ajcsportstalk

By stan

October 21, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this

The law’s the law. But it’s such a stupid law. It actually encourages irresponsible consumption.

IMO lowering the drinking age to 18 would mean less covert criminal binge drinking by students.

It was 18 when I was in college and we learned really fast that (as Dean Werner said in Animal House), “Fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”

By Alex

October 21, 2006 10:48 PM | Link to this

As a college student who only occassionally drinks and rarely gets really drunk, reading that article actually kind of made me want to go get completely plastered.

By Realist

October 21, 2006 10:49 PM | Link to this

Students are going to drink, underage or not. We would be better off lowering the drink age to 18 or 19 because young people are going to drink, period. It’s all about moderation and parents have a great responsibility helping their kids to learn this. If they’re not drinking in a bar, they’re drinking a private parties or in their dorms. They’re more than willing to risks being kicked out of school to do it. Adams and Machen are not going to find any success in changing what is simply a part of our culture these days. Drinking is part of the culture in most European cultures as well. However since they are legal to drink at a much younger age, they are able to learn moderation while still under their parents roofs. This is a major disconnect in our society. Just another example of how parents are failing teaching their children morals and proper judgement today. Besides if a young person is old enough to go defend our country, they are old enough to enjoy an adult beverage. These young people are at a defiant age and prohibiting them from drinking only encourages the vast majority of them. It is much more reasonable to let them drink but help them learn when to say when. And it is a lesson they will carry on after they turn 21 and after college when the level of drinking often actually increases. Just look at the nightlife in the bar districts of any mid to major city.

By Dean Wormer

October 21, 2006 11:13 PM | Link to this

That would be Dean Wormer to you. Since I moved over to the University of Georgia, I’ve changed my name to Michael Adams.

By Samuel

October 21, 2006 11:18 PM | Link to this

It was hard for me to explain to my daughter why drinking age is 21, tobacco is 18, sexual consent is 17 and registration for the draft is 18.

The University needs to get on the backs of the city of Athens who derive so much income from the drinking of students…through bars, or liquor store sales….not to mention the fines on students underage drinking. As long as the city derives SO much money from this behavior the only losers are the students and parents. Comeon UGA, you own Athens—demand the city to close down shabby bars, put a moratorium on liquor licenses for non restaurant facilities and that they start prosecuting the vendors for each student they prosecute….if they sell it and you catch a student ….both parties are fined. ONly then will something really happen in all this. Until then let them drink. We all need a drink with this miserable football season.

By Tom

October 22, 2006 12:06 AM | Link to this

I am a student at UGA and a graduate of Tech. I can say definitively that the atmosphere in Athens is especially destructive; something like 30 bars within a mile of the Arch. Almost all the undergraduates are focused on getting drunk, not studying, and the bars encourage this with all of their drink specials. In nearly every issue in the Red & Black, there is some incident of stupidity related to drinking: rapes, fights (e.g., drunk girl gets in argument over who is more attractive and hits bartender in face with mug), car accidents, deaths, football players passed out in restaurant bathrooms, etc. Bail bondsmen are frequent advertisers in the Red & Black; I wonder why… It’s clear that the enforcement is not where it should be, and I get the impression that Athens likes to cultivate its alcohol-serving businesses. There are so many bars springing up downtown in Athens that they are excluding restaurants and other shops.

There’s plenty of nightlife in Atlanta, but Tech students aren’t so wrapped up in daily binge drinking. They don’t abstain from drinking, but they are far more moderate in their behavior. The culture is just quite different.

By RWL

October 22, 2006 12:13 AM | Link to this

Look, this is a classic case of the Southern tradition of having a good time at SEC football games conflicting with the Southern religious agenda.

Kids are going to drink. You can have classes or programs to try to help them, but the MOST responsible thing for any university to do is to institute programs that are non-retributional to provide for a safe ride home. Believe me, this is the only thing that really keeps people “from making mistakes that they will regret.”

The episodes in Jacksonville aren’t attributable to the drinking of students at the colleges. Last year, some local “thugs” who were drunk found a kid alone and decided to go beat up on him. The result was his death. It wasn’t due to the student doing anything. Yes, he was drunk, but did he instigate anything? No.

If the schools want to make a difference, they need to make genuine efforts to work with student government to educate and provide services to students that have had too much to drink. Such services will only be used if the student feels free to contact them and utilize them free from being punished.

