You do not have to be charged, arrested, indicted, or convicted to be benched. The Alabama Coach didn’t bench Miller. In effect he rewarded Miller by letting him continue to play. Miller didn’t learn the consequences of his actions. The coach didn’t teach him there are consequences.
Oats has made a jackass of himself in the Miller Mess. You’d think the AD would have stepped in and given him a letter outlining what to say (and not say). Oats sounds completely clueless and heartless. That said, star athletes are almost always given preferential treatment when it comes to malfeasance in the community beyond the athletic field/court. Clearly wrong but it happens all the time. The problem is the adults in the schools’ athletic departments nowadays are bigger problems than the athletes. As we see every day, winning (especially at the big name programs) trumps the law, criminal conduct and punishing those guilty of the bad behavior. Alabama is the poster child this week but there are more incidents to follow virtually in every ensuing month. Sad but true. 😩😩
Okay. So Alabama adopted open carry effective January 1, 2023, which made it legal for Miller to transport someone else's loaded pistol in his vehicle. And apparently law enforcement questioned him and determined he did not know the reason the shooter wanted the pistol. So there was nothing to charge him with. Absent of a charge, what right does the school have to suspend him from activity? He's not under arrest, indictment or even suspicion. Prosser rightly sat his players because they had been arrested. I've not followed this story but from what I've read here, the A.D. and the coach could have handled this situation with greater consideration for its gravity and compassion for the deceased. That being said, sometimes schools overplay their role as morality police. Dez Wells was expelled by a Xavier kangaroo court, despite the county prosecutor finding there was nothing to charge him with. The NCAA agreed the expulsion was unjustified and approved his immediate transfer to Maryland. Wells later sued Xavier and they settled for an "undisclosed sum".
Alabama. Seems like people are forgetting somebody is dead. How the heck is the college basketbal player and the coach and their highly ranked team garnering all the attention. Prayers for the family who lost a loved one. Prayers for us....because we've lost our minds. Numbed senses? Very sad mess there.
Feb 27, 2023·edited Feb 27, 2023Liked by Paul Daugherty
As a late arrival today, I might be being repetitive here, but let's never forget the great Paul Householder , the 3rd member of the can't miss OF crew, along with Daniels and Jones. Kal had some semi decent years; Jones' success was pretty much limited to running his mouth on WLW. Yes, the hype machine is always working overtime here. It's what you have to do when you're a perennial loser.
The optics at Bama are really bad. The handling of the situation is worse. Oats has been dreadful, speaking out his keister and flopping around like a fish out of water with the press. He should have his neck on a chopping block, but when you're hanging around the 1 spot in the polls, suddenly things get muddier. The AD should have stepped in and done some remedial repair work, holding Miller out of games till the storm blows over (if it does). Winning triumphs all at Bama, I reckon, like most college joints these days. Two college players have shot somebody this season. I'm betting the numbers rise in the future. More guns will show up in gym bags and jocks' dorms. It's the way of the world these days. And it's wrong. We get what we're willing to put up with.
Coaches have to have total devotion to their players in order to be successful. Kids will perform to high levels when they know their coaches are devoted to and support them. This does include coaches wearing blinders. Sitting the player until the details are known was the right thing to do. Delivering a gun can't be expected behavior in the program. Can it? On a. more pleasant level, I is hard to think of Stevie Nicks as the second most talented female in the group. She is sooooo easy to listen to. Great job Doc.
Nothing good comes of the Bama story. Coach should have expressed sympathy for the family regardless.
Do I believe the basketball players are facing extra hostility for having a better year than the football team? Why yes, yes I do.Has little to do with anything, but that is how my mind goes. Tuscaloosa can be an unfriendly town.
Young people are loyal to their friends. Even ones that are not that close.
Guns are never far away from innocents.
Kentucky beat Auburn like a drum Saturday. Still didn’t relax until the game was mostly over.
I'm curious what your take is on FCC/MLS games only being carried on Apple TV. Seems like the basic local TV broadcasts would be a way to continue to build local support. I'm wondering how many locals (not season ticket holders) are willing to pay a monthly fee to stream.
...dum de dum dum...So why was the gun in coaches car? And, why did he give it back. It sounds as if he didn't even question the kid as to why? Horrible decision by an "adult". Give me a hammer, and I'll be a carpenter. Give a kid a gun and.....the obvious.
I can’t disagree with anything you said about the Alabama mess, Doc. As for the image of their sports administration, the Tide will carry a tag going forward only ethical people will remember so there’s that. Let’s face it, winning at all costs is a mantra that is observed at all levels of sports programs. You can’t call this type of thinking isolated. Tragic, yes, but not surprising.
The degree to which my outragemometer rises these days is necessarily grounded in these little things I quaintly refer to as “the facts.” I haven’t followed this quasi-am sports phenom story closely, so maybe the “facts” are out there, but they aren’t in my head where they need to be. I can sit in my comfortable office and run through the list of basic questions I’d want answers to before I feel “justified” in concluding what this incredibly young person likely from an incredibly different world did was just “not right” and therefore should be “held accountable” by people who hold his future in his hands outside the parameters of the legal system that supposedly defines this country, BUT…do I really need to finish this sentence?
I have often lamented about the treatment especially exceptional athletes get when it comes to bad behavior. It is painfully obvious that programs, professional and pseudo-am, value dollars above values. You describe just another bleak example. Thank you.
Skip had a ton of memorable quotes. One of his players, Michael Hawkins, did a favor for my charity (signed a basketball) and I told Skip what a great guy Michael was. Skip said Michael "was top shelf.....no dust."
