This is an opinion column.<\/p>\n
_____________________<\/p>\n
Give the Delta-9 vape pens a rest for a minute or two, kiddos. It\u2019s time for a Sunday mailbag covering the wide world or sports.<\/p>\n
Or maybe just Auburn\u2019s budding drug culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n Delta-9 THC enhances the skills of football players. It\u2019s a dubious theory that I read about on the inter-webs, but it appears like the Tigers might be putting that experiment to the test this fall.<\/p>\n Auburn had another arrest related to drugs before fall camp, and, naturally, it appears like some Auburn readers have decided to use this golden opportunity to accuse me of being in Alabama\u2019s Red Elephant Club \u2026 or society \u2026 or ice cream social \u2026 or whatever it\u2019s called.<\/p>\n I\u2019m old school. To me, if someone is going to start a proper club, then the first order of business is finding a treehouse for the meetings. <\/p>\n But I digress while taking another pull from my Crimson and White vape wand. Onward \u2026 to the mailbag.<\/p>\n Mac, world traveler, writes \u2026<\/p>\n I always follow and read your articles because I have found you willing to be free in your writings. \u2026How do we characterize the situation now at Auburn under Freeze, the pervasive \u201cculture\u201d that certainly seems to exist? And the administration\u2019s attempts to ignore it? And not just the athletic administration, but the university\u2019s as well. We\u2019ve seen or heard little from [athletics director John] Cohen and Freeze, but even less from Dr. Roberts and his office. <\/p>\n Where\u2019s the transparency? The first player arrested for a drug-related crime is immediately dismissed from the team. Simmons is arrested and charged with a violent crime against a woman and is allowed to remain on the team and practice. Hollis is arrested for a drug-related felony crime, and is immediately suspended. <\/p>\n With Simmons they had a Title IX investigation and said he was cleared, of sorts. All that investigation did was to confirm the incident did not happen on campus or at a university-sanctioned event, as that is the limit of Title IX\u2019s scope and purview. Big deal, that doesn\u2019t clear him of the charges. And yet, not a word, not an utterance of any kind have we seen from the university administration\u2026<\/p>\n The silence is deafening, and to me, quite condemning of the program, the culture, and the administration, both athletically and from the university. Please keep hammering them, unafraid to tell the truth and point the finger where it deserves to be pointed, demanding accountability. <\/p>\n Phil writes \u2026<\/p>\n Just another negative article from you about Auburn. However, this time you were able to flatter the Tide team and its wonderful players. I know the other members of your Tide Pride group are so proud of you. Your bias is so obvious it is unprofessional.<\/p>\n T-Bone writes \u2026<\/p>\n I know that I should NOT expect OBJECTIVITY and NON-BIAS from a Tide sycophant who wrote a book praising Saban, but your fixation on trumpeting EVERY Auburn player run-in with the law is RIDICULOUS! YOU turn a BLIND EYE to other SEC players who have been arrested, some of whom face far more serious charges. For example, a highly-touted LSU player was recently arrested on a FELONY CHARGE OF AFTER THE FACT ACCESSORY TO MURDER, BUT NO MENTION FROM YOU!!! There are other examples, but you are ONLY interested in trashing Auburn.<\/p>\n Come on, Joey, be a professional \u201cjournalist\u201d and stop acting like a teenage Tide fan in his mommy\u2019s basement trolling Auburn!! It would NEVER occur to you to write something POSITIVE about Auburn such as yesterday when the No.2 wide receiver in the country committed to Auburn.<\/p>\n ANSWER: No doubt Greg Sankey loves the \u201cwho has the worst arrests in the SEC\u201d conversation.<\/p>\n JR of Auburn writes \u2026<\/p>\n What do you expect, Mr. Goodman. You have entitled, prima-donna\u2019s riding around in their new wheels, vaping and smoking dope. Welcome to the new world of college football at Auburn University.<\/p>\n Not only will I not give one red NIL nickel to On to Victory, I will not buy a ticket to an Auburn football game to support this regime. There is obviously a lack of discipline!<\/p>\n ANSWER: Keep the red nickels, but don\u2019t stop sending the orange and blue variety down to Hugh Freeze.<\/p>\n Listen, Freeze might not be everyone\u2019s favorite coach, but he\u2019s worked pretty hard in between golf games putting together this team. I\u2019m excited about Auburn football this season despite the Tigers\u2019 recent crime spree. Building this team has taken more than two years, a lot of recruiting hours and tons of green. And when I say green, I mean cash money.<\/p>\n The Delta-9 THC arrest is discouraging, but let\u2019s consider one important thing here. Delta-9 laws are weird. In Georgia, where young Hollis Davidson III was arrested<\/a>, it\u2019s legal to have hemp-derived Delta-9 products if the THC levels do not exceed 0.3 percent. Hollis\u2019 vape pen tested at 1.25 percent. <\/p>\n I\u2019m not a scientist, or a pot doctor, or a medicine man, but apparently anything lower than five percent is pretty mild stuff.<\/p>\n In Alabama, it was legal to smoke Delta-9 vape pens until July 1. Now it\u2019s apparently against the law. It\u2019s confusing.<\/p>\n But the law is one thing, and football is another. It\u2019s fair to question the discipline of this team after three arrests over the span of a month.<\/p>\n Chuck in Pensacola writes \u2026<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure that Crown Victoria was quite the chick magnet! Well, at least you had a car during college, which is more than I can say. I am expecting some quintessential journalism from you now that I am coughing up 10 bucks a month just to read your column.<\/p>\n ANSWER: Friday\u2019s column mentioned my beloved 1980 Ford Crown Vic station wagon. It was my car through high school and college. My friends called it The Beast. Maybe not a chick magnet, but the cops enjoyed pulling me over to check out the sleek interior. Hugh Freeze might say that what The Beast lacked in speed it made up for with size and girth.<\/p>\n Billy in Oxford writes \u2026<\/p>\n I have enjoyed reading your articles for some time now. I have even responded to you on a few occasions. Recently I have been very disappointed to find almost every one of your columns blocked and requiring a paid subscription for access.<\/p>\n It is quite a disappointment that it has become such a dollar-driven process to peruse the daily news. Can\u2019t you and your editors do something about this? I am never going to pay for access. Your thoughts on this unfortunate turn?<\/p>\n ANSWER: Reporters gotta eat, too. The reason for the recent push for subscribers is because the Google machine is taking aim on the news business with its new AI technology. If you want AI, go to Google. If you want the bold-faced, unfiltered sports ravings of a slightly annoyed, mildly amused and mostly irreverent middle-aged Southern white guy, then you\u2019ve come to the right place.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all friends here. I\u2019d love to stick around too long at your house after the game and drink all your beer, but this option is the next best thing. Subscribe, send me an email or two when you\u2019re feeling slightly annoyed, mildly amused and mostly irreverent … and let\u2019s get ready for football season together.<\/p>\n BE HEARD<\/p>\n Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what\u2019s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.<\/p>\n Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist<\/a> for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book \u201cWe Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban\u2019s Ultimate Team.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is an opinion column. _____________________ Give the Delta-9 vape pens a rest for a minute or two,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[405,987,2034,7,4151,49,48,326,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-276835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-alabama-football","9":"tag-auburn","10":"tag-fbc","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-iron-bowl","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-football","15":"tag-sec","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115004371377634390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}