By elaine

October 22, 2006 02:50 AM | Link to this

My son attended high school overseas, and when he went to college several years ago in Ga., he was shocked at the level of drinking, and drunkneness on campus. Having spent a considerable time in Europe, where there is no drinking age (except for the UK), he was used to having a glass of wine with a meal or a beer with friends. I think if the drinking age were lowered to 18, and drinking was not equated with getting totally hammered it will be beneficial all around. Kids are let loose at college for the first time and unless they have learned how to deal with the temptations of alcohol, tobacco, etc these problems will continue. As Samuel above said, how can the draft and tobacco, and buying firearms be legal at 18 and drinking is not.

By Brannon

October 22, 2006 03:45 AM | Link to this

The only reason Adams was upset following the Auburn game last year was due to the fact that a couple of true UGA fans broke into his office and p** all over his furniture. He certianly deserved it. I certialy enjoyed Donnan’s comments at the Larry Muson banquet earlier this year. Adams is a complete disgrace to UGA. Anyone who can ride the HOPE scolarship benefits and defer the hiring scandal associated with Jim Herrick deserves to be the CEO of UGA, right?

By tim

October 22, 2006 06:57 AM | Link to this

I AM A 51YR OLD FLA FAN AND I HAVE BEEN A SEASON TICKET HOLDER SINCE 1979. I HAVE ATTENTED THE FL/GA GAME EVERY YR. SOME OF THOSE YRS EXTEMELY BOILED IN MY YOUNGER DAYS. NOT PROUD OF IT BUT NOT APOLOGIZING EITHER. I UNDERSTAND WHAT THESE TWO PRESIDENTS ARE TRYING TO DO BUT IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM DO I AGREE WITH. PART OF BEING A YOUNG ADULT IS TO LEARN TO MAKE DECISIONS ON YOUR OWN NOT HAVE SOMEONE SHOVE THEIR CHOSEN LIFE STYLE DOWN YOUR THROAT WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT MEACHEN IS DOING IN GAINESVILL. HE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THAT THIS IS NOT UTAH AND WE AIN’T MORMON. AND THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST DO NOT RUN EVERYTHING. THE ONLY THINGS THESE KIDS ARE DOING IS BEING KIDS ENJOYING COLLEGE AND GROWING UP. STOP WITH YOUR OWN IDEALS BETTER YET GO BACK TO UTAH AND LIVE IN A CAVE YOU ALREADY SCREWED UP WHEN YOU WANTED THE OL BALL COACH TO SUBMIT A RESUME. SO YOUNGESTERS HOIST ONE FOR ME THIS WKEND AND GO GATORS

By TDT

October 22, 2006 09:05 AM | Link to this

Well… now that we’ve all be YELLED at by Tim, I’ll throw in my 2c worth. I tend to line up with those that say we should lower the legal drinking age to 18. That gives parents a “legal” opportunity to teach their children about drinking and the fact that it can be enjoyed without getting hammered. Too bad so many UGA, FLA, and other school grads end up alchoholics and have to completely quit drinking when they are older. Kids take off to school with absolutely no guidance from parents about responsible drinking… or could it be they are simply duplicating what they’ve already seen at home for 18 years??

By Grandma

October 22, 2006 09:11 AM | Link to this

I think it’s great. Kids don’t need to be drinking and driving after games, or any time. The drinking age when I was a “kid” was 18, and there was a lot of even YOUNGER kids drinking with fake i.d.’s. It’s a lot easier for a 14-17 y.o. kid with a forged i.d. to look 18 than 21.

By Get Real

October 22, 2006 09:16 AM | Link to this

Just because kids see ADULTS’ behavior at home doesn’t give them the right to duplicate it. They are still KIDS. If the parents won’t help curb their desire to drink, then it’s time for the law to do it. I say raise the age limit even higher…maybe 25.

By prude

October 22, 2006 09:50 AM | Link to this

I also have had issues balancing the drinking age at 21 while getting killed in Iraq at 18.

Reading this article made it a little easier to accept the difference.

What a bunch of arrogant, self-centered, spoiled, juevenile college students.

At some point in their life they will learn that what they want in their life isn’t always what’s best for them. I would think that by the age of 22, some of that might have started to sink in. Guess not.

By iateoutoprah

October 22, 2006 09:50 AM | Link to this

you’re all a bunch of tools …

By em

October 22, 2006 10:05 AM | Link to this

The fact is that most of the binge drinking seen in college begins in high school where school administrators and parents tend to bury their heads in the sand. In some cases, at least in my community, the parents are contributing to underage drinking.

By c2w3

October 22, 2006 10:20 AM | Link to this

This latest crackdown in the Classic City is nothing more than a well-implemented revenue generating practice back road municipalities like Athens-Clarke County have used for years.