You do not have to be charged, arrested, indicted, or convicted to be benched. The Alabama Coach didn’t bench Miller. In effect he rewarded Miller by letting him continue to play. Miller didn’t learn the consequences of his actions. The coach didn’t teach him there are consequences.
Oats has made a jackass of himself in the Miller Mess. You’d think the AD would have stepped in and given him a letter outlining what to say (and not say). Oats sounds completely clueless and heartless. That said, star athletes are almost always given preferential treatment when it comes to malfeasance in the community beyond the athletic field/court. Clearly wrong but it happens all the time. The problem is the adults in the schools’ athletic departments nowadays are bigger problems than the athletes. As we see every day, winning (especially at the big name programs) trumps the law, criminal conduct and punishing those guilty of the bad behavior. Alabama is the poster child this week but there are more incidents to follow virtually in every ensuing month. Sad but true. 😩😩
Okay. So Alabama adopted open carry effective January 1, 2023, which made it legal for Miller to transport someone else's loaded pistol in his vehicle. And apparently law enforcement questioned him and determined he did not know the reason the shooter wanted the pistol. So there was nothing to charge him with. Absent of a charge, what right does the school have to suspend him from activity? He's not under arrest, indictment or even suspicion. Prosser rightly sat his players because they had been arrested. I've not followed this story but from what I've read here, the A.D. and the coach could have handled this situation with greater consideration for its gravity and compassion for the deceased. That being said, sometimes schools overplay their role as morality police. Dez Wells was expelled by a Xavier kangaroo court, despite the county prosecutor finding there was nothing to charge him with. The NCAA agreed the expulsion was unjustified and approved his immediate transfer to Maryland. Wells later sued Xavier and they settled for an "undisclosed sum".
Alabama. Seems like people are forgetting somebody is dead. How the heck is the college basketbal player and the coach and their highly ranked team garnering all the attention. Prayers for the family who lost a loved one. Prayers for us....because we've lost our minds. Numbed senses? Very sad mess there.
As a late arrival today, I might be being repetitive here, but let's never forget the great Paul Householder , the 3rd member of the can't miss OF crew, along with Daniels and Jones. Kal had some semi decent years; Jones' success was pretty much limited to running his mouth on WLW. Yes, the hype machine is always working overtime here. It's what you have to do when you're a perennial loser.
The optics at Bama are really bad. The handling of the situation is worse. Oats has been dreadful, speaking out his keister and flopping around like a fish out of water with the press. He should have his neck on a chopping block, but when you're hanging around the 1 spot in the polls, suddenly things get muddier. The AD should have stepped in and done some remedial repair work, holding Miller out of games till the storm blows over (if it does). Winning triumphs all at Bama, I reckon, like most college joints these days. Two college players have shot somebody this season. I'm betting the numbers rise in the future. More guns will show up in gym bags and jocks' dorms. It's the way of the world these days. And it's wrong. We get what we're willing to put up with.
The world ( money, guns, murders, no respect or morals) is turning into a big sh!! sandwich and everyday we are given another bite!
Coaches have to have total devotion to their players in order to be successful. Kids will perform to high levels when they know their coaches are devoted to and support them. This does include coaches wearing blinders. Sitting the player until the details are known was the right thing to do. Delivering a gun can't be expected behavior in the program. Can it? On a. more pleasant level, I is hard to think of Stevie Nicks as the second most talented female in the group. She is sooooo easy to listen to. Great job Doc.
Nothing good comes of the Bama story. Coach should have expressed sympathy for the family regardless.
Do I believe the basketball players are facing extra hostility for having a better year than the football team? Why yes, yes I do.Has little to do with anything, but that is how my mind goes. Tuscaloosa can be an unfriendly town.
Young people are loyal to their friends. Even ones that are not that close.
Guns are never far away from innocents.
Kentucky beat Auburn like a drum Saturday. Still didn’t relax until the game was mostly over.
The pre-game intro with players giving the moron a frisk?! Despicable…
I'm curious what your take is on FCC/MLS games only being carried on Apple TV. Seems like the basic local TV broadcasts would be a way to continue to build local support. I'm wondering how many locals (not season ticket holders) are willing to pay a monthly fee to stream.
...dum de dum dum...So why was the gun in coaches car? And, why did he give it back. It sounds as if he didn't even question the kid as to why? Horrible decision by an "adult". Give me a hammer, and I'll be a carpenter. Give a kid a gun and.....the obvious.
I can’t disagree with anything you said about the Alabama mess, Doc. As for the image of their sports administration, the Tide will carry a tag going forward only ethical people will remember so there’s that. Let’s face it, winning at all costs is a mantra that is observed at all levels of sports programs. You can’t call this type of thinking isolated. Tragic, yes, but not surprising.
The degree to which my outragemometer rises these days is necessarily grounded in these little things I quaintly refer to as “the facts.” I haven’t followed this quasi-am sports phenom story closely, so maybe the “facts” are out there, but they aren’t in my head where they need to be. I can sit in my comfortable office and run through the list of basic questions I’d want answers to before I feel “justified” in concluding what this incredibly young person likely from an incredibly different world did was just “not right” and therefore should be “held accountable” by people who hold his future in his hands outside the parameters of the legal system that supposedly defines this country, BUT…do I really need to finish this sentence?
I have often lamented about the treatment especially exceptional athletes get when it comes to bad behavior. It is painfully obvious that programs, professional and pseudo-am, value dollars above values. You describe just another bleak example. Thank you.
Isn't carrying someone else's pistol (loaded, maybe) on the back seat of a car a violation of the law? Should Miller have been charged?
Skip had a ton of memorable quotes. One of his players, Michael Hawkins, did a favor for my charity (signed a basketball) and I told Skip what a great guy Michael was. Skip said Michael "was top shelf.....no dust."