Two Buccaneers (ok one is an ex Buc) were arrested recently, and the nature of their apprehentions is subject for great debate. Shelton Quarles was arrested for DUI, while Jeremy Stevens was busted for, well, getting beat up.
For some reason, people seem to think people in upper level management positions should be immune to the ills of society’s substance abuse problems. Shelton Quarles was a Super Bowl winning linebacker for the Bucs, and he got his start from the very bottom. He played Special Teams to a level above most others, and eventually took over at Sam linebacker joining stallwarts Derrick Brooks and Hardy Nickerson there in 1999. By 2002, Jon Gruden made the suggestion to move Quarles to Mike linebacker, where he excelled until the Bucs moved on without him after the 2006 season.
Well, sort of moved on; they hired him in their front office. An office position that will not exempt Quarles from punative measures by commissioner Roger Godell. One only needs to look at Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand who was fined 100,000 dollars and a 30 day suspention for his DUI.
But the thing that gets me is how there is an attitude of “how could this happen” “Quarles was my hero, now he’s got a DUI”. Have a few drinks too many is not a social ill relegated to the lower classes. The higher the position, the greater the stress, the greater the need to blow off steam.
Plus, if its one thing we have learned lately, with Bucs WR Mike Williams getting arrested for suspicion of DUI while barely having any alcohol in his system showed us you cant always believe what you hear. 620 WDAE Afternoon radio host Steve Duemig makes constant mention of DUI arrests and how they are not always what they appear to be.
This one could be different though. Quarles was reported to be smelling bad of booze, and he refused to take a sobriety test, which is our right; although we instantly loose our drivers license when we do.
But while feelings are mixed over Quarles transgressions, former Bucs TE Jerremy Stevens was arrested in a battery incident that shows exactly the “you cant always believe” catagory. Stevens, as it turns out, was the VICTIM in the beating, suffering bruised ribs, and multiple injuries from his attack. Why was he attacked? We dont know, we can speculate.
Stevens has been the constant target of local ire when a Seattle area paper did a report on his legal problems from long ago during his college days when he allegedly date raped a young college girl. Charges were never filed, but money was exchanged, and in our society that seems to me an instant guilty plea. It’s not always so.
Of course many radio personalities fueled the fire against Stevens when he played here, who was dismissed from the team this past season when he was arrested for sale of Marijuana.
Stevens problems with the law are many, but that doesnt give anyone the right to beat him to show him right from wrong.
Unless of course I have it all wrong, and Stevens started the whole thing. After all, the moral to this story is supposed to be, you cant always believe what you hear.
Unless you smell it.
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