Rather than raise taxes in an election cycle, local or otherwise, local law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with the elected officials and committees who oversee them, go on ticket-writing and arrest sprees that accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and court fees.

And who’s got the time or money to fight it?

It’s quite genius, actually, because A-CC enforcement and the U-GAstopo are preying upon the most vulnerable: metro Atlanta visitors who make the 45 minute trip to home games after they’ve most likely worked for 80 hours the week prior; first-year students with barely a stitch of sense sewn through the post-teen minds; and those students’ parents, who will eagerly stamp down a thousand dollars for a no-contest slap on the wrist expunge plea.

Sounds like a nice jump-start for a proposed commuter train’s capital campaign.

By catlady

October 22, 2006 10:48 AM | Link to this

These efforts are like kissing your sister: It doesn’t get you anywhere.

By Sen. John Blutarski

October 22, 2006 10:59 AM | Link to this

Toga! Toga! Toga!

By DHNC

October 22, 2006 11:03 AM | Link to this

C’mon. It’s hard to drool budweiser down your chin while going “woof woof woof” unless you start drinking in the morning. It’s a UGA tradition.

By cwalken

October 22, 2006 11:24 AM | Link to this

Great idea “get real,” why don’t we simply just ban alcohol all together, and go back to the prohibition. We all remember how well that went (Capone, mobsters, bootleggers, bathtub gin) The truth is that ultimately the people decide the law. In the long run, however long it takes, the people will create the laws that they want. Alcohol is imbedded in our college culture and for the most part is a good and constructive part of that culture. As a college student i say we need to make two changes: 1. lower the drinking age to 18; 2. have universities encourage kids to practice safe drinking habits (e.g. transportation to avoid driving, punishing belligerent and destructive drinkers, and allowing an open atmosphere where drinkers can feel safe).

By tigger

October 22, 2006 12:45 PM | Link to this

You know, when you think about it, the age group from 18-21 has more restrictions put on it, more so than any other age group, that has the right to vote, than any other group. Why should they, as a voting group, be subject to restrictions that the rest of our society are not? If you are old enough to vote, then you should enjoy all the rights and privileges that all other segments of society enjoy.

By Getting over myself

October 22, 2006 01:05 PM | Link to this

Over-indulged, self-absorbed, college kids—holding responsibility at bay for as long as possible on their parents’ dime—want to drink too much…Now there’s a Page One story for ya!

What a waste of valuable newspaper real estate. Maybe those spoiled college kids would learn something if we gave that space to coverage of other ‘underage’ kids…those being killed everyday in Iraq.

By SAMUEL

October 22, 2006 01:32 PM | Link to this

oK, SO everyone agrees that college students are over indulged, self absorbed, spoiled rotten….so hasn’t changed much from when I was a UGA watching hallmates hang their heads in toilets and smelling stale beer on starched frat boy shirts at games.

Athens has and continues to make their capital campaign by arresting students sometimes standing right outside bars to ticket or now hall them in….while ignoring the very barmeisters who served the alchy in the first place.

There are too many bars for a city that size period. Athens wants the drinking, the school does not. So what are we to do? Hmmm instead of yelling at each other UGA needs the help of its neighbor DOWNTOWN Athens and it needs to stop harassing and arresting students. Stop the source. Place a police officer at each bar downtown each night and at each liquor store. Get them before they go into the bars not after. If they get in, then arrest both the bartender and the student but not just the latter. ONly then will something happen and that will be parties going on underground because PARTIES will happen, students will drink period.

By marcus

October 22, 2006 01:42 PM | Link to this

It is funny watching SOUTHERN CHRISTIANS cry over alcohol.

By KT

October 22, 2006 02:59 PM | Link to this

Many of these comments are just reminding me why I want to move back up North and away from the redneck, hick culture that permeates so much of the South. Although the culture has now mutated into one of spoiled rich kids and their parents who are still redneck hicks at heart. One person who commented said students shouldn’t have someone else’s lifestyle shoved down their throats. Hello?!?!? Being 21 to be legally allowed to drink is the law! So apparently, our kids should be above the law so we “can let them make thier own decisions.” Are you kidding me? If you don’t like the law, do something to change it. Now I’m not entirely opposed to lowering the drinking age, mostly because of the age-old reasoning of if they can vote and die for their country, why can’t they drink. In closing, I’d like for all the students and parents who are opposed to the crackdown on underage drinking to get their heads out of their priveleged as*!% and ask themselves why they think they are so entitled when underage drinking and binge drinking is ruining our young adults.

