Super Mario Pledges to Avoid Pipes
Seeing his draft stock stumbling due to the dreaded “character concerns” label, former Michigan wide receiver Mario Manningham sent a letter to all NFL teams apologizing for his past Marijuana use.
Manningham admitted failing two tests for Marijuana while at Michigan, after previous denials.
“I don’t use marijuana anymore - and I have passed tests since,” Manningham wrote in the letter. “I know what is at stake for me, and my career. I am learning what it is going to take to be a professional. I am writing this letter because I just want a fair evaluation, and I want to be accountable for my actions. I am willing to be re-interviewed, re-tested, and to undergo any evaluation any team wants me to undergo.”
Marijuana usage by white, every day students is seen as a normal right of passage. Why, when black athletes use it, does the issue transform into a “character concern?”
Marijuana is not a drug. I used to suck dick for coke.
Now that’s an addiction, man. You ever suck some dick for Marijuana?
Tags: Marijuana, Mario Manningham, Michigan Wolverines, NFL Draft
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9 April 2008 at 11:34 pm
It’s not about white or black, it’s about doing something illegal. When people get high, they can tend to do some pretty stupid shit.
When a person spends millions of dollars a year to employ someone, the last thing they need is bad press costing them money.
Do I personally think smoking weed is a big deal? Not really. But I image if you profile the average criminal, they either smoke, or used to.
10 April 2008 at 12:12 am
If you profile the average president, nobel prize winner, or prominent author, they would fall under that category as well.
10 April 2008 at 9:09 am
It’s a shame, because both Mario and Aqib have a lot of upside and talent and can really contribute at the next level.
I’d expect teams to take a chance on these guys in the 2nd, maybe 3rd round in Talib’s case, and it’ll be a boom-or-bust situation.
10 April 2008 at 10:28 am
I don’t think either of them get past the 2nd round. This is the same logic that led teams to pass on future hall of famers Randy Moss and Warren Sapp.
10 April 2008 at 2:33 pm
When I said ‘used to’, I really meant used pot as a gateway drug and are now into heavier stuff. I doubt most presidents still hit the bong.
10 April 2008 at 3:51 pm
The “gateway drug” argument is flawed. It is true that most people who become addicted to harder drugs started by using Marijuana, but it is not true that most people who use Marijuana casually become crackheads.
And, it is about white or black. The fact that Mario Manningham is a black man using Marijuana immediately evokes the “criminal” context. If it was a wealthy white student doing the same exact “crime,” society would view it differently.
10 April 2008 at 5:52 pm
there was a pretty factual article in the free press or news today regarding the standards for drug testing in college. ncaa policies leave it to individual schools to test for drugs while mandating tests for performance enhancing drugs. i think that’s the real story here. MM tested positive twice and was mixed up with the vicodin, yet UofM did nothing (unless you count a suspension against Eastern punishment).
I do agree with you about the racial undertones involved.
13 April 2008 at 11:53 pm
Agreed tyduffy, when rich white athletes at Duke did something bad, everyone looked the other way.
14 April 2008 at 12:03 am
The fact that there is a cultural disdain for uber-privileged white kids neither mitigates nor relates to a subtle racism that pervades through society.
Why am I having a debate with someone named “cockflavored?”