The South Bend Trifecta – Notre Dame Football, The Rees Family, and The Slammer

In what may actually be good news for Notre Dame football, quarterback Tommy Rees was arrested early this morning (from Yahoo Sports).

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees has been arrested and jailed on a preliminary felony charge following a confrontation with officers early Thursday, police said.

Rees, 19, was arrested on charges of resisting law enforcement, battery to law enforcement, minor consumption, and public intoxication, St. Joseph County police Sgt. Bill Redman said.

How can this be good news? Well, there is the obvious joke that it is hard to get on the field when you are on a chain gang.  Let us not forget Tommy Rees sucks in that special “Tony Romo” sort of way, meaning he racks up some decent numbers; 253-384 for a completion percentage of 65.9%,  2,708 yards, and 19 touchdowns.  But that was also against largely mediocre competition. There’s also the matter of the 12 interceptions, many of which came of particularly costly moments in ball games.

Then there’s also the observation that you just can’t be a top-flight college football program without some felons.  Let’s be honest, Notre Dame hasn’t been on the Boardwalk-side of the college football Monopoly board in quite some time. It’s quasi-ironic this arrest took place in St. Joseph county because Notre Dame is now more like St. Charles Place. At least it’s close to the jail…

Redman said South Bend police officers arrested Rees and Notre Dame linebacker Carlo Calabrese and that he didn’t know details of the incident or which charge against Rees was a felony.

Calabrese was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct and released after posting $150 bond.

Calabrese…insert your own “Mafia/Godfather” joke here.  Now, for the classic bit of university-based obfuscation…

”The university is aware of this incident and is confident that it will be handled in a prompt and professional manner through the criminal justice system,” Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said in a statement. ”Internal discipline is handled privately, in accord with our own policies and federal law.”

Of course, you realize that is code for “we will keep this as hushed up as we can so long as you aren’t a student-assistant who got blown off a scissor-lift or a co-ed raped by a football player.”

As if that weren’t enough, don’t forget this isn’t this first scrape with the criminal justice system for the Rees clan.  Tommy’s sister Meghan ran afoul of the boys with the badges in Tippecanoe County, Indiana last year for getting into a drunken brawl at Ross-Ade Stadium.

So, a fight breaks out in the stands during last Saturday’s game in West Lafayette, Indiana between the Purdue Boilermakers and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Nothing really new there: there’s usually some kind of altercation at ever major college football game played. The fact that one of the allegedly drunk combatants was a good-looking blond is a little unusual (usually they’re fat, middle-aged guys) but not totally out of the question.

But when the young lady charged is the sister of Notre Dame starting quarterback Tommy Rees? Now THAT doesn’t happen every day, but apparently it did Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium where university police were called to Section 116 after a fight broke out. At the scene, other fans pointed to Meghan Rees, 21, as the primary culprit and she was immediately escorted from the stadium. Meghan, a  student at Miami University of Ohio, was cited for public intoxication and had her angry-looking mug shot taken for good measure.

You know what they say…the family that commits mid-level felonies together stays together.

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