Marijuana is not legal in Holland. It’s just decriminalized. You can carry 5 grams or less on your person and can smoke in designated “coffee” shops and your home. You could be arrested if you smoked on the street. I don’t really think that hardly ever happens though. Vegas has public intoxication laws, but you won’t see them arresting drunken tourists unless they go WAY over the edge. Neither place wants to bite the hand that feeds them. It will actually be legal in Washington and Colorado, although I don’t know the specifics of the Colorado law. The AG of the US Eric Holder has already said that the Obama Administration will respect the state laws. That could change when a new president is in office. In Washington, you won’t be able to smoke in public where you couldn’t smoke a cigarette. They still have another 10 months or so to work out the specifics of how and where it will be sold. But I don’t believe there is a limit to the amount you can carry as there is in Holland.

Neither of these state laws are probably totally settled either. One section of the Washington law that is troubling even to people that were in favor of it is that you can be charged with some form of DUI if they take a blood test and find 1 nanogram of THC in your system. I’m almost sure that this will be challenged in court. THC stays in your system much longer than other drugs such as alcohol or cocaine. It is fat soluble. It can stay in your system for a month or so if you are a regular user. So the fact that they could find 1 nanogram or even 500 nanograms of THC in your system would not be any proof that you were actually high at the time they tested you.

I always had an issue with the high character criteria he would use. There are plenty of great athletes that also keep their heads down. In addition, I found it hypocritical that Ruskell would talk character then continue to re-sign many players that had been arrested or otherwise ran into trouble, under his watch. Ruskell was a grossly overrated talent evaluator from top to bottom, IMO. In any case…

And the actual record was one of passing over one faster, bigger and more physical player after another to choose a swell, decent guy like Jennings who unfortunately had no ability to make a play on a thrown ball. Something that’s kinda important if you want him to play corner.

I don’t blame Ruskell entirely btw. There was a massive overreaction to the Koren Robinson / Jerramy Stevens off field problems, coupled with a sense that Holmgren as GM wouldn’t get us all rhe way there (which seems a rather safe conclusion) that culminated in the Ruskell hiring. The team’s impending unraveling was set in motion from there, which means it came from the top.

And I don’t mind one bit btw if you challenge anything I postulate here anyway. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the helpful functions of a comment section and forum. And it’s just more interesting this way.

Simply noting that one area Ruskell didn’t draft small and finesse was on the o line. There’s no need to create a context that isn’t there (… suggesting I’m somehow defending Ruskell for example) or think I’m trying to counter your entire premise.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/14/richard-sherman-calls-roddy-white-an-easy-matchup/

And ‘undersized’ isn’t always a bad thing. Look at ET. Or Tatupu who worked out for the first few years, but had a limited shelf life and wore down.

But Ruskell used so many early picks and free agent acquisitiins for smaler, slower and finesse type players (remember when Jennings, Trufant, Josh Wilson, Russell and Grant were our defensive backfield. And we had Rocky Bernard, Tatupu, Mebane and Terrill up the middle? That’s ONE player out of seven who could play smash mouth ball) whom he also deemed to be good character types.

Sure was fun watching those teams get run over every time they played on the road. Or when a physically stronger and bigger team came to town).

You can point to four mediocre but not small O linemen to contradict whatever revisionism you are perceiving. And I’d even agree with your point.

But what isn’t arguable is that our team progressively got more owned and abused at the LOS with every passing year on both sides of the ball. And as Ruskell’s vision and philosophy played out to their logical conclusion.