not necessarily I've forgotten several times to turn on my headlights when I was sober since the headlights are always on when i drive (but tail lights aren't) chances are rafer's car is similar but i am in no way condoning what rafer did...a man with his resources should be calling a cab or have a DD in his posse or whatever whenever he goes out. I wonder how many rafer had to drink though. Like someone said he could have been legally over the limit but that could be like a few drinks. Personally I dont believe that he just had a few drinks just because he was pulled over at nearly 3am anyone usually hanging around last call has had their fair share of drinks. stupid move by rafer, good thing no one got hurt
Oye. Over 15,000 drunk driving related deaths a year and Richard Justice is the jerk. Well the jerk store called and...
I've drove down Washington plenty of times, one time got pulled over for no reason driving home from work late at night and got searched. I don't give much credit to cops and what they say, I want to see video to prove his weaving out of lanes.
DWI means skip's blood alcohol level was in excess of .08%. Over the legal limit? Yes. Was he too impaired to drive? Rafer Alston 6-2, 175... Probably not. But the only people that could possibly know this are Skip and the arresting police officers. Did he make a mistake? Yes. Was it a serious mistake? Yes Should he be on Kieth Oberman's "Worst Person in The World" segment. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Maybe he should sell his house in Sugarland, and open up a club in a business/loft downtown. That way after he's done drinking in his own bar at night he can just go upstairs and crash
You guys are making a lot of assumptions about Rafer. I met him once at the Breakfast Klub, and the guy was driving a super blinged out H2 Hummer. A car like that, or something similar, driven by a black dude? Yeah, probably more likely to get pulled over than a white guy like me in my Honda Accord at 2am. Besides that, this is Houston, where law enforcement is considered a competitive activity, especially when it comes to DWIs. The HPD DWI task force is the most in-demand assignment a cop could get, because they get paid overtime to go to court and the Harris Co. DA's office takes every DWI to trial. Remember that list that got posted here of all the cops making six figures because of overtime? Most of them are on the DWI task force. I've got a buddy who does DWI defense, and after the stories he's told me, I'd never assume somebody who got charged for DWI is necessarily guilty. Innocent until proven guilty, especially when it comes to DWI.
He was so drunk he dribbled on the police officer, missed a shot directly into the cup and then passed out.
He shouldn't having been driving drunk, and it'd be appropriate for the Rockets to suspend him a couple of days to show their displeasure. After all, he is endangering a valuable member of the team; and, I wouldn't be surprised if drunk driving is expressly prohibited in his contract. But, Justice is a little overboard implying Alston (1) is a trouble-maker (how sad is it that journalists are dredging up an arrest from 11 years ago to make him look bad?) and (2) should be cut or traded if the Rockets only had the courage to lose the talent. This isn't an aggregious offense to the team, even if it is not acceptable in society.
Agreed. As much as I agree with.... I really don't care if Rafer comes to my school with a gun and starts shooting. I just hope he doesn't kill someone cause of it. You are giving Rafer's lack of accuracy too much credit here...
Wow, great defense there Richard. It's okay for the Astros to sign Bonds because the things that Rafer did are worse. Well, Rafer didn't murder anyone. If you want to put a DWI and murder in the same paragraph, go ahead.
Battier,Head,and Harris for Terry works on the ESPN Trade Machine. The Rockets would get a scoring PG but one who doesn't play any defense. The Mavs would get an extra defender but they have a better SF in Josh Howard and probably would be reluctant to give up Terry because they need a backup for an aging Kidd.
I don't think there is a possibilty that if Bagwell or Andre johnson did the same thing he would be writing this.....however if it was at the expense of Bagwell off the astro books he would.
Is Terry's Defense a huge dropoff compared to Rafer? I trust Terry in knocking down all those open 3's Yao and Tmac can produce for the PG position. And if Battier can guard the opposing teams shooting guard I don't see why he can't play shooting guard.
I hate folks who drive drunk, especially when they can clearly afford not to (my grandfather was killed by a drunk driver). However, that has nothing to do with basketball. If folks can get DUI's, or other offenses and not lose their jobs in the real world, then I don't see the gripe about not allowing them to play on your basketball team.
You know, not to defend Alston's actions because they were ridiculous, but I find it funny that people who complain that athletes don't get treated the same way we get treated at our job are complaining about this. If you got arrested for a DUI, as long as it had nothing to do with your job you wouldn't get fired. So why should Alston get "fired"?
Let's get off Rafer's back. That's Rafer's first DUI offense and fortunately he didnt hurt himself and anybody. The judge will tell how serious is DUI and give Rafer the appropriate punishment. NBA will suspend Rafer for his DUI charge. Camelo is suspended for the first 2 games in the coming season for the same charge.
Yes agree with all these posts. Dick Justice is a joke. His articles should be banned from this forum. Why cant the Chronicle hire some decent sports writers?
wow. very informative post. im not going to rag on rafer for this. it happened, its over with, lets just worry about the season now.
