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July 26, 2007

The arrest of Joe Clermond for possession of marijuana is frustrating and mainly stupid. The fact is, I think Clermond will have to be suspended for at least two games. Mainly because his behavior was incredibly stupid, selfish and irresponsible.

On a personal/political level, I stand with former Pitt great Mark Stepnoski on legalization of marijuana. I find this offense  at the level of underage drinking or violating an open container law on my personal scale of where it ranks in offenses by college athletes. I’m not a big fan of the drug war and that’s the extent I’ll editorialize on the issue.

The fact is, though, that Clermond was arrested and charged with possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana. A minor misdemeanor punishable by up to  30 days and a $500 fine. The “good news” for Clermond is that the charges don’t include anything about paraphernalia — which is actually a more serious misdemeanor. He broke the law and was caught.

He’s also a scholarship player at Pitt representing the school and the football team. He was one of the players to go to Big East Media Days. An expected team captain and leader on the defense. He has dinged his own future — with a character flag.  In other words, he has to carry and behave as more than simply a college kid.

It might seem unfair to Clermond to be held to a higher standard, but it’s not like he was unaware of the way things are.

There’s a good chance the charges could be dropped if someone else takes the blame for the stuff. That doesn’t matter. Clermond was there with it present. He bears responsibility to the team, and I don’t see how Coach Wannstedt doesn’t suspend him for at least one game or two.





He broke the law and was caught? That is an assumption at this point. I will agree that he put himself in a bad situation and has to be held to a higher standard, but don’t convict him just yet. In all reality it could be that he has nothing to do with it, other than a poor choice in companions.

Comment by Derrick 07.26.07 @ 10:38 am

Curtis Martin retired-represented Pitt well in the pros..even if he didn’t play much for us.

Comment by scoocher 07.26.07 @ 10:53 am

I wholeheartly agree w/ banning laws against marj use. Unfortunetly, the law must be enforced and I dont think he should avoid accountablity, unless he really didn’t commit a crime. The kid is most likely guilty by association. This is a crappy predicament for any young star athlete to be in but its definitely not the end of his career. He will overcome his mistakes and find a way to release the tension. Hopefully on the football field…

Comment by MoE 07.26.07 @ 12:38 pm

Curtis, welcome to the Hall of Fame!

Comment by Rex 07.26.07 @ 1:04 pm

Kudos to Curtis “Razor” Martin and his fine professional career. Hoepfully, he can get into the hall on the first ballot.

JC- ouch. That is college life. How many times have we sat in our dorm drank beer and puff the dragon while playing john madden, bill wash or coach k. Wrong place and definitely the wrong time. But this doesnt mean anything about his character or persons- this is just him growin up and learning from life expereinces.

Personally, I hope that DW and Buddy run him into the ground and make him throw up. Now,if he is guilty i beleive in suspension, 1 or 2 games, but more importantly the captain badge should be stripped. He needs to earn that badge back. Start him back onthe scout team and make him earn his way to the starting line up.

Also, this could be a blessing with the first two games being joke games that we can get some of the freshman on the field getting valuable experience b/c MSU is going to be a tough game

Comment by cdmoore25 07.26.07 @ 1:13 pm

can’t we just have him clean the stadium?

Comment by tray 07.26.07 @ 2:38 pm

No – the Stadium Cleaners Union would forbid it.

Comment by Reed 07.26.07 @ 4:15 pm

This is ridiculous – I demand Penn State justice. This kid didn’t commit a felony – according to PSU, he shouldn’t even miss a down. Why do we have to hold our student athletes to a higher standard than that shithole across the state?

And how come we’re not waiting until someone comes forward and claims the weed? According to the Trib article, some kid from WVU had the weed in his pocket and Joe seems to be getting charged with the blunt found in the car. This makes no fucking sense. If he was smoking, fine, charge him, but if he was just there, why is he getting charged at all? He rolls blunts for others to smoke?

