Why Is This So Common Among NFL Players Now?

When I think about how many people I know who have driven home when they shouldn't have at least a few times I would say it's close to 100 percent of my friends. Especially when we were all in our early twenties.

That's not saying it's OK, but I'm not going to sit here and act all high and mighty when I have committed that same crime in my younger days, when I too thought myself to be invincible.

Tatupu is displaying the appropriate level of contrition and I'm sure he will learn from this and bounce back.

Good point, quite a bit of my friends and I have driven home times when we should not have. I guess it is more of society thing.

But if I did have millions of dollars coming in, I would just get a driver to take car of that worry.

I love the NFL. IMO, there is no better sport. I would love to be able to say its the best organization harboring the best sport on the planet... but this just keeps happening. Baseball's got its steroids, Basketball's got its high school dropouts and crybabies, and hockey, well, no one watches hockey. The NFL is getting the image that its full of thugs, and drunk drivers. Tatupu may have been an isolated incident, but so was Benson, Tank Johnson, D. Rhodes, Chris Henry......... you all get the picture! Come on guys, you are making the whole organization a laughing stock!
As for image GOlf has them all hands down. I can only think of John Daly when asking about golfers getting in trouble.

As for image GOlf has them all hands down. I can only think of John Daly when asking about golfers getting in trouble.

Of course golf has them all hands down. The culture around golf is the polar opposite of all other professional sports. For one you don't hear about the young guy who made it out of the ghetto playing golf...

According to the states, DUI rates are around 15% nationwide. That would put it at 300 for the NFL to meet the average.
DWI/DUI: Driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies website (http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/dwi.htm)


That's 15% of the population, including people of all ages. Because the age range in the NFL is much smaller than the nation as a whole, the number would be far less than 300. In other words, a typical person would have a 15% chance of getting a DUI over the course of their entire life (say, from 18 years of age to 70 years of age). The chances of getting a DUI between the ages of 22-35 is therefore much less.

That's 15% of the population, including people of all ages. Because the age range in the NFL is much smaller than the nation as a whole, the number would be far less than 300. In other words, a typical person would have a 15% chance of getting a DUI over the course of their entire life (say, from 18 years of age to 70 years of age). The chances of getting a DUI between the ages of 22-35 is therefore much less.

You've misunderstood my post and the study I linked to - the study isn't about getting arrested for DUI, it's about Driving Under the Influence (whether you are caught or not). With that understanding, the chances of driving under the influence are probably much higher for those between 22-35, which would be far more than 300. Also, this study includes females, who are statistically less likely to drive under the influence. This would also increase the percentage of players who would have to drive under the influence in order to be equal to the general public.

So, you raise a good point, but it supports my argument.

It's common in society. It's a necessary law but at the same time it can really screw the lives of people arrested for it. .08 BAC is near nothing to many people, but it accounts for the college cheerleader that kisses a guy that had a single beer and wrecks into a crowd.

Some states are understanding of mistakes and some (like my great commonwealth of VA) will royally eff your life for it. I had a cop merely get into a conversation with me as to why I was at a storage building at 2 am lead into a DUI when I passed all field tests.

I've had to pay thousands, still owe, take weekly classes an hour away because they wouldn't put me in the one 5 minutes away; have a breathalyzer/interlock device installed (haven't been able to afford that one so I have a driving while suspended coming up shortly), spend a week in jail, insurance, and quite a few other things that I'm forgetting for that one incident. Granted I didn't expect to "get away" with it, I never showed any signs of drunk driving by the cop that was behind me and pulled in (saying that the building had been broken into recently, a common cop lie when you're around a building at night.. I have another story for that one but we'll save it) behind me. I also passed all field tests.

Yes, it was completely my fault, but intoxilyzers are very innaccurate and none of this takes into effect the abilities of a single person, but that's what you deal with.

Conversely, my friend in PA got one, had 3 months restricted license and it was expunged from his record. He, like myself, decided not to drive at all after drinking again and now he's treated regularly. Myself, a year and a half later, is still struggling to deal with the repurcussions.