And now Jonathan Taylor....again
- Thread starter bamanut_aj
- Start date
This is the point I was trying to make. Abusers don't abuse once. They tell their wife (or partner) how sorry they are and how they love them and how it will not happen again. But it does. They repent and swear it will not happen a third time. But it does happen a third time. And again and again and again. Not a MISTAKE.
You and some of the others are missing the points... WE never said that we supported what he did was right. Sometime we need a second chance to suceed at life... and sometime we also blow first and second chances to realize that we screwed up... either way, I do not blame UA or CNS for taking a chance with him. They did something that most school wouldn't do. They took a risk knowing that it may/may not happen. It is not fair for you to sit there and say you are disappointed in us and hope we dont have a mother, sister,or wife/girlfriend.. That was a disrespectful comment you just made. I have a beauiful girlfriend, wonderful parents, two sisters that I love dearly. Both of my sisters have been victims of the DV, and they overcame their situation. Both of the guys did their time, lost everything and they learned from it, and they turned out to be okay person, even apologizing to them.
I get it that everyone has their different opinons on this and how it was handled, and that's okay.. but I wouldn't sit there and say that I'm disappointed for eveyrone who is ripping CNS and the school for taking a chance on JT and how it'll forever tarnish their reptuation... That's their opinions and I respect that, but doesn't mean I have to agree with it.
Please don't ever make a comment about how you hope that we dont have a mother, sister or wife/girlfriend... yes, Im ....ed about that. Im going to walk away from this before I say something I may regret.
I get it that everyone has their different opinons on this and how it was handled, and that's okay.. but I wouldn't sit there and say that I'm disappointed for eveyrone who is ripping CNS and the school for taking a chance on JT and how it'll forever tarnish their reptuation... That's their opinions and I respect that, but doesn't mean I have to agree with it.
Please don't ever make a comment about how you hope that we dont have a mother, sister or wife/girlfriend... yes, Im ....ed about that. Im going to walk away from this before I say something I may regret.
Being a 6'4, 300 lb man and beating a female is inexcusable and doesn't deserve a second chance. It takes a sick person to do that and if they do, they should be in prison, not getting their education paid for while playing a sport. That is why CNS shouldn't have taken him IMO. We're gonna have to agree to disagree.
Rich, there are a bunch of lifelong Alabama fans who were never comfortable with this from the start.
Imagine this scenario: A scholarship football player for the University of Alabama sitting in a Georgia courtroom while his former girlfriend describes how he choked her, threw her around, and hit her with a closed fist.
That's what Taylor -- and our program -- faced under the best of circumstances. Did we think that was all going away? Taylor's signing didn't make sense.
Talented football players will get second chances, gotcha. But in the future, how about we make sure we don't sign those who face jail time while they're under our watch. The heat we're getting now would be the flick of a match compared to what was waiting when Taylor went before a judge.
As for the media, I think we overstate reporter animus toward CNS. He's the biggest name in the sport. Everything he says, every decision he makes is news. 'Hatred" aside, why would the Taylor situation be different?
Some of the people writing these days are fools. But folks like Schlabach know their stuff, have written highly flattering pieces about Saban and Alabama, and have earned the right to comment on how badly the Taylor decision turned out.
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CNS and the U of A staff and faculty didn't make a mistake giving JT a second chance.
JT made the mistake of blowing the second chance. JT made a bad decision. JT failed to honor the zero tolerance stipulation of his second chance. JT's actions are the reason he has been charged of crimes and dismissed from the team.
We rarely hear of the second chances that turn out well. But the ones that don't end well are shouted from the rooftops.
JT made the mistake of blowing the second chance. JT made a bad decision. JT failed to honor the zero tolerance stipulation of his second chance. JT's actions are the reason he has been charged of crimes and dismissed from the team.
We rarely hear of the second chances that turn out well. But the ones that don't end well are shouted from the rooftops.
Lots of second chances go well, but you don't hear about them because they don't make news. Pettway is an example so far... I stand with Coach Saban's decision if he vetted the player and was comfortable with his explanations. Someone has to give a kid a second chance to learn and grow. However, now it's on the kid, who clearly has some issues that are about to land him in jail.
Well said Rich. The media is after Alabama in general ( see Basketball thread about Gregg Marshall) and CNS in particular.