Comment by Stuart 07.26.07 @ 5:25 pm

I’ll be surprised if he misses a down. Erik Gill was guilty of much worse and never missed a snap. Wanny learned from JJ, remember? There’ll be some depth-chart justice applied and I don’t even see this being an issue. Clermond is not a trouble maker and as long as he’s eligible I don’t see Wanny suspending him.

I’ll be surprised if the charge isn’t dropped, actually. I think his hearing is Monday, though, so we’ll know soon enough.

Comment by Sara 07.26.07 @ 6:12 pm

Skip Prosser, dead at 56, on ESPN.

Collapsed while jogging. RIP…

Comment by Ryan M 07.26.07 @ 7:23 pm

That’s insane, and unfortunate for WFU.

What i’m more suprised about is ESPN had time to report it in-between their asscar and arena league coverage. I didn’t know they still covered college sports.

Comment by Stuart 07.27.07 @ 2:53 am

Bob Costas says he’s not upset about Barry Bonds calling him a midget.

Comment by Bill 07.27.07 @ 8:35 am

Stuart, you make me laugh. If a PSU player was caught on the subway with another guy he didn’t know but had an ounce of weed in his pocket you would be calling for them to be booted off the team. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Comment by blahblahblah 07.27.07 @ 9:53 am

Didn’t we nearly hire Prosser instead of Dixon?

Comment by Lee in State College 07.27.07 @ 9:53 am

In the subway? I didn’t know there were subways under the fars. Maybe you should say “pickup truck.”

I’m glad you *know* what I’d think about a given situation before it happens.

Lets see here…caught invading an apartment, stealing shit and sending kids to a hospital….or, walking away from a car when someone else in the car has weed….hmmm…

I know that’ll be a tough distinction for someone from that shithole, considering you don’t understand “felony” vs “misdemeanor.”

Comment by Stuart 07.27.07 @ 11:18 am

Prosser grew up in Carnegie and was a great guy.

And honestly, although a little dope isn’t a big deal to me, getting arrested in general does set a bad example for the kids. He should be suspended. This isn’t West Virginia. We shouldn’t tolerate kids being irresponsible. Hopefully Clermond will response properly. Maybe the kid still needs to grow up – and Wanny should be somewhat responsible for that growing up.

Comment by Ryan 07.27.07 @ 7:19 pm

between benjamin beating his girlfriend and this kinda crap, we might as well be psu or wva, start booting some of these guys out, and get some control back! we aren’t talking about superstars or future pros, mainly role players. I’m a season ticket holder for both sports, and i would like to see a clean program or at least an honest attempt at it.

Comment by Kurt 07.27.07 @ 9:40 pm

Honestly guys, look around college football. Good teams don’t suspend players for this kind of stuff. If it becomes a habit, then that’s something different. The top programs deal with this in-house by physically punishing the hell out of the offending player until he gets the message. But he plays. Look at Penn State, USC, Ohio State, Florida State, etc. Obviously Pitt is nowhere near those programs, but let’s not pretend these are the Biff and Muffy days where everyone shares a shake after the big game. The rules are different.

Comment by Sara 07.28.07 @ 10:21 am

JOE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE ON YOUR LEFT, LOOK TO YOUR RIGHT. I’M HERE! WHEN YOU GET OVER THIS HILL, THERE WILL BE ANOTHER. LIFE IS FULL HILLS, KEEP LOOKING UP. THEN YOU CAN LOOK BACK AT ALL THE HILLS AND VALLEYS YOU’VE COME THROU.

Comment by Mrs, G 07.29.07 @ 2:07 am

[…] Kevin Gorman at the Trib is reporting that Joe Clermond had marijuana possession charges against him withdrawn. Police found the a small amount of the drug in a car Clermond was riding in on the way home from a concert at Mellon Arena. Apparently there was enough reason to believe Clermond had nothing to do with it. Clermond’s release from the charges will help him avoid what could have been a possible suspension. […]


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