Marvray Mea Culpa

It makes me sick how these dumbass athletes receive a free college education, and they still dick around and take it for granted. Kick all these schlubs off the team!

His parents? Good. 1 for 6. How about sorry to his teammates? How about sorry to his college coaches? How about sorry to his high school coach? How about sorry to his university? How about sorry to UCLA football fans?

Actually, if we're measuring his accuracy in terms of jis words accurately reflecting his feelings, he's 0 for 1. I'm certain the ONLY thing about which he's sorry is that HE GOT CAUGHT. A one-game suspension -- especially in the current environment of this program -- is grossly insufficient. But, it does certainly show us how serious Neuheisel is about "doing the hard work" that "we need to get started on soon."

Mark my words: unless the administration steps in to force some major changes, our Bruins will be NO BETTER next year. (Instead, we'll magically still be young and inexperienced.)

And, in Marvray's self-admitted case, "clueless."

He got caught three times before being punished. That said, he doesn't owe the fans any apology. From what I've read here, fan loyalty is nonexistant. How many times do we have to read the "free education" excuse when everyone knows the school gets more out of it than the students.

I learned from my mistake.......Dude admitted, confessed, took his punishment, and moved on.
A lesson we could ALL learn from.
Good statements from Marvrey IMO

Sounds like no one, except for maybe Tony went to college. Let up on the kid, we all make mistakes. That's a part of college life, except that, no one else in college is under such intense scrutiny. He's a kid, back off. At least he sounds apologetic about it...and well spoken, I might add.

Administration "force major changes"???? Are you high? The administration is part of the problem.

Agree with Fan4Life, BruinInSeattle, and Tony.

Bill Clinton says, "I'm sorry but I did not inhale. I did not have sexual relationships with that woman!"

Minor compared to the dumb things I did at age 19. He got caught, he's paying his debt to the team as well as his family with the suspension, and everyone moves on. The public humiliation is almost as bad as missing a game. Ricky will be even a better person after this experience.

full support of Marvray. first, it takes a lot to admit to something wrong and apologize in public. It's not easy, even for career politicians, much less a person in their second year of college. he didn't have to, he simply decline to even comment or say it's a personal matter, but he manned up, and it sounds like it's a wake-up call for him. Second, he's one of the biggest competitors on this team, wants to win badly, and I think we all want more guys like him on our team.

While I agree that young men make mistakes and it sounds like he is going to learn and move on, the thing that I cannot get out of my head is that he had to have failed two previous drug tests AND was notified. After one, don't you stop? After two, knowing that the next step is suspension, how do you do it again??? It is either a bigger problem or he doesn't care. It boggles my mind.

Also, this was known before the Oregon game but they were counseled to appeal so that they wouldn't all be suspended for the same game.

Marvray is one of my favorite players on the team. He's got a lot of fight. Was disappointed to hear of the suspension, but, we need to remember he's a 19 year old kid. Nice apology. Hope he learned his lesson.

I understand your sympathy, perhaps from being a former student athlete like myself, but they are young men, not kids. When we call them kids, we are enabling them. He replied in a mature & responsible manner, but now he needs to put his words into action. The pressures to succeed can be overwhelming whether it’s from family, self, plus the school work but there are alternative ways to escape their reality. Example is Kobe enjoying playing basketball so much it became his sanctuary during the public & media scrutiny he received several years ago. Magic has also commented players look forward to being on the court when they have off-court issues because it gives the player an opportunity to get their minds off whatever is troubling them. Or another alternative is volunteer at the Big Brother organization, ect.

Anonymous @ 1/26/10 9:24 PM -- You seem to define "loyaltly" as being blindly and silently accepting of the status quo, of coaches with no apparent intention and/or ability to LEAD and DEVELOP their players to be better athletes and people, and of players who, for the most part, appear to lack drive and any sense of personal accountabilty or appreciation for growing personally and as a team. I have NO interest in being "loyal" to that scenario. I am, however, unwaveringly loyal to my alma mater (so, BruinInSeattle, you clearly don't know what you're talking about when you make your personal attack), the teams that represent it, and the standard of excellence through hard work, integrity, and commitment that compelled me to be a fan beginning when I was in 4th grade.

To all of you who are so eager and willing to cut these guys slack because they're "in college" and "just kids," do you not realize how you are selling them -- and yourselves and UCLA -- short? Do you not see that, by holding them -- and, by extension, all college students -- to such a low standard that you are accepting the current state of things as the THE BEST things will ever be? I'm curious: why are you so willing to accept this arrogance -- this disdain and disregard -- for the rules THEY AGREED TO FOLLOW? And, by very logical extension, why are you willing to accept their performance on the field, which is absolutely a reflection of that same attitude of selfish arrogance?

Fan4Life: No, I'm not high. (Of course, if I was, I'd apologize -- PER THE TERMS OF MY PUNISHMENT -- and, most likely, just be more clever next time to increase my chances of not getting caught.) And, yes, I realize the administration is a huge part of the problem. But the only way I see change happening with our football program is from the top down (you know: from where the paychecks are written and scholarships awarded). And the only way I see that happening is with sufficient pressure from alumni. Sadly, based on what I'm reading here and in the comments on other blogs, too many alumni seem content to accept mediocrity, laziness, and disrespect, so there's no good reason to expect a compelling force to bring about action from the administration.

Anonymous @ 10/21/10 8:36 AM -- You say, "[Marvray is] one of the biggest competitors on this team, wants to win badly, and I think we all want more guys like him on our team." Really??? If he wants so badly to win, then why, even after having been caught TWICE, did he continue to violate a team rule, knowing that, by so doing, he'd get suspended? You cal that "fight?" I call it stupid, self-centered arrogance and giving up. And so please do not count me amongst the "all" of us who want more guys like him on the team. You may recall that, as he was walking off the field after the debacle in Eugene (a game that was a gift for him to be able to even participate in), Marvray said a lot of nothing, well summed up by his own words of "I'm clueless." Take a look in the mirror, Ricky; it's in large part because of a lack of complete commitment (on your part and so many of your teammates and coaches) to the team, to the university, to yourself, and to constant improvement that the program's in the situation it's in. There's a clue for you.

I think his comments are good and sincere. I'm concerned, though, with the lax drug policy, if the competing rag is to be believed. No real consequences until the 3rd time? I'm a UCLA fan through my wife, but my alma mater orders a medical evaluation and treatment for the first, is out of practice and games for 30-60 days for the second and is out for the remainder of the academic year. UCLA has to get serious about this stuff, both to set an example as a university and to help the individuals. They're just enabling; I won't speculate about why.

So, will there be two more suspended for the Oregon St. game to get us to the 6 total players as originally reported?