Notre Dame QB and Heisman Trophy candidate Jimmy Clausen was involved in a fight Saturday night just hours after the Irish were upset by Connecticut in what may have been ND Coach Charlie Weis' final home game as coach.
Multiple sources confirmed to me that Clausen and his family were at CJ's, a bar in South Bend, on Saturday evening. An altercation reportedly took place around 2:30 a.m. EST outside the bar, and Clausen received at least one and perhaps two black eyes from a punch to the face.
This is not Clausen's first problem since he arrived at ND as a heralded high school recruit. He was cited in June of 2007 for transporting alcohol as a minor. He also had embarrassing pictures of him allegedly drinking alcohol posted on a website.
Last week he told the media how much he has matured since arriving at ND. Well, it appears he hasn't matured as much as he wants us all to believe. I know that college kids drink and party. I was a fraternity member and had a ton of fun during my college days.
However, I was not a Heisman Trophy candidate at one of the most high profile schools in the country. I was not the quarterback at Notre Dame looking to head to the NFL very soon. When you are Jimmy Clausen, you are not a normal college student. You have to be very careful every single day. One major screw up could impact your life forever. Much more than a regular college student will ever have to deal with.
Is it fair? Maybe not. However, it is the way the world is today. With cell phone cameras, flip videos, and more a person in the public eye can not ever let their guard down. Jimmy Clausen should have learned that message far earlier than now but if he hasn't the black eye that he received should serve as a reminder.
16 Comments
Cubbinstrong86 said:
Notre Shame just loves embarrassing themselves don't they ?
Edelweiss said:
High profile college athletes need to hire an agent BEFORE they are drafted. Guys that age won't listen to parents or authority figures, but will listen to someone they hire. Either that or the school should provide that service to guys they so heavily recruited.
ChollyGrimm said:
His parents were at the bar.
arch21002 said:
Aren't we tired of this message? Just replace Jimmy's name with hundreds of other "high profile" athletes/celebrities, and it could be said for them as well, and it is said...way too often.
I am to the point where I don't see the point of judging everyone to such a standard. Who am I to tell this kid he shouldn't party or get in a fight? The guy got in a fight....he is 21 years old, fights happen. This doesn't mean the guy can't be a great NFL player, this really means nothing at all. I know very mature people who have gotten into fights in their life. I don't condone fighting, but it isn't that big of a deal where we have to label this guy a loose cannon, immature brat for the rest of his days. Just score pts, other than that I could give a rats ass.
Bandwagon Driver said:
The way the team has been playing (and due to the cloudy nature of the facts surrounding this report), why isn't anyone hypothesizing that he may have been flat-out attacked?
David Kaplan said:
Because he wasn't flat out attacked. He was definitely involved as one of the participants.
youreanidiot said:
Why are you posting this assuming that Clausen "got into a fight" and that he did something wrong? According to this article (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4684326) he was sucker-punched.
David Kaplan said:
When you are the QB at Notre Dame you are not a "normal" college student. You have to be smarter than putting yourself into a position where something embarrassing could happen. Reportedly he was not "sucker punched" for no reason. Don't believe all of the "spin" coming out of S. Bend.
Aaron said:
First of all, this reportedly happened at 2:30 am.......What good happens at 2:30 am when you are as popular as Jimmy Clausen in South Bend? I'm sure the sucker punch was Mr. Big Bad QB of Notre Dame trying to be a big shot in front of his possible "lady/female acquaintance" and he got a nice black eye for it.
A little off topic but what do you think about D Lee coming in 9th in the MVP voting, Kap?
arch21002 said:
Last time I checked student athletes are still allowed to be out when bars are about to close. I went to the U of I during the Deron Williams/Dee Brown/Luther Head years, and those guys were out all the time really late....as was I getting drunk and hitting on college women. You have four years of college make the most of it. Just because he is the QB of ND doesn't mean he can't be out late on a Saturday night, that is ridiculous.
Edelweiss said:
Its not so much that he hes to adhere to a higher standard, but more that he is a target, just because he is a star athlete. Lots of guys would like to brag that they beat up a well-known athlete, and there are others who would like to make a few bucks out of the incident by baiting that athlete. The only way to protect against that is to go out with a posse of trustworthy friends.
tom said:
Was Steve Stone the source
Tanner said:
Shut up about the steve stone shit. You guys are annoying. If your just going to say shit, go to another site. Get over yourself.
David Kaplan said:
No doubt. Isn't Stoney the source of everything?
Aaron said:
As I can remember, Williams/Brown/Head were not out getting punched in the face either by being mouthy little punks. No one has a problem with Jimmy Clausen being a college student but there are plenty of other star football college students with First Round potential who are not running there mouth and getting smacked in the face for it.
tom said:
Relax dont get your skirt all bunched up Mrs Tanner no one was talking to you
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