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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Tow the Line

No links for Sunday. I'm knee deep in family festiveness for the holidays. But I did want to pass along one link and a quick story.

The parking situation at the Butts-Mehre athletics building is awful. There just aren't many spots available, but there are plenty of visitors, staff and media who are in the building regularly.

Of course, that's also where the players need to show up for practice, and while there is a small army of scooters parked in front of the building to enhance the convenience of travel, several players take it upon themselves to drive to practice.

This wasn't an issue for much of the season, but sometime about a month ago, the school decided it needed to start enforcing its parking regulations. The early result: Bye-bye Matthew Stafford's car.

Stafford's vehicle was towed, along with a few other cars belonging to folks closely tied to the Georgia program. As you'd imagine, he was none too happy.

I was walking out of practice a few weeks ago and headed to my car, parked in the row across from the baseball fields between Butts-Mehre and Stegeman. Parked in a makeshift spot a few feet down was Knowshon Moreno's ride. A cop was writing a ticket and calling in the plates -- New Jersey plates! I politely pointed out that it belonged to Knowshon and went my merry way. Apparently Moreno had to do a full sprint off the practice field to make sure his car stayed put. No word on whether he leaped any traffic cones along the way.

Finally, during the graduation ceremonies Friday, more towing was in effect. This time, they got Stafford again. As you'd expect, he was less than pleased, and voiced his opinion to some of the UGA staff.

All of this brings me to my link for today: My story in the Sunday Telegraph on the tough decision Stafford and Moreno have to make after the bowl game as to whether they should turn pro or stay in school.

Wouldn't it be sad if it was the parking police that drove them over the edge?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This infuriates me to read on a few levels. First of all, don't park your car in an illegal spot. Second of all, there should be adequate parking around the headquarters of a PRACTICE facility. Third of all, the UGAP(u)Ds have always seemed a bit self-important and willing to write tickets at the drop of a hat.

I don't like defending the players and assuming they are never in the wrong, but the Barney Fife attitude of those officers up in Athens has always been and will probably always be ridiculous.

Ben

Anonymous said...

What kind of vehicles do Stafford and Moreno drive, DH?

Just wondering...

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but I can't feel sorry for them. I am a student at UGA and we all face the same restrictions. Just because it's Stafford or Moreno's car doesn't mean that it shouldn't be towed or ticketed. I've parked out of zone a few times and I've gotten a ticket for it, and believe me.... the $40 ticket is unreasonable, but it taught me a lesson. If PARKING runs them off to the NFL, then that sure is bratty of the two of them. Next time, take a bus, walk or ride a scooter to practice, ALL of which are viable options.

David Hale said...

I was thinking how shocked I was by the amount of feedback I've gotten on this post... and then I started thinking back to how angry the parking services folks made me in undergrad. It's the same everywhere! My poor parents had to pay for me to get my car out of impound a few times.

Anyway, sorry Anon, but I'm not sure it's my place to put Stafford and Moreno's rides into the public forum. Suffice it to say though, that neither would have a problem picking up girls in them!

Anonymous said...

It's one thing to get a $40 ticket. I had planty of those as an undergrad. But getting your car towed TWICE? That's ridiculous. The UGA police hate their lives and take it out on students. I mean, isn't is Christmas break right now? I would bet there's next to NOBODY on campus. They must be reeeeally bored...