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February 11, 2013

RANDOM THOUGHTS: It's not always true that 'Mother Knows Best'

By Corey J. Corbin Allied News Sports Columnist

0PINION — EVERY ONCE IN A while, a story comes out where there’s nothing you can do but shake your head.

The story of Alex Collins and his mom is one of those head scratchers.

In case you didn’t hear this story, Collins -- a highly recruited running back from South Plantation High School in Florida -- was unable to sign with the Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday like he originally planned because his mother didn’t want him to go there.

So Andrea McDonald (his mom) snatched Collins’ letter of intent and ran from South Plantation High without signing the official document.

Since Collins is under the age of 21, he needs one parent to sign for it to be legal.

Another strange twist in the saga occurred Thursday when Collins had his father sign the letter of intent in a second ceremony, while Collins’ grandmother looked on.

Ms. McDonald was nowhere to be seen, but had hired an attorney to apparently block her son from becoming a Razorback. She’d prefer he stay closer to home and become a Miami Hurricane.

“Alex’s family has been overwhelmed with media inquiries regarding their impending decision,” attorney Jack Paris wrote in a statement on the behalf of McDonald. “They want to make a clean choice that is free of any outside influences. This is a very tough decision and they are weighing their options very carefully.”

From my understanding Paris and The Cochran Firm were brought into the proceedings by McDonald, so she could block her son from going to Arkansas.

To me, this smacks of a overbearing mother who can’t stand to be away from her child.

If this is true, McDonald needs to let her son go and deal with his decision regardless if she agrees with it or not. It’s his life let him live it.

McDonald needs to remind herself that her son could have chosen a number of less enticing career paths -- many of which could have led to incarceration -- and at least he’s going to college and pretty good one at that that will foot the bill for his education.

Yes, there may be things going on behind the scenes at Arkansas that appeal to a teenage boy like Collins that a mature adult like McDonald disagrees with, but she needs to handle it like a mature adult rather than ‘stealing’ an official document like a child.

Be a whistleblower and report what’s going on behind the scenes or maybe explain to Collins why staying in-state at Miami, Florida State or Florida is better for him rather than the course she took, which will only serve to alienate him from her even more.

In the end, that’s something that no parent wants and why she should have avoided the whole mess by expressing her concerns privately and showing her dissatisfaction by allowing Collins’ father to sign the document instead of her.

Besides, I’m sure there were plenty of mothers and fathers nationwide in the same situation that handled the situation like I just described, but we’ll never know about it because they handled it like mature adults instead of like a child.



Agree, disagree or just want to comment? Contact Corey J. Corbin at

gcsportsguy@yahoo.com.

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