How NOT to address a Totally Avoidable Tragedy

[lukethedrifter]

I don't know....I imagine to ND fans, Brian Kelly is a pretty big deal and probably someone you don't want to cross. Just imagine if you were a 20 year old and Albert Pujols asked you to pitch batting practice to him while he was working on hitting them up the middle, but the net distracted him. [expletive], I'd probably still do it and I'm no where near as excitable.

pretty much where I'm at

and for that kid to have that job, I'm going to guess he was just thrilled to have some involvement with the team

Exactly. Yet he knew it was incredibly dangerous given his tweets. And that he died. So I stand by what I said, that I would hope that a kid of mine would have the internal strength to say "No" to someone in position of authority, that it was too dangerous.

[phins]

The AD was obviously choosing his words carefully in preparation of a lawsuit. Trying to maintain some form of plausible deniability as to the weather issues.

It comes off really callous, but is honestly the smart thing to do.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

The AD was obviously choosing his words carefully in preparation of a lawsuit. Trying to maintain some form of plausible deniability as to the weather issues.

It comes off really callous, but is honestly the smart thing to do.

Yeah, kind of like 'not here to talk about the past'

[jim]

This one has me thinking, have I done enough to give my child the strength to not only do what is difficult physically but what is difficult socially/emotionally? That is, to stand up for herself and say no to an authority figure, or peer even, who has asked/demanded that you do something you believe unsafe.

I would imagine that Declan struggled with his obligation to his position and to ND while he was up there fearing for his life but clearly his survival instinct was telling him to get the hell down.

Haven't you ever been in a situation that seemed a little scary, and you trusted that the people responsible for your safety were doing the right thing? I'm guessing that was the case .. kids with the brains to go to ND usually have enough moxie to stand up to authority of they think they are right. I'm guessing the kid thought he was over-reacting. I've done that before, fortunately for me I really was over-reacting and it was a safe situation. But at the time you kind of wonder for sure if the guy in charge is really sure about it.

As far as the coach being responsible .. I don't think so. He's just a coach. If he said he wanted the practice filmed, then someone responsible for the film/crane should have said it wasn't safe.

[lukethedrifter]

This one has me thinking, have I done enough to give my child the strength to not only do what is difficult physically but what is difficult socially/emotionally? That is, to stand up for herself and say no to an authority figure, or peer even, who has asked/demanded that you do something you believe unsafe.

I would imagine that Declan struggled with his obligation to his position and to ND while he was up there fearing for his life but clearly his survival instinct was telling him to get the hell down.

Haven't you ever been in a situation that seemed a little scary, and you trusted that the people responsible for your safety were doing the right thing? I'm guessing that was the case .. kids with the brains to go to ND usually have enough moxie to stand up to authority of they think they are right. I'm guessing the kid thought he was over-reacting. I've done that before, fortunately for me I really was over-reacting and it was a safe situation. But at the time you kind of wonder for sure if the guy in charge is really sure about it.

As far as the coach being responsible .. I don't think so. He's just a coach. If he said he wanted the practice filmed, then someone responsible for the film/crane should have said it wasn't safe.

I go into buildings that are on fire. I trust myself to know when the risk is worth it. Anyway, I'm not blaming the kid just thinking about what was going through his mind and what kept him from doing what he apparently knew was the right thing to do. Like I said, thinking about it from a parenting point of view, about what I would hope I had instilled in my kid.

[TGantz]

I go into buildings that are on fire. I trust myself to know when the risk is worth it. Anyway, I'm not blaming the kid just thinking about what was going through his mind and what kept him from doing what he apparently knew was the right thing to do. Like I said, thinking about it from a parenting point of view, about what I would hope I had instilled in my kid.

That's an interesting point Luke. I think it'd be fun to see what the psychology majors in here have to say about that. It's like the Milgram experiment. How far do people need to be pushed before they stand up to authority?

That being said, there's no way to expect this student to be able to stand up for himself. Especially since it's Notre Dame, one of the most prestigious football programs in history.

EDIT- I also wanted to add, I did stand up to authority somewhat. It may have been a wuss move, but I quit varsity football my senior year because we had 2-a-days with barely any water breaks in one of the worst heat waves in decades. Even our best athletes (yes, Wes) were hospitalized. I decided not to show up because it was stupid to risk my health for one more year of football.

[cards2468]

This one has me thinking, have I done enough to give my child the strength to not only do what is difficult physically but what is difficult socially/emotionally? That is, to stand up for herself and say no to an authority figure, or peer even, who has asked/demanded that you do something you believe unsafe.

I would imagine that Declan struggled with his obligation to his position and to ND while he was up there fearing for his life but clearly his survival instinct was telling him to get the hell down.

Haven't you ever been in a situation that seemed a little scary, and you trusted that the people responsible for your safety were doing the right thing? I'm guessing that was the case .. kids with the brains to go to ND usually have enough moxie to stand up to authority of they think they are right. I'm guessing the kid thought he was over-reacting. I've done that before, fortunately for me I really was over-reacting and it was a safe situation. But at the time you kind of wonder for sure if the guy in charge is really sure about it.

As far as the coach being responsible .. I don't think so. He's just a coach. If he said he wanted the practice filmed, then someone responsible for the film/crane should have said it wasn't safe.

I go into buildings that are on fire. I trust myself to know when the risk is worth it. Anyway, I'm not blaming the kid just thinking about what was going through his mind and what kept him from doing what he apparently knew was the right thing to do. Like I said, thinking about it from a parenting point of view, about what I would hope I had instilled in my kid.

Still a risk none-the-less, and I'm sure men far more intelligent than you or I have died in burning buildings where they underestimated the situation. The kid very well could have thought "Gee, it's windy up here, but not enough to be too much of a risk." and slightly underestimated the situation.

I'm a huge proponent of personal responsibility in the work place to prevent injury, but in a society full of safety nets, it's easy to underestimate risk when authority doesn't seem concerned by it.