By Dwayne

October 22, 2006 03:06 PM | Link to this

This is so sad, people are saying it’s ok for those under 21 to drink “since they will do it anyways”. By that way of thinking, shouldn’t we just make everything that is illegal legal since most “will do it anyways”? It’s against the law for those under 21 to drink, until it isn’t, the police should do their job.

By Stewart

October 22, 2006 06:46 PM | Link to this

Kids are stupid and irresponsible enough without having alcohol in their system. Come on people..I partied with the best of them, but that doesn’t make it right. If you value your kids life, you will discourage them from binge drinking and driving under the influence. Take a look at the number of deaths on a yearly basis due to alcohol. You can teach your kids about drinking responsibly without actually giving them alcohol.

By dhnc

October 23, 2006 06:46 AM | Link to this

KT, Delta is ready when you are, damn yankee.

By David Franklin

October 23, 2006 10:35 AM | Link to this

Just as during Prohibition—illegal alcohol continues to flourish—the “Divorce Belt” mentality of what is inappropriately more called the “Bible Belt”— encourages binge drinking and abuse of alcohol by attempting to adhere to an unBiblical point of view that any alcohol use is “sin”. Europe—where there are no limits does not have this problem like the USA does. Despite all efforts to stop it “the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party” will continue this Saturday in of all places the “Divorce Belt” of hypocritical standards! Stop the blasphemy of referring to the South as the “Bible Belt”!

By Brett "the hitman" Hart

October 23, 2006 01:20 PM | Link to this

I want to know since when could you have fun without drinking? Is that only when your doing lots and lots of drugs or what? Those wacky Baptist Student Union parties are carzy by the way. But seriously how is it blasphemy to refer to the South as the Bible Belt? People get into fights, get rapped, and get into car wrecks even when they are not doing keg stands at football games people. Sure you odds are higher to fall of a parking deck when your drunk but some people need to die too.

By Rehab

October 23, 2006 04:20 PM | Link to this

Hey, college students, go ahead, get as drunk as you want! Drink every day! Drink morning, noon, and night! I will make TONS of money off of you when you come to me to dry out — if your liver doesn’t dry up like a prune in the meantime. Oh, yeah, I’m all for you guys drinking, even though I have plenty of work with all the high school kids I have to detox. But as long as mommy and daddy are shelling out the bucks for the keg, they might as well spend a little money on Rehab, too, right? I’m waiting for you, baby! Wipe the alcohol puke off your mouth and come on!

By mickey

October 23, 2006 05:23 PM | Link to this

WE SEND OUR KIDS TO COLLEGE TO LEARN OUT OF BOOKS NOT OUT OF THE BOTTLE AMEN TO MR.REHAB HE TELL IT LIKE IT IS MICKEY

By WHC in Atlanta

October 23, 2006 07:34 PM | Link to this

DON’T DO IT!!!

To all the students at UGA, please listen to a former party-animal frat-boy. I learned to drink with flair and gusto thanks to my years at UGA and the influence and example set by some of the University’s richest and strongest financial alumni/supporters at major corporations here in Atlanta. Yes, you know some of their names.

I thought I was pretty awesome. But after living the next twenty-five years in a drunken stuper and failing to live up to the success equal to the degree I got there, I have finally regained my life in sobriety. During this time, I have seen others kill folks driving drunk or killing themselves. The pain and financial cost to me have been beyond my wildest expectations. I NEVER intended to become addicted. (Addiction is NOT a weakness.)

Not all of you will become addicted as I did and will be perfectly able to drink responsibly. The only problem is that NONE of you know which one you are, but if you are like me, you know it “can’t be you.”

I notice a lot of the other blogs are preachy or rebellious. I hate to be preached at and I hope that this note of genuine concern is not misinterpreted as such. You are intelligent young adults - or you would not have made it into UGA - and you know how to make good decisions for the well-being of your own life.

But, please, please, please, don’t just rebel at all the rhetoric occuring now and rush out and drink to “show ‘em”. It ain’t worth it. Take this opportunity to act as the intelligent young adult you are and THINK your alcohol consumption based on you, before you take that next drink. You are a free American and YOU have the choice.

I can assure you that, today, I am able to party and entertain with the best…and without alcohol. When I was drinking, I never knew I could do it on my own.

If this blog helps even one of you who read it, than my lost years will not have for nothing. And, if you have a friend who doesn’t handle their alcohol well, please be there for them and give them tough love to help save their lives at an early age.

Make plans to live the rest of your life.

Go Dogs!!!!