Allen Pinkett clearly has flip-flopped the order in which you should think and speak, or at least that's really the only sensible explanation for his comments regarding Notre Dame's recent suspensions.
With that said, bicker, debate or laugh all you want, but please, please, please don't adjust your sleeping habits over the issue.
Pinkett, a former All-American running back with Notre Dame, chimed in Wednesday on head coach Brian Kelly's decision to suspend four players this offseason. Pinkett's comments, however, focused more on the players who were suspended and the overall culture change in South Bend, rather than Kelly's decision-making process.
"I've always felt like to have a successful team you've got to have a few bad citizens on the team," Pinkett said on WSCR-AM 670. "That's how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals and that just adds to the chemistry of the team. I think Notre Dame is growing because maybe they have some guys that are doing something worthy of a suspension which creates edge on the football team."
Where to start, where to start. First of all, the idea that having "a few bad citizens" is a prerequisite to success is beyond laughable. It's OK to hoot and holler about having this tough guy image, or to opine that having some sort of nasty mindset is a benefit over the course of a physical game on the gridiron, but to seriously draw a direct correlation between criminal activity and success doesn't offer up much in the way of intelligence.
"You can't have a football team full of choir boys," Pinkett went on to say. "You get your butt kicked if you've got a team full of choir boys so you've got to have a little bit of edge. But the coach has to be the dictator and the ultimate ruler. Here's my opinion: You don't hand out suspensions unless you know you've got somebody behind that guy that can make plays."
Again, laughable. Pinkett's probably right that you can't have a football team full of choir boys. (Unless, of course, those choir boys are also exceptionally gifted at the game of football, in which case the locker room could be a much more melodic place.) But there's a distinct difference between having "a little bit of an edge" on the field and going out and mugging some 80-year-old woman on the corner. (Not that any of the four suspended players did that, but couldn't we expect a mugging fool to increase Notre Dame's title hopes according to Pinkett's school of thought?) There isn't and shouldn't be any link made between committing a crime and excelling on the field.
Fortunately, Pinkett did offer up some clarity on what exactly he meant by the term, "criminals," when pressed further on the issue.
"I want guys that maybe get caught drinking that are underage," Pinkett said, "or guys that maybe got arrested because they got in a fight at a bar, or guys that are willing to cuss in public and don't mind the repercussion of it. That's the type of criminal I'm talking about."
Since there probably haven't been too many people thrown behind bars for dropping an F-bomb while walking through the park, and there's been plenty of 19-year-old college kids who've thrown down outside of a bar at last call and lived to tell about it, Pinkett's elaborate criminal breakdown makes his comments seem a little less belligerent, but come on. While we now understand Pinkett isn't exactly advocating for players who have done hard time, there's still much to be desired in his reasoning.
Regardless of the seriousness of a player's "crimes," it's difficult to comprehend the true on-field benefit of players acting out, unless we're just working under this assumption that swearing, underage bar scrappers add a whole new dynamic to a football team. Sure, those rabble-rousers may bring a little extra swagger, toughness or "edge" (to steal Pinkett's term), but that same "edge" could come from some bookworm playing Dungeons & Dragons on his Friday night. The fact is that Pinkett's claims are immeasurable, and therefore getting all worked up simply isn't worth it — unless your Pinkett's employer, Notre Dame, which obviously isn't too thrilled about the matter.
Anyone, Pinkett included, can sit here and say you need more of X, you don't have enough Y, or more Z will give you more W. Just as Pinkett thinks that "criminals" are a main ingredient in the recipe for college football success, some lunatic could fire out an off-the-cuff rant about how smoking pot makes you a better artist because it helps generate ideas or throw a tirade about how watching porn increases your likelihood of becoming a doctor because you're more in tune with the human body. At the end of the day, it's all just crazy talk and should be taken as such.
It's not a crime to be wacky, but if it were, Pinkett's the type of guy you'd want on your football team, right? Right?
(Head shake.)
