Brandon Miller affair thread...

[BamaInBham]

IMO, the character assassination of Brandon Miller is one of the saddest episodes I've ever witnessed in the sports world. Lazy and/or malicious clowns are having a day, IMO, at least partially if not primarily because he is an Alabama player.

Everyone, including Greg Sankey, knows that you can take almost any kind of shot at Alabama because few care if the reason is valid. They just exult in any opportunity to take a shot. What the SEC office did today could have serious ramifications because the Conference seems to have shown that it is open season on Brandon Miller and Alabama. Their own conf is taking shots and ignoring the verdict of the judicial system and ultimately pre-judging Brandon. Hope it's just a hiccup, but as far as I know, Sankey has never shown any appreciation for Alabama and what it has meant to their own well-being.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

IMO, the character assassination of Brandon Miller is one of the saddest episodes I've ever witnessed in the sports world. Lazy and/or malicious clowns are having a day, IMO, at least partially if not primarily because he is a star Alabama player.

Everyone, including Greg Sankey, knows that you can take almost any kind of shot at Alabama because few care if the reason is valid. They just exult in any opportunity to take a shot. What the SEC office did today could have serious ramifications because the Conference seems to have shown that it is open season on Brandon Miller and Alabama. Their own conf is taking shots and ignoring the verdict of the judicial system and ultimately pre-judging Brandon. Hope it's just a hiccup, but as far as I know, Sankey has never shown any appreciation for Alabama and what it has meant to their own well-being.

FIFY...

 

[JDCrimson]

Miles may have had no background issues but he was in the doghouse with the Oats and the AD prior to this incident.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Finebaum had the guru Donald Watkins on today. If the Miller camp had called him, his entire take would have been different. The shear lack of research by those reporting on this is unbelievable.

Donald Watkins, the guy convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud in conjunction with investment fraud and bank fraud? And who dragged his own son down as well? That Donald Watkins?!?!??

I didn’t know he was out of prison yet. Regardless, not exactly the guy whose opinion I care to hear regarding matters of ethical behavior.

This from the US Department of Justice:

FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME

www.justice.gov

 

[CajunCrimson]

I'd rather listen to Fran Drescher and Dick Vitale have relations than listen to anything Finebaum has to say, whether about this or anything else. I can't believe that guy still has a career.

That’s funny right there

 

[CajunCrimson]

IMO, the character assassination of Brandon Miller is one of the saddest episodes I've ever witnessed in the sports world. Lazy and/or malicious clowns are having a day, IMO, at least partially if not primarily because he is an Alabama player.

Everyone, including Greg Sankey, knows that you can take almost any kind of shot at Alabama because few care if the reason is valid. They just exult in any opportunity to take a shot. What the SEC office did today could have serious ramifications because the Conference seems to have shown that it is open season on Brandon Miller and Alabama. Their own conf is taking shots and ignoring the verdict of the judicial system and ultimately pre-judging Brandon. Hope it's just a hiccup, but as far as I know, Sankey has never shown any appreciation for Alabama and what it has meant to their own well-being.

Are you referencing player of the week voting? Or did I miss something ?

 

[DrJJoyner]

If you are characterizing Miller as a gang banger that is a reckless and ignorant statement.

Wow. Usually it takes about four or five messages back-and-forth to get to the real deal. So are you calling Brandon Miller a gangbanger?

Nope. He was apparently associating with that type, at least one of whom had been a teammate.

 

[BamaInBham]

Nope. He was apparently associating with that type, at least one of whom had been a teammate.

Did you the read the segment about the view of Miles, as best we can tell, at the time he was going to pick him up? Certainly not the profile of a gang banger, as you call them. That's how you have to look at Miles from Miller's POV as he drove to pick him up. Anything but a gang banger. The school had not disassociated him, though someone said he had been in the doghouse with Oats and the AD. But even if so, that does not characterize someone as a gang banger.

Frankly, it just looks like you are looking for something to pick at, never giving the benefit of the doubt even when it is warranted.

 

[BamaInBham]

Are you referencing player of the week voting? Or did I miss something ?

The entire episode: The media takes, though to be fair there have been several in the media who have been reasonable or even supportive. The POW awards are just one instance, however, unfortunate.

