Walsh reporting boyd arrested with DUI---but sources state he was well below .08

[geeman2001]

In a perfect world, he'd be busted hard ... because DUI is an awful thing. But it's not a perfect world. DUI gets some lip service, but ultimately nobody is punished as hard as they should be. Probably because so many people do it. A guy I know is a teacher who got busted for it two blocks from the school where he works (and had a lot more than a .08 or whatever). It was publicized in the newspaper, well known to everyone. Shaking in his boots about the fate of his job ... and it turned out the district didn't seem to care in the least. Didn't even put him on a probationary plan or anything. And not one parent complained. I ran into him and asked what had happened. "Nothing. They were really cool about it." He didn't change his drinking one bit, and continues to drive regularly after a night out.

If that person isn't impacted, then dammit, Boyd shouldn't be either.

 

["O" Fries]

Let me get this straight. He has not been charged with breaking any law? Did he get a traffic violation? Seems to me, as of right now, it's a non-story.

Speaking of drinking and driving generally, I think we all agree it can be a serious problem. However, the BAC level is very arbitrary, and I guess, it has to be for many reasons. Namely, they have no other cost effective way of discerning impairment. Tyler Boyd, having 4 drinks may be much different than the average person of his same size and weight having the same amount to drink. Skill, coordination and how the body processes alcohol are not the same for every person. Therefore, impairment is not the same for everyone.

So, I don't think this is a character issue at all based on what we know. .16, perhaps, but if he's around .08 or less, many people drive at that level without being impaired. It's more dangerous to text and drive at that level, or mess with the radio/iPod.

After Walsh's subpar reporting on the coaching hire, has he jumped the shark here?

 

[TheWitchDoctor]

In a perfect world, he'd be busted hard ... because DUI is an awful thing. But it's not a perfect world. DUI gets some lip service, but ultimately nobody is punished as hard as they should be. Probably because so many people do it. A guy I know is a teacher who got busted for it two blocks from the school where he works (and had a lot more than a .08 or whatever). It was publicized in the newspaper, well known to everyone. Shaking in his boots about the fate of his job ... and it turned out the district didn't seem to care in the least. Didn't even put him on a probationary plan or anything. And not one parent complained. I ran into him and asked what had happened. "Nothing. They were really cool about it." He didn't change his drinking one bit, and continues to drive regularly after a night out.

If that person isn't impacted, then dammit, Boyd shouldn't be either.

God, I hope you don't have any children. What an excuse laden post.

 

[geeman2001]

God, I hope you don't have any children. What an excuse laden post.

I guess if you call 100% irrefutable stone- cold lead-pipe facts to be excuses, I guess so.

 

[wbrpanther]

From the sounds of the reports he had a couple of drinks and was cooperative with the officers. Suspend him 1 game and move on.

Is he 21? If not there should be some punishment. If he is 21 he did nothing wrong, as long as he was under the legal limit.

 

[PittMan 72]

Is he 21? If not there should be some punishment. If he is 21 he did nothing wrong, as long as he was under the legal limit.

Have seen 2 different birth dates for TB. Not sure which one is right? Regardless, I hope that he uses this incident as a lesson and realizes the he just can't afford to take that type of risk again.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

putting Boyd in for half a game (especially the 2nd half against a team we should be pounding) will hurt his per game stats and *could* have an effect on his draft status.

You really think that there is any NFL team out there that pays even a wee little bit of attention to a guys per game stats when deciding whether or not to draft him? Really?

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

So you don't think there is nothing wrong with a Inexperienced 16 year old driving after having a few beers? The reason they have this law is because mixing the two is a deadly combination. I rather they learn a lesson now with a DUI then sending them on their way and end up killing an innocent person.

As far as Boyd in the grand scheme it not a big deal. He will learn from it.

I don't think that even an inexperienced 16 year old would be impaired by a single beer. In fact there is some data that very low levels of alcohol actually has the opposite effect. Probably should be a graded approach to the law 0.02 is way too low. I could see 0.04 or 0.06 for underage DUI. Otherwise just charge them with an underage drinking violation.

