The point I was trying to make:
It was a stupid move. He should face full legal consequences. He should face full team penalty. His career should rise or fall with his talent level. It seems disproportionate for some to cal for the end of his career for this transgression.
If that were true, it should also be true for others, regardless of talent level.
Not to beat a dead horse ... I think PP is a great player. Love having him on the team. Think he's grown a ton as a person. Wish him all the best. And glad he didn't hurt anyone or suffer any negative consequences.
But if you're going to compare conduct to conduct, I'm not sure I see a difference.
I'm operating from memory here. It was reported he was pulled over because Las Vegas police thought he was driving erratically. There was a brief altercation (words exchanged back and forth). He was briefly detained. I don't remember if cuffs were put on him. (I may be misremembering.) The situation was resolved when he agreed to take a cab home and leave his SUV where it was. I don't remember if a field sobriety test was administered, or refused, or never even in issue.
From the facts as I remember them, I don't know if there was any difference in their conduct. It's irrelevant who they were with or what they did before or after. They seem like the same situations to me. The only difference is in how they were resolved. The Las Vegas cops let PP take a cab home. That's not the same thing as saying they determined there was no problem and simply let him drive off. The LAPD took a different route. They are notoriously strict out there. You get tickets for stepping off a curb before the light changes. Imagine if they did that in Cambridge.
Anyway, I think drinking and driving is terrible. There should be consequences. I don't think those consequences should include the end of someone's career. If that's true, I think you have to apply it equally.
The Kobe and MJ references are meant to show the same principle. I think their behavior was quite a bit worse (if true), and even more inexcusable because they were older and had even more to lose. They were/are icons of the league, married, franchise players, earning hundreds of millions, with millions of fans counting on them ... and yet they also could not control their behavior.
Obviously, I understand the difference between a superstar and a bench player. But if you believe in laws and consequences, they ought to be applied consistently. Pruitt's conduct, while stupid and reprehensible, was no worse than that of other athletes whom we revere. And it was quite a bit less serious than what Kobe and MJ are alleged to have done.
There isn't a person on this Board who hasn't made a bad decision at one time or another. I'm sure none of us would like to be judged on our worst behavior, or have our careers and livelihoods taken away because of a mistake we made. A pattern of bad behavior is another thing entirely.
I just think, as I said above, a little perspective and a little consistency in our evaluation of behavior, is appropriate.
