What he did was stupid, and I’m in no way, shape, or form excusing him for his behavior towards the bar owner and the police. We all make our own decisions and must accept the consequences for those decisions. As you pointed out, when you drink, you don’t fight with police and damage their cars…but if you’re the kind of person I believe you to be, you’re like me in that we don’t get confrontational when we get drunk…at least I don’t. By nature, I’m not a guy who gets physically confrontational…which is probably why I wouldn’t make a good collegiate offensive lineman.

Alcohol has the power to diminish or completely remove inhibitions. If he were sober, I suspect the incident would not have ended up as it did. His inhibitions to engage in physical confrontation off the football field may have kept this whole thing from happening. The nature of his job as a lineman is, when pushed, he pushes back. That’s what happened here.

Now don’t get the impression that I’m blaming alcohol…like I said, it was his choice to drink, and to quote Clint Eastwood, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” But, I do believe the alcohol was a major factor, and if Christensen obeys the zero-tolerance policy that Pelini has put in place, then I doubt this type of thing will happen again.

It will be interesting to see what kind of punishment is handed down by the courts. For the record, I do believe a longer suspension was probably warranted, but I also believe that reinstatement was the right choice.

Christensen still has yet to be sentenced on two misdemeanor charges related to his efforts to resist arrest after the incident. Sentencing is tentatively set for sometime in November.

It’s unclear whether those sentencings would factor into if and when Pelini would reinstate Christensen.

So we now know that those sentencings won’t factor at all into Pelini’s decision to reinstate him.

I’ve definitely done stupid things after drinking. Fighting with six police officers for 15 minutes after throwing a man by the throat are not among them. I’m all for redemption, but I don’t think getting to play on a football team is necessarily among the basic rights I feel people should be able to retain.

Thanks for bringing up the guilty plea in the misdemeanors — I meant to mention that I haven’t been able to find anything regarding a sentence on those. What punishment did he serve? I honestly don’t know.

I guess I don’t see a big problem with it. He was found not guilty of the sexual assault. What he did in the fight with the police and the bar owner were stupid, but we’ve all done some stupid things under the influence of alcohol. He pleaded guilty in the incidents with the police, and took responsibility for those actions. He’s been punished by the law, and by the team. I say let him play.

BTW, minor typo to point out, but at the end of the second paragraph, you spelled his name ‘Christiansen’.