartment] complex, waving his hands and yelling.” Okay, I, like Joel over at RTT, have to agree that’s a new one. That said, who the hell goes around yelling and waving your arms like an idiot in an apartment complex at 12:30 in the morning?

I remember what Sutter’s Mill was like when I was at UT, and it is essentially a privately run dorm about 5 miles from campus. The apartments are crappy and small, but they are cheap and convenient. Needless to say, there is a lot of law that hangs around the place to make sure no one gets to feisty. You don’t have to be a genius that — even if you aren’t doing anything you shouldn’t — running around screaming in the parking lot in the middle of the night might arouse some suspicions. Of course, I am talking about an offensive lineman here. Perhaps I am assuming too much.

Am I being pissy or rude in implying that Anthony Parker isn’t smart enough to realize this?  Probably.

Does he deserve the criticism? You damn well better believe it.

Parker is a junior — he’s been around a while. I’m also betting he’s all too familiar with the situations surrounding Vereen and Jones. Presumably he was out running the track with the rest of the Vols as a result. So what the hell was he thinking?

Now, in fairness to Parker, the circumstances surrounding his arrest sound odd as reported. As an alum, and as a lawyer, the reports lead me to one of two conclusions:

1. Either the cop was an overzealous blowhard who likes making college kids “Rah-sppect his Aah-thor-i-tah!” OR
2. Or the cop is a big fan of the program, and he did his job — by bringing Parker in — but the real details of why he brought Parker in will never truly be known (a/k/a he cut him a break on the charge).

Either way, I’m not real thrilled about the situation. (Of course, I could be completely wrong on both points, which would definitely not be a first…)

So too, anyone who ever howled at the moon a little — which would most definitely include me — during their college years knows they’ve been in a situation where they got arrested, almost got arrested, or damn sure should have been arrested (I deny any and all allegations that while I was at Tennessee I ever ran down the middle of Paperrmill Road — drunk as a coot — wearing shorts, a t-shirt and no shoes in the middle of a 20 degree winter night screaming for trash bags. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar — besides they were all all just as drunk as I was and wouldn’t be able to remember anyway … I mean … uhh … I digress.). My point is we’ve all been in a situation at point in time or another where we shouldn’t have been. Most times — as was the case in in my life (which I emphatically deny) it’s just harmless bad behavior. I have to give Parker, Vereen, and Jones a little mercy on that point.

That said, damnit, you know you are going to be held up like the poster-child for “Young Murderers of America” if you so much as sneeze, so you better keep your nose clean! Yeah, yeah, I know it isn’t fair, but I think the perks of being a player on a major college football team probably offsets the downside of being expected to avoid getting thrown in the pokey.

While I will say I have at least been relieved that all of the recent events have been relatively “harmless” crimes (i.e. no overt violence, no acts of dishonesty, thievery, or acts intended to inflict harm on others) that doesn’t excuse the bad behavior. I’m not going to get up here on my bully pulpit and say that these young men are bad people or that they are morally bankrupt, but I am going to say — and say loudly — while you may deserve forgiveness, there will be consequences…

…or at least there should be.

I am a Phil Fulmer fan (yeah, yeah, I know half of you guys want him fired — we’ll save that for another day), but I think that Joel has it right when it comes to what the Great Punkin’ needs to be saying in response to this recent outbreak of poor judgment. Joel writes:

Anthony Parker is a freakin’ idiot for doing something so stupid right after the Gerald Jones/Ahmad Paige and Daryl Vereen incidents. I’m workin’ my butt off, traveling all over the country trying to recruit good players for this team, and these guys are killing me. I’m leaving my family at home so I can do that, and now I have to cut that short and come home, not to see my wife and kids, but to chew this guy out.

Enough. Parker, Jones, Paige, Vereen. They’re all suspended. Two games. If they so much as look at me the wrong way, they can double that. The next person who gets in trouble with the cops is getting kicked off the team. I don’t care who it is. Test me and see. Idiot kids. Go to bed already. Drink some water. Play some video games. Stay inside. Fools.

Damn straight!

It is time for Fulmer to lower the boom on these guys, before someone does something that is not so “harmless.” The last thing I want is to have a program that looks and acts like Florida State — or even worse like this kid over at Wake Forest (yeah, that’s right, Wake Forest — and he wanted to kill people).

Anthony Parker may be completely innocent of all charges — in fact we’re supposed to presume that is the case until it is proven otherwise. Be that as it may, when you’re on the front porch of the university, whether it’s legal or not, you don’t moon people as they walk by.

Let’s hope the powers that be get things under control before anyone else in the program shows their ass…

- Go Figure …

Image Courtesy of: Inside Tennessee and UTVols.com

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About the Author:  "Lawvol" -- I'm just a guy living in North Carolina who has an unnatural fascination with the color orange. Just because I'm a Tennessee alum and die-hard Volunteer fan doesn't mean that I can't poke a little fun at the Big Orange and anybody else for that matter. Feel free to complain all you want. >> Read more from this author

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