I get what you're saying and I agree with a good bit of it. I, like others, had my reservations about us taking Taylor. However, when you look at our DL depth, I think it's reasonable to conclude there was some reasoning behind that decision that was/is unknown to the general public. As a guy who has a bit of experience coaching athletics in a school system where a number of "hard cases" was the norm, I can tell you that frequently troubled kids "need" a team far more than a team "needs" them - and I'm a believer this is what the Taylor situation boiled down to. At UA, we have a support system second to none - it's one of the major reasons moms and dads are willing to send their kids to the Capstone from far distances. Frankly, not every other school out there does what we do - and that makes a difference.
In order to allow him to be accepted into school, there had to be a number of people convinced that he would change - this wasn't just CNS making this decision. However, all of that is the past - it is what it is now. And, we see many wanting to make a name for themselves writing/talking about it. Some of them are honestly doing their job. However, many of them are doing what they're doing for personal profit - they don't really care about Taylor or the young lady involved in the matter. And, just like UA writers who base stories on hatred for the barn are guaranteed an automatic following from a segment of our fans, these media types know using DV will gain them instant popularity. It and the homosexual issue are the two hot-button issues in sports today that will cause people to sit up and listen to your columns.
Did Saban make a mistake? Without doubt... but frankly, it's one that can happen with ANY of the kids in the past he's given a "second chance" to. To say that this one decision will mar an otherwise great reputation, however, is out of line and sensationalism at its best.
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To show the hypocrisy that exists in media circles, consider the stories of "second chance kids" that DID turn out well. I imagine all of us can probably recall a piece done by someone like Tom Rinaldi where someone's "mistakes of the past" are a major part of the story. In those clips, the coaches AND the kid are always given credit for things turning out well - in fact it might be actually said like "had Coach X not given ________ this chance, he/she would never have succeeded." If you're going to criticize guys who give second chances to players, at least be consistent and give the same attention to the success stories. That's not the media of our world today though...
My issue with the argument above is that you're looking at a woman beater (with felony charges pending) as the same as a dude who's been popped several times for drugs or Taylor ONLY committed fraud or theft (those charges are still pending too). Not all mistakes are equal and some should be viewed differently. Violent assault (against a male or female) is one of those and I won't be convinced that Saban's word wasn't the thumb on the scale for his enrollment and the others just followed along not to cause trouble. I sincerely hope the non AD side of the administration would have serious concerns about admitting a student with outstanding charges for a felony DV.
This is one of the things that I posted in a thread when he was signed and I feel the same way today. This kid should have never been at Bama and it was a bad move on Saban's part. I love our coach but, he deserves the criticism on this IMO. I'll never understand why Bama felt the need to go after a kid with pending felony charges. Leave this junk to schools like Auburn. Bama is better then this and with all these top recruiting classes it was a risk with little reward.
It's really sad that winning is so important that so many schools are willing to recruit scum like this, it's a mindset that needs to change. When will the sports world learn to avoid these types thugs, are there really not enough good kids in the world so that the felons, or pending felons, can be left at home?
Agreed. It was a mistake and bound to happen at some point with "at-risk" signings. And like I said, there are writers and there are morons who write. Unfortunately, we'll take a beating from both for a while.
One final point: The only way Jonathan Taylor got into this school is because CNS made it happen. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's just the way the world works.
I don't believe he made a mistake. He gave a kid a second chance and that kid screwed it up. That doesn't put the onus on Saban, it puts it on the kid. Will the media portray it differently? I'm sure they will. but if there is one life lesson that I have adopted from the CNS philosophy it's that we do the right thing for the sake of doing the right thing and nothing else. CNS has earned the right to take a flier on a kid and take the heat if it goes bad. I hate that the young man made another mistake but I support CNS decision to extend the offer in the first place.
Agree. I was really hoping that JT would find the help he needed at Bama in all aspects of his life, but he clearly has an issue that needs more than a community and a University to fix. I hope he can get help and become a functioning member of society. I'm afraid that his destination will be the penitentiary, though.
As Coach Saban just said on ESPN: Jonothan Taylor came here, we gave him an opportunity, it didn't work out, he failed, we're sorry, it's time to move on.
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