Former Nebraska star Lawrence Phillips dead

selmaborntidefan said:

I do not feel good he is dead.

However, when you have a long history (all documented) of dragging a female athlete down the stairs by her hair, trying to run over kids with a car (which got him put away for 30 years in the first place), and killing someone while in prison - if that's not a thug, is anyone a thug?

And if anyone wants to talk about his family and other such nonsense, I see your attempt to make this criminal the victim and raise it Kate McEwan and Damion Soward.

(Oh that's right......nobody knows the names of Phillips' victims.....)

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Not to mention that he choked his cellmate to death in prison (who happened to be the cousin of former USC star R. Jay Soward).

selmaborntidefan said:

ttt - interested in the take of others

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I'm right there with you on Osborne.

selmaborntidefan said:

ttt - interested in the take of others

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you didn't offer a tl;dr.

selmaborntidefan said:

ttt - interested in the take of others

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At the time, there was a lot of outrage being leveled at Osborne, but little of it was picked up at the national level. Too many people were caught up in the fact that Osborne was on the verge fo finally winning a championship.

Osborne reminds me of Jim Tressell--a teflon coach who maintains his image despite the piles of evience against him.

Thank's Selma for sharing. I'm surprised he didn't self destruct sooner. I wonder why this girl chose to go back to this guy over and over. Where were her parents?

JustNeedMe81 said:

No matter what went on at that school, and poor choices he made ... we still have to understand that's his family and friends that's dealing with a huge loss... We need to show respect for them... We need to stop throwing around the word " thug" like its nothing...

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Truth is the truth though. He is what he is, or was.

jthomas666 said:

At the time, there was a lot of outrage being leveled at Osborne, but little of it was picked up at the national level. Too many people were caught up in the fact that Osborne was on the verge fo finally winning a championship.

Osborne reminds me of Jim Tressell--a teflon coach who maintains his image despite the piles of evience against him.

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It took him 22 years? I know he blew one for trying for 2 instead of a tie when they 90% would have still won it. Another example of how hard it is to win just one, He got desperate at the end and I think and was not equipped to the new age player.

jthomas666 said:

At the time, there was a lot of outrage being leveled at Osborne, but little of it was picked up at the national level. Too many people were caught up in the fact that Osborne was on the verge fo finally winning a championship.

Osborne reminds me of Jim Tressell--a teflon coach who maintains his image despite the piles of evience against him.

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JThomas is correct (from my memory).

Btw - there was something else that was stirring the pot at the exact same time. In this case, you had Phillips (black) and McEwen (white). At the EXACT SAME TIME, you had OJ Simpson on trial for murder of his white ex-wife and her white friend - and his history of domestic violence against her. It was one of those situations where the attention to the issue was even higher than normal because of the parallels. Danged if Osborne didn't bring him back three weeks after OJ's acquittal.

There was a LOT of outrage at the time of October 1995. But the World Wide Web (to say nothing of universal usage of it) was in its infancy stage and - as JT correctly notes - Nebraska won and Phillips had a great game. That's the thing because that's how it always is.

Ray Lewis has uh......SOME level of involvement (real or perceived) and gets torn to shreds........his team wins the Super Bowl with his superhuman performance and it becomes a great story of his overcoming adversity (although Disney wouldn't touch Lewis with a ten-foot pole for the obligatory 'I'm going to Disney World' spiel)

Kobe Bryant uh.......well SOMETHING happened......but he wins an NBA title for the third straight year and it becomes 'Kobe continually battled adversity' (set aside the inconvenient truth it was self-inflicted adversity)

Peter Warrick steals from Dillard's but that bastion of morality and virtue Bobby Bowden brings him back just in time to have a great Sugar Bowl and beat Va Tech for the national title. The story becomes Warrick was 'robbed' of the Heisman.

Mike Tyson's biggest faux pas wasn't whatever happened with Desiree Washington in the Indiana motel room.......it's the fact that he was better known for losing to Buster Douglas than being the champ. If he had been the champ and been acquitted then the narrative would have been about him overcoming adversity (especially if his November 1991 fight with Holyfield had taken place and he had won - the fight was cancelled in October due to an injury suffered by Tyson)

One erroneous thing JT - Osborne had ALREADY won the 1994 national championship so the excitement was less than it would have been BUT - you're correct that there was a whole 'can he after all these years suddenly have a great dynasty?'

