“We’re Not Going To Sit A Player For Speeding”
November 22nd, 2010
Lost amid the giddy Bucs beat down of the 49ers yesterday was one of the coolest quotes Joe can think of coming from a Tampa Bay sports figure in some time.
After Bucs wide receiver Mike Williams was arrested and charged with a DUI despite blowing a breath test that showed he was well within the legal limit of alcohol in his body, some neo-Prohibitionists pounded their canes on the sidewalk demanding the Bucs bench Williams, or worse.
After studying the details of the arrest, Bucs general manager Mark Dominik shot back at the critics and moralists, having Williams’ back with the quote of 2010 when he told Rick Stroud of the St. Petersburg Times, “We’re not going to sit a player for speeding.”
The Bucs don’t excuse Williams’ decision to be out late when he had to report to the team facility for practice at 8 a.m. Friday. But his playing status was never really in doubt.
“We’re not going to sit a player for speeding,” general manager Mark Dominik said Saturday. “And it looks to us as though that’s really the only law he broke here.”
Dominik also had to consider the precedent around the NFL. Jets receiver Braylon Edwards was arrested on DUI charges in September after he blew a 0.16 on a Breathalyzer. He played the next game at Miami but didn’t start.
Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams had a second drunken-driving arrest since 2004 last week but still played against the Chiefs. The Broncos stripped him of being a team captain, and he did not start.
Once again Joe believes the absolute only way one can “lump” Williams, Aqib Talib, Jerramy Stevens and Tanard Jackson together is that each wore the same uniform when training camp broke.
Williams, to date, has not broken any laws. None. Stevens was caught red-handed with so much contraband, he was slapped with a felony charge. Jackson failed multiple banned substance tests. Talib’s misdeeds in the summer of 2009 are well-documented and undisputed.
The greatest “crime” Williams seems to have committed is the heinous black-man-driving-a-nice-car-after-dark law. At least it smells that way to Joe. It’s simply irresponsible to connect Williams with the other four Bucs/former Bucs aside from the fact they are/were all teammates.
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:05 am
agreed.
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:24 am
Absolutely agree. Allow the process to play out. We should all reserve judgment until the urine test comes back. If Williams did volunteer the test to clear his name, good for him.
At this time, he made a bad decision. Haven’t we all made a bad decision in our early 20’s?
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:31 am
completely agree. nevertheless though, this should be a good lesson to mike that he is in the spotlight and is going to be held under a microscope in the public’s eye. it comes with stardom every time.
November 22nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
and that’s the bottom line because Stone Cold Mark Dominik said so!
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:10 am
If the urine test comes back negative I say the media should call for the COP to be suspended for a week WITHOUT pay…AND sent to continuing education in ANGER MANAGEMENT…AND be made to sit and WATCH 20 hours of Bucs TV!
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
I’d like to see the dashcam video (if there was one) before I deem the cops racial profilers. I’m glad he played and looks like he will get out of this incident unscathed. But if Mike Williams was swerving in and out of traffic, then he is a complete idiot and deserves worse than what happened to him.
I just hope that’s not the case. Either way one of the two (MW and the cop) had a very disappointing early-morning performance on Friday.
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
^^^^^
This!
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:26 am
I am trying to figure out why Mike Williams had to take a urine test. After passing the blow test and being under the legal limit. There is no dash video to show the public. This case seems very shady. Glad the Bucs management didn’t cave to public pressure to bench M.W.
November 22nd, 2010 at 9:29 am
I also wanted to see the dash cam video. If Williams was such a big problem, why haven’t they released it? Maybe they are not allowed to, but this whole thing stinks. I think the “heinous black-man-driving-a-nice-car-after-dark law” pretty much nailed it. If Mike would have been a 45 yr old white male driving an Escalade, and only blew a .65, his arse would have been driving home after the stop. I know some cops will pull you over at 10+ MPH over the speed limit, but generally they cut it off at 15 MPH over. The sad thing here is the cop, who may have been racially profiling, had a very good chance of being correct in his assumption, because an Escalade is the vehicle of choice for many high flying drug dealers and bang leaders. Sad, but true, Williams fit the profile to a tee. He might want to trade that thing in on a Ford F-150, a Lexus GS-460, or something more along the conservative lines. Just a thought.
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:00 am
Williams offered to take the test to prove his innocense.
November 22nd, 2010 at 10:10 am
Getting arrested for DUI in Tampa is very shady. If they suspect you they have the mindset that they are taking you to jail and letting court sort it out. The field test is just a formality. Tampa is the worst place to get pulled over. Lots of cops trying to prove themselves. He will probably get a reckless driving and still have to take alcohol classes. Every friend I’ve had get DUIs in Tampa and beat them still suffer the consequences but not the DUI conviction. It’s a very shady system.
November 22nd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
I agree with mr.lucky.
Sorry ass cop abusing his authority. if he was not legally over the limit and did not smell like pot then he was probably just sleepy. I respect most cops but some of them are real idiots.
November 22nd, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Nice Joe…Paint all of us cops with one racist brush stroke, “black man driving a nice car after dark”. Is that really how you percieve us? Even after two of my friends were shot point blank in the head ealrier this year by a black man, I dont have that mentality and neither do the men and women I patrol with every night. Ask Ronde Barber why I stopped him one night and how he was treated…I apprecdiate your website which is head and shoulders above the Bucs website, but you my friend are an ASS.
November 22nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Kevin, you are prob a great cop. But believe it or not, racism still exists. Whether it be a cop, waitress or bus driver, racism influences ones opinions on another and it only takes us 3 seconds to form an opinion on someone.
November 22nd, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Just the man trying to bring down MW!
lol…
Rookie cop.
November 23rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
Kevin the cop. Your saying all the right things. But its kind of like a politician telling me they all good, honest, hard working people only looking out for the best interest of the people. See how that sounds. Its hard to stomach.