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Link: The Curious Case of Rolando McClain

KrAzY3

KrAzY3

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RedStar said:
Um... he made me feel tiny, and I'm 6'3".
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Well, I did play basketball in high school, so I got used to looking up at people. His height wasn't what I was referring to though, when I think big, I think of a guy like Courtney Upshaw. It's just two completely different builds.

Al A Bama said:
You mean that there are/were some linebackers at Bama who are even bigger than Rolando? 6'4" 259 is not bad.
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There's a running back at Alabama that's about that size. I wasn't trying to disparage Rolando though, but I think the term "country strong" from the article is applicable. Some of those guys on Alabama's team look like they could be in WWE or something, they are these monsters. Rolando, aside from being tall wasn't freakish at all in his appearance, but that was around his Raider playing days. He looks more cut now.

The main thing though was he really did just look like any other guy I would have walked by in my neighborhood growing up. Nothing to call attention to himself, nothing flashy, he just doesn't strike me as the "look at me" type.
 
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Bamaboda1

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Great article...thanks for posting. Over the years, there are certain players that just "ring true" with the spirit that is Alabama football. Rolando is one of those guys. Hope is around to encourage other young players (and fire up old fans) for a long time.
 
TIDE-HSV

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I never link that site, but I started to, in this case. I'm amazed that he could find no one else who would accept it. I understand that part of the problem is that the actual interview with Boo was so small and right at the end. It was mostly gleaning from "friends." Well, there's no one in Decatur who doesn't have a bunch of Boo stories. Nevertheless, I think it's true in the main and a good article...
 
bamamc1

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Earle can back me on this, I think Ro was the best basketball player on the UA campus when he was there (wish he could have played both) along with a great linebacker. I am glad things are working out for him and wish him continued success. RTR
 
RTR91

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TIDE-HSV said:
I never link that site, but I started to, in this case. I'm amazed that he could find no one else who would accept it. I understand that part of the problem is that the actual interview with Boo was so small and right at the end. It was mostly gleaning from "friends." Well, there's no one in Decatur who doesn't have a bunch of Boo stories. Nevertheless, I think it's true in the main and a good article...
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Lars announced today he's going to be a senior writer for BR starting January 1. Probably why they published it instead of another site.
 
Chukker Veteran

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So our search to understand him begins in a place far from Dallas. It's a spot that McClain knows well: Adcock's windowless office in Decatur, the city of 55,000 in northern Alabama that nearly destroyed its most famous native.
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Geez.

I'm thrilled Ro has turned things around, I've been pulling for him, we have the same home town.

In my opinion, Ro could have been raised in any similarly sized town in Alabama...if he had the same family financial trouble and parents with an unstable marriage and sorry friends he would have had the same problems that are being blamed specifically on Decatur.
There are projects, broken marriages and hoodlum homeboy friends in every town in Alabama, those problems are not isolated to Decatur.

Rather than argue that his hometown "nearly destroyed" him, I would suggest the choices he made as to who he would hang out with nearly destroyed him, not Decatur. With an unstable home situation, Decatur had enough good people to take Ro in and get him ready to play college ball, despite the handicaps he had to overcome.

I will know Ro is all the way back when he accepts responsibility for the choices he's made, and quits blaming Decatur. I would like to see the day when people understand that he would have had these same problems growing up in most any town in Alabama.

As a post script, it is kind of strange for me to take up for Decatur, because there's a lot here I don't like. :)
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

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Chukker Veteran said:
Geez.

I'm thrilled Ro has turned things around, I've been pulling for him, we have the same home town.

In my opinion, Ro could have been raised in any similarly sized town in Alabama...if he had the same family financial trouble and parents with an unstable marriage and sorry friends he would have had the same problems that are being blamed specifically on Decatur.
There are projects, broken marriages and hoodlum homeboy friends in every town in Alabama, those problems are not isolated to Decatur.

Rather than argue that his hometown "nearly destroyed" him, I would suggest the choices he made as to who he would hang out with nearly destroyed him, not Decatur. With an unstable home situation, Decatur had enough good people to take Ro in and get him ready to play college ball, despite the handicaps he had to overcome.

I will know Ro is all the way back when he accepts responsibility for the choices he's made, and quits blaming Decatur. I would like to see the day when people understand that he would have had these same problems growing up in most any town in Alabama.

As a post script, it is kind of strange for me to take up for Decatur, because there's a lot here I don't like. :)
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Of course, I'm from there also. I don't think I've ever heard Boo himself blame Decatur. A lot of people - not the ones causing the trouble - have blamed the environment for his problems, not the town itself. Although he was housed primarily by white families his last two years in HS, his old buds from the hood were the problem and they continued to be up until he understood he needed to cut them off. People who try to ride old friendships with people who've made it as celebrities deserve their own step in the lower hierarchy of beggars. I'm just happy he finally realized he had to split himself off from them. When he purchased the mansion out in Madison, I remember thinking "No, too close" (to Decatur).
 
RTR91

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Who all wishes they could have seen this?

What happened next, according to multiple players, has become a legendary anecdote inside the football complex in Tuscaloosa. Saban, at the top of his lungs, asked McClain what he was doing; he told his coach, in the bluest of language, to be quiet. He didn't start for five games.
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T

teamplayer

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Chukker Veteran said:
Geez.

I'm thrilled Ro has turned things around, I've been pulling for him, we have the same home town.

In my opinion, Ro could have been raised in any similarly sized town in Alabama...if he had the same family financial trouble and parents with an unstable marriage and sorry friends he would have had the same problems that are being blamed specifically on Decatur.
There are projects, broken marriages and hoodlum homeboy friends in every town in Alabama, those problems are not isolated to Decatur.

Rather than argue that his hometown "nearly destroyed" him, I would suggest the choices he made as to who he would hang out with nearly destroyed him, not Decatur. With an unstable home situation, Decatur had enough good people to take Ro in and get him ready to play college ball, despite the handicaps he had to overcome.

I will know Ro is all the way back when he accepts responsibility for the choices he's made, and quits blaming Decatur. I would like to see the day when people understand that he would have had these same problems growing up in most any town in Alabama.

As a post script, it is kind of strange for me to take up for Decatur, because there's a lot here I don't like. :)
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What? Surely you don't expect anyone in this day and time to be held accountable for his own decisions and lack of character. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a large group of people who want to march in protest, break out windows, steal from businesses, and burn Decatur down due to the problems that Rolando had there. Seriously, it is surprising.
I hope he turns things around, too, but I am with you concerning who is to blame.
 
RedStar

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teamplayer said:
What? Surely you don't expect anyone in this day and time to be held accountable for his own decisions and lack of character. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a large group of people who want to march in protest, break out windows, steal from businesses, and burn Decatur down due to the problems that Rolando had there. Seriously, it is surprising.
I hope he turns things around, too, but I am with you concerning who is to blame.
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This doesn't seem like a post I would want to read on a football forum.
 
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