Quinn deserves a second chance ... just not here

The University of Montana football team loves transfers like a fat kid loves cake.
Or like the elderly love Buicks.
Or like myself and NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg love Shakira.

Ummmm, but sarcastic remarks and sidetracking aside, UM has become a promised land for former D-I prospects who have left their respective schools for reasons ranging from personal reasons to playing time.
Montana is quickly becoming the Baskin-Robbins of college football.
Drat.
The Griz offense will revolve this season around senior quarterback Josh Swogger, a Washington State transfer who will become the fourth different quarterback in the last four years to start the UM season opener.
The other three QBs (Jason Washington, Craig Ochs and Jeff Disney) were also transfers.
With superstar running back Lex Hilliard out for the season, Swogger will be handing the ball off to either former Iowa State running back Greg Coleman or Louisville transfer Reggie Bradshaw.
And, should the academic issues regarding University of Washington receiver Craig Chambers clear up, two of Swogger’s top targets this season will be transfer students. (Eric Allen, a former Oklahoma State Cowboy who played for the Griz last season is the other.)
It almost seems logical, and cost efficient, to just cut the football recruiting budget and instead send out flyers to be posted in various D-I locker rooms across the country.
Montana’s trend of becoming the official dropdown school of the West appears to be set to leap to new heights, or lows, take your pick, as it appears former University of Oklahoma guard J.D. Quinn will walk on to the UM football team and will soon be working Saturdays at Washington Grizzly Stadium.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Quinn’s situation, he was booted in early August from the Oklahoma football team for violating NCAA rules.
Quinn, along with roommate Rhett Bomar, the Sooners’ starting quarterback, allegedly received paychecks from a local car dealership that paid them for hours they did not work.
Quinn was also charged with a misdemeanor DUI last November.
Granted, Quinn’s BAC was measured at a paltry .03, but it’s nearly impossible, and at best pretty tacky, to rationalize drinking and driving.
Of course, the Grizzly faithful are going to jump up and scream about how the kid made a mistake and how he should be given a second, or in this case third, chance.
That viewpoint seems pretty American but how about – and this suggestion may sound a little out there – Mr. Quinn, oh, I dunno, be held accountable for his actions?
Quinn deliberately, or “knowingly” as Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops put it, broke NCAA rules by cashing those paychecks.
It wasn’t like the two roomies clocked out a few minutes early on a Friday afternoon to go play golf, they were bringing home nice paychecks for a good deal of hours they logged but forgot to actually show up to work for.
While Quinn’s financial gains from Big Red Sports and Imports are unknown, Bomar’s father estimated to The Oklahoman that his son received between $5,000 and $7,000 for his non-existent services.
Last time I checked, 5-7K is not a simple mistake and if it is I need to start making mistakes at my places of business.
Montana should worry about winning its ninth consecutive conference championship, not running a rehabilitation center.
Did Quinn backhand his girlfriend, rob a bank or shoot-up a frat party?
Of course not, but he cheated and was caught red-handed and as a result needs to be punished.
Second chances are earned, not given away like samples at Costco.
Turning a blind eye to the situation doesn’t help anyone, especially the person who needs the most help.
Plus, publicity-wise, is it a good idea to bring in a player who already has two strikes against him?
As the soon-to-be-retired tennis great Andre Agassi will attest, “Image is Everything.”
Besides, there are plenty of area kids, and even some on the current Griz roster, who are outstanding citizens, work hard and are a lot more deserving of a future scholarship than Quinn, who just spoiled a golden opportunity at one of the greatest football programs in the nation.
The question here is would the city of Missoula be so embracing if Quinn weren’t a football player?
Probably not, but this is just another great example of the divide between athletes and everybody else.
Sit him out for a year, make him play scout team at Sacramento State for the rest of 2006 – I don’t care.
Just don’t bring him here.
With all that has gone down, Quinn doesn’t deserve the opportunity to compete for a starting spot less than a year after his past two transgressions.
(Although, should Quinn suit up he would likely miss out on some paying time. Sam Houston State, where Bomar transferred, said earlier this week that they aren’t expecting his services until midseason).
But I guess if this is the message UM wants to be sending,
I hear Maurice Clarett isn’t doing anything these days.