Chomping at Bits: On Florida and Marijuana, Alex Tyus, and Jeremy Foley

Chomping at Bits is recovering from an upper respiratory infection, maybe the second in two weeks, thanks to liberal use of cough drops and all manner of ibuprofen.

Puff, puff: The Gainesville Sun's A1 story on Sunday was "Do the Gators have a marijuana problem?" That's a question we've covered in some depth, and one the University of Florida tried to head off by defending its drug policy on Saturday, but it's also one the Sun doesn't quite answer, beyond quoting UF figures like Will Muschamp, Jeremy Foley, and Urban Meyer addressing marijuana use without sounding seized by a need to eradicate. And State Attorney Bill Cervone makes this valid point:

Cervone said the rate of UF football players who get caught with marijuana is probably no greater than the general population within that age group. However, he added it is probably greater than the rate of UF students caught with pot.

"It's a pretty well-educated, affluent, not altogether typical group if you just look at the student body at UF," Cervone said. "I am 100 percent convinced that a lot of student-athletes are ill-equipped to deal with the social environment they are coming into through absolutely no fault of their own.

"Some of it is the socio-economic background from which they come. Some of it is a little more insidious in the constant stroking that ‘you're the best thing ever' that they have gotten since a young age."

Translated: Florida athletes who don't know how to hide their smoking, or don't care to, because of some straw-man argument about them thinking they're bulletproof, still probably aren't getting arrested at a higher rate than the average person in their age range. (And I don't think Cervone's controlling for the things I would control for in that sample, either.)

Considering what Gainesville police say are the typical circumstances for getting popped for possession — smoking in public, like a car or in a bar/club restroom — it's probably fair to say that the truly stupid and risky behavior isn't lighting up, but doing so in public. Personally, that, the achingly dumb choice Janoris Jenkins and others have made and will make when taking their weed out with them, bugs me much, much more than the use of marijuana in general.

Tyus' draft diary: Alex Tyus continues to maintain an NBA Draft diary for The Hoops Report, and this second entry finds him discussing signing with agent Happy Walters and explaining the logistics of working out while putting the final touches on his UF education. Tyus graduated from UF on Saturday.

Foley helps kill part of bill: Just in case you were wondering what Jeremy Foley does when not piloting one of the nation's finest athletic departments, the Orlando Sentinel reports a Foley phone call helped avert deregulation of sports agents in Florida. No biggie.

"Gator has run-in with the law, bites patrol car": Yeah, I got duped.