In a world of pampered athletes, professional and otherwise, apparently there is a specific group of college players that don't get the same treatment as say, University of Alabama players do. Maybe this post is motivated by envy, but in the last couple of weeks there have been some interesting decisions made by Lexington police concerning UK athletes.

Rewind back to the Steve Johnson arrest I wrote about from a few days ago, Johnson was pulled over in Lexington and when the police came to his car, they discovered he was driving without his license or insurance. Johnson was also driving on expired tags and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. During the incident, Johnson also had a resisting arrest charge tacked on.

Now, before we get into this, first let me say Johnson's traffic stop was legitimate. Driving while committing the above offenses is in no way smart, but did Johnson have a "reasonable excuse" (you know, the type of stories that turn traffic tickets into warnings) for driving with all of these (minor) offenses? Well, according to Johnson and his coach, he did.

A couple of days before the stop, teammate David Jones had emergency surgery for a burst appendix. Apparently, Johnson was pulled over while driving to visit Jones and didn't respond well to the Lexington police. What was most surprising at the time was Coach Brooks, a noted disciplinarian, did not suspend Johnson, not even for the Eastern game.

In fact, just the opposite happened: Brooks defended Johnson and in doing so, questioned the way the police handled the matter (indirectly):

"It's interesting a young man would resist arrest on the way to see a teammate when he's got his parents coming to town to see him play in a game. So we'll just have to see how it all plays out."

Apparently, Coach Brooks thinks the Lexington police are at fault.

But wait, there's more.

Last Friday, UK basketball guard Ramel Bradley was also pulled over and when you read the events of what happened, to some people it sounds like he got pulled over for "fitting a description" or DWB (driving while black).

"Smoove" was pulled over for fitting a description alright. His vehicle fit a description of a getaway vehicle used in some kind of robbery. Subsequently, the car was searched and when nothing was found, Bradley was allowed to go about his business. This whole incident sounds like standard procedure, but once again, when UK players are involved, many fans want the police to either turn a blind eye or handle it internally by telling the coach who then administers the punishment.

And yes, as a UK fan, the idea of police protecting the players we support in the sense that they keep trouble under wraps -- or at least out of the news -- is an attractive one. However, in today's era of fan forums/sports blogosphere/ESPN, the idea becomes wishful thinking... unless you are in Tuscaloosa.

So no, UK fans, UK players are not victims of their own star power.

Steve Johnson SHOULD HAVE been driving with the necessary paperwork (and he should've had his seatbelt buckled because it is a stoppable offense in Lexington) and Ramel Bradley was NOT just pulled over because he was a Black man driving a nice car. His car fit a description of one used in a robbery. Wouldn't you want police to search a car if it really looked like one used to rob your home, no matter who was driving it?