 

[Pitt is #1]

ratking17...I have to point out to you that Tyler Boyd is NOT a kid, he is a 21 year old man. Being a 21 year old man, he should be held accountable for all of his actions (both good and bad). I don't know what punishment should be given to him because I don't know all of the facts of the situation, but if he was indeed driving while under the influence, then his punishment should be harsh enough to make him understand that he made a poor decision and should never make that same choice again.
Sadly, Tyler Boyd may have just cost himself millions of dollars.

I agree he made an error in judgement. And yes driving after drinking is a serious problem. However, he is only in trouble because of his age. If he were 21 and stopped...he would have been given a free pass. Therefore, I don't feel this will be considered an issue as far as his future. I also think it isn't worthy of a major team punishment. I would suspend him one game and move on.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

IMHO, even a 1 game suspension for this is way way over the top. He wasn't drunk. He was honest and cooperative with the police and nobody was harmed or even in danger of being harmed. Whatever civil liability (fines driver license suspension for underage drinking) that he incurs should be entirely sufficient punishment without the University adding anything. Hopefully common sense will prevail and PC attitudes won't prevail.

By the way, under these circumstances my attitude would be precisely the same if he were the last walk on on the end of the bench or any PSU or WVU player. This doesn't rise to the level of team or school disciplinary action being required except in the minds of the over zealous.

My attitude would be entirely different if he were actually drunk and/or was involved in an accident or driving at excessive speed, etc. But none of these things were involved.

 

[passedout]

If this is the first offense for T Boyd, then treat it as such. 3 game suspension is out of control in my opinion. Maybe internal punishment or a half, the YSU game at the very most if you want to send the harshest msg.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

If this is the first offense for T Boyd, then treat it as such. 3 game suspension is out of control in my opinion. Maybe internal punishment or a half, the YSU game at the very most if you want to send the harshest msg.

Just because PSU, WVU and other programs may have a history of being lax in dealing with real player issues like rapes, brawls, gross public drunkeness, etc., doesn't mean Pitt needs to, or should, go to the opposite extreme of being over zealous and over react. Anything more than having Boyd issue a public statement to the effect that he used poor judgment in not waiting to age 21 to have a drink will, IMHO, be an over reaction to what actually appears to have occurred in this instance.

 

[passedout]

Just because PSU, WVU and other programs may have a history of being lax in dealing with real player issues like rapes, brawls, gross public drunkeness, etc., doesn't mean Pitt needs to, or should, go to the opposite extreme of being over zealous and over react. Anything more than having Boyd issue a public statement to the effect that he used poor judgment in not waiting to age 21 to have a drink will, IMHO, be an over reaction to what actually appears to have occurred in this instance.

Agreed DCP... It's going to be interesting to see how the new regime handles this. This is nothing it seems.

 

[thom67]

Just because PSU, WVU and other programs may have a history of being lax in dealing with real player issues like rapes, brawls, gross public drunkeness, etc., doesn't mean Pitt needs to, or should, go to the opposite extreme of being over zealous and over react. Anything more than having Boyd issue a public statement to the effect that he used poor judgment in not waiting to age 21 to have a drink will, IMHO, be an over reaction to what actually appears to have occurred in this instance.

If every school banned every player under 21 who had 1-2 drinks for the first game of the season, there might not be enough players to field any teams! This entire discussion is nonsense! I don't ever drink, but I did have a couple drinks before I was 21 while in college and I was a D1 athlete.

 

[upj87]

Couple of shots

if tyler says so.....

 

[YourPittDanceTeam]

He is 20, hence the underage issue. Note the previous post about his blood alcohol being well within the legal limits; hence the reason no charges have been filed as of yet...

Ratking17...You are correct when you said he was 20. The website I looked at when I wrote my posting said he was 21. My bad.

 

[Panther Parrothead]

If every school banned every player under 21 who had 1-2 drinks for the first game of the season, there might not be enough players to field any teams! This entire discussion is nonsense! I don't ever drink, but I did have a couple drinks before I was 21 while in college and I was a D1 athlete.

The drinking issue, IMHO, is unfortunate but minor. But when someone who's considered to be impaired gets behind the wheel of a car, it becomes very serious.

I don't know the facts in the case and whether he was impaired or not. We'll be finding out soon enough.....