The Storrs Side: Dixon's DUI bad for UConn

By: Brittany Perotti

Posted: 12/4/08

Let's face it, no one is perfect. We have all made a bad decision - or decisions - at one point in time. Like calling up a friend and breaking up with her for her boyfriend. Or having one too many drinks at a work holiday party and revealing some embarrassing moment that should have stayed hidden.

Unfortunately, when a person becomes well-known, say an athlete on campus, this poor choice becomes common knowledge. Just yesterday, Andre Dixon's arrest for DUI and subsequent suspension made the front page of the sports section of The Daily Campus.

It is likely that this media attention was the icing on the cake of a extremely bad day for Dixon. Now, everyone who picked up a paper knows that he has been arrested for breaking the law. And anyone who reads ESPN.com will find a story on his arrest.

The rest of the student body who commits the same violation of the law is subjected to humiliation in the campus Police Blotter; Dixon made headlines on a national scale.

I am not saying that what happened was unfair - far from it. He made a bad decision, one that could have had damaging results. He violated team rules for the second time in as many seasons. He has to deal with the consequences of his actions.

But as head coach Randy Edsall said to The Daily Campus and other media on Tuesday, "The young man made a mistake."

It is a mistake that he can learn from and move on with his life. Thankfully, no one was hurt. In fact, it is something that the student body could use as a caveat of what happens when people get behind the wheel of a car while under the influence. We can all learn from this.

As the semester draws to a close and 2009 creeps closer, maybe Dixon has found a New Year's Resolution: to never drink and drive again.