Furthermore - as I showed - it wasn't JUST Phillips. Had it been only Phillips then Osborne's apologists would have a point.

Sabanizer said:

It took him 22 years? I know he blew one for trying for 2 instead of a tie when they 90% would have still won it.

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Probably would have, you're right. It's debatable. I'll give him credit, though - he DID say that he had a vote for the champion and he would not vote for someone who played for a tie.

Sabanizer said:

Another example of how hard it is to win just one, He got desperate at the end and I think and was not equipped to the new age player.

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My suspicion is that a lot of the stuff actually wore on him enough that he got out while the getting was good.

I remember at the time the Ravens were considering taking him. In the end the Ravens took Jonathan Ogden and we know the Hall of Fame career he had.

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I know I could look this up, but for the sake of conversation...didn't Coach Osborne get elected to some High Office in Nebraska?

im4uainva said:

I know I could look this up, but for the sake of conversation...didn't Coach Osborne get elected to some High Office in Nebraska?

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From wiki

Osborne was later elected U.S. Representative from Nebraska's 3rd congressional district, as a Republican. He served three terms, from 2001 to 2007. In 2007, he returned to the University of Nebraska as athletic director (AD). He retired as AD in January 2013.

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3 terms - 7 years? is that right?

Sabanizer said:

From wiki



3 terms - 7 years? is that right?

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Do you think if all the info Selma has graced us with had been provided prior to his election he would have been elected?

*sighs*

im4uainva said:

Do you think if all the info Selma has graced us with had been provided prior to his election he would have been elected?

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He coached for a long time, so people build deep trust over a long period that is hard to break.

Here is some insight to how the feel about their long time coach.
Why Nebraska needs Tom Osborne now more than ever

Very, very sad story. RIP.

I have often wondered if some of this kind of stuff finally reached a critical mass in an otherwise isolated area that it ultimately led to the ascension of the Boise state program? Seriously alot of the BSU kids would have historically been locks for Nebraska due to proximity in the area. I see alot of parallels between this era of Nebraska and ultimately what was learned about Penn state.

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JDCrimson said:

I have often wondered if some of this kind of stuff finally reached a critical mass in an otherwise isolated area that it ultimately led to the ascension of the Boise state program? Seriously alot of the BSU kids would have historically been locks for Nebraska due to proximity in the area. I see alot of parallels between this era of Nebraska and ultimately what was learned about Penn state.

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These are just a few examples of what happens when programs have a win at all costs mentality. It is why I have always expected us to have a win the right way mentality. If you win by cheating and/or covering up the criminal behavior of your players/coaches, then those wins don't mean jack in my book. I am always proud of the high number of Bama fans who seem to feel the same way. I think it is great when a coach supports his players and helps them become good men, and this does sometimes include giving guys a second chance. However, when you start giving third, fourth, and fifth chances, you aren't really helping that guy; you are enabling him and letting him know that he can do whatever he likes with no consequences.

im4uainva said:

Do you think if all the info Selma has graced us with had been provided prior to his election he would have been elected?

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Oh, there's no doubt they knew about it. They just didn't care.

I mean, really - is there anything in Nebraska other than a football team (at least that anyone NOT from Nebraska might care about?)

selmaborntidefan said:

Oh, there's no doubt they knew about it. They just didn't care.

I mean, really - is there anything in Nebraska other than a football team (at least that anyone NOT from Nebraska might care about?)

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Omaha has surpassed Lincoln in pretty much everyway possible. Omaha has the better UN campus, the better atmosphere for a city, and has a modern feel compared to Lincoln. But Omaha pretty much has 60% of the whole population of Nebraska, and Lincoln has about 15-20. They are 45 minutes from each other, and are more or less all of Nebraska. So to answer your question, No Nebraska has nothing to offer anyone outside of Nebraska except Omaha. Omaha is known for two big things and they are the Henry Doorley Zoo and the CWS. Other than that it is your typical Midwestern city. Lincoln is comparable to Birmingham in which it is kinda a shell of its former self and has a big campus in it. This is why recruits are hard to come by for any coach at Nebraska, and maybe why they would be willing to look the other way on things.