August 28, 2011 Blog

August 28, 2011 Blog

WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

Dateline: Baton Rouge, LA

LSU star quarterback, Jordan Jefferson, was arrested and charged Friday, August 26 with second degree battery for a fight the previous Saturday night/Sunday morning in the parking lot of Shady’s Bar in Baton Rouge.

At least one person and possibly two were seriously injured. Reserve linebacker Josh Johns was also arrested
.
Several eyewitnesses reported that they saw Jefferson kick one of the victims in the face.

Jefferson was to lead the LSU Tigers, fourth ranked in the preseason polls, in a quest for the national championship. Their first game of the year, September 3, against the third ranked Oregon figures to be a game that will make or break both teams’ season.

Jefferson has won twenty-four games in his career at LSU. In his senior season, he had a chance to break the record of thirty winning games. He was going to be watched carefully by NFL scouts all year, and a good season might well have ended with a high draft position and a lucrative contract to play on Sundays next year.

With all this on the line, one has to ask a few questions:
  • Why was Jefferson at Shady's?
  • What was he doing in the parking lot at 1:30 AM?
  • Why did he allow himself to get involved in a fight?
  • How could he put his whole future on the line?

WHAT WAS HE THINKING?

·        The answer, of course, is that he wasn’t thinking. He was drinking and the alcohol had turned off the judgment and impulse control part of his brain in the orbitofrontal cortex.

Alcohol does that.

It also made him more aggressive and more prone to become physical.

Alcohol does that also.

Sadly, Jordan may have ruined his senior season. He may have turned a life of promise into a train wreck.

Would this have happened if he hadn’t been drinking?

Not likely.

jh

 

Some cracks in Big Alcohol's armor

August 10, 2011

SOME CRACKS IN BIG ALCOHOL'S ARMOR

The website Alcohol Justice (formerly the Marin Institute), a strong voice on the negative effects of alcohol, reported today that the LosAngeles City Council Public Works Committee has recommended banning alcohol advertisements on their buses and a proposal has been made to ban them from the bus benches across the city. The Committee agreed with the Coalition to Ban Alcohol Advertising from Public Property that the research is clear: the more alcohol advertisements young people see, the more likely they are to drink and drink to excess. The proposed 10-year contract with Martin Outdoor Media, LLC, will reflect that change. But...the City Council has to vote to approve.

Changes like these are showing up in cities all over the country. There is change in the wind. People are beginning to acknowledge the epidemic of teen drinking, alcoholism, and suicide.

There is something reminiscent here of the bans on tobacco ads that accompanied the avalanche of scientific proof of the hazards of smoking.

The strategists in the planning rooms of Big Alcohol must be getting a little nervous. There is a tiny crack in the wall of their propaganda armor. For now, they have the money and the public relations and advertising people to increase the volume of their omnipresent ads. Well not exactly omnipresent. They aren't going to be on buses or benches in Los Angeles anymore. That is, if the City Council approves.

You can help. If you live in Los Angeles, call, write, or email your councilman. Visit the Alcohol Justice website for details.

It's a start.

jh

August 7, 2011 BLOG

August 7, 2011
Last night while I was eating dinner, I saw the last half-hour of the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. I heard acceptance and thank you speeches from Shannon Sharp, a prolific receiver who played with Denver, Marshall Faulk, whose combined rushing and receiving numbers rank him as one of the best all-around backs of all time, and the incomparable Dion Sanders, aka "Prime Time," the electrifying corner back who literally changed the game.

Of note, none ever had a scandal during their careers: no DUIs, sexual assaults, fights in night clubs, allegations of gambling. In addition to being great players, they were sober and respectful men. They all had one thing in common: mothers who taught them good manners, good work habits, and the ills of drugs and alcohol.

As Shannon Sharp said,"When I went off to college at Savannah State when I was eighteen, my Momma didn't have to tell me not to get involved in drugs and alcohol. She had been teaching me that all my life, and presenting herself a a good role model."

What we say to kids matters. More importantly, how we live our lives has a huge impact on our children and other young people around us.

When I lectured to the leadership class at Laguna Middle School, I asked the young people what predisposed kids their age to drink. One very attentive thirteen-year-old blond girl responded, "Their parents set a bad example."

What we do may be much more important than what we say, much more so than we realize.

Let your kids know what you think about them drinking, and hopefully be a good role model with your drinking habits.

jh