 

[CajunCrimson]

I was thinking on the drive home….replace Brandon Miller with Herb Jones, I’d it a different story? Or what if it’s Tua?

Trying to understand why this kid doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

 

[BamaInBham]

I was thinking on the drive home….replace Brandon Miller with Herb Jones, I’d it a different story? Or what if it’s Tua?

Trying to understand why this kid doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

Tua was under attack like few QBs in his position that I can remember, many almost relishing his troubles. Who knows what it would be if he was potentially on the wrong side of a moral or ethical issue resulting in a death. Same with Jones.

Maybe I'm overstating the Alabama angle but IMO, it usually matters a lot. There is a lot of hatred for Alabama for multiple reasons. The current media environment, coupled with the social climate in the country, as well as the internet, facilitate the expression of feelings that have long been suppressed or had no platform on which to express them. Too, it allows people who previously had no platform, to give vent.

 

[bvandegraff]

FIFY

These aren’t Country Club friends. These kids don’t trust calling the police. Especially about a friend. And a gun being involved. That’s not an option for them. Understandably so.

that’s what these talking heads just don’t want to get.

 

[twofbyc]

I'd rather listen to Fran Drescher and Dick Vitale have relations than listen to anything Finebaum has to say, whether about this or anything else. I can't believe that guy still has a career.

For the same reason all of them stirring this up now do - clicks, likes, followers and the ad money that follows. There is a trend making us a nation of mindless morons, and they are the trendsetters.

 

[twofbyc]

Miles may have had no background issues but he was in the doghouse with the Oats and the AD prior to this incident.

From what I’d heard (no details), that was play/team related, and his “injury”; maybe he was faking the injury, maybe his effort was lagging, or maybe it was something personal and not at all team related. But the few lines I read indicated to me he was off the team (don’t know if that was temp or permanent) shortly after injury was disclosed.
Like everyone else, I’d like to know more, but what I do know is his friend killed somebody with his gun (which seemed to be voluntarily furnished), and he’s going to pay a heavy price for that.
When I was 18, one of the social circles I traveled in had a couple of ex cons who were bad dudes. I got to know one of them a little, and he wasn’t bad outside of his propensity for violence (not anything ever involving innocent bystanders). The other I later discovered was a friend of Patricia Krenwinkel. 18 year olds don’t always make the best decisions, and sometimes don’t understand befriending sketchy people can have bad consequences.
Miller doesn’t deserve the crap storm that’s descending on him, and if he manages to come through it I hope he learns something.

 

[NationalTitles18]

Nope. He was apparently associating with that type, at least one of whom had been a teammate.

You don't know what you're talking about, and it's bordering on slanderous.

 

[bamamc1]

Donald Watkins, the guy convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud in conjunction with investment fraud and bank fraud? And who dragged his own son down as well? That Donald Watkins?!?!??

I didn’t know he was out of prison yet. Regardless, not exactly the guy whose opinion I care to hear regarding matters of ethical behavior.

FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME

www.justice.gov

Exactly

 

[bamamc1]

Regarding the watkins “guru” on Finebaum, had UA and CNO suspended Miller without him being charged with a crime, he would’ve been leading the charge of how that would have been an injustice. Basically UA is in a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Regarding the watkins “guru” on Finebaum, had UA and CNO suspended Miller without him being charged with a crime, he would’ve been leading the charge of how that would have been an injustice. Basically UA is in a “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

During my large-corporate banking career, my most hated recurring event was the second-guessing after the fact.

Can’t find a single solitary soul to help with the decision up front when it matters. Ask for opinions and suggestions, and you get the slipstream. So you press ahead the best way you know how. But bet your life on it….there’s a mob ready to throw rocks if the results are less than pluperfect.

It’s also the genesis of my impatience with posters who trash proposals without offering a viable solution of their own. It’s just so infinitely much easier to throw rocks than it is to build something.

It’s fine to expose logical or practical shortcomings — that’s what debate is for. But if you do, you need to propose a better solution. Otherwise, you’re just contributing to after-the-fact noise.

 

[DrJJoyner]

Did you the read the segment about the view of Miles, as best we can tell, at the time he was going to pick him up? Certainly not the profile of a gang banger, as you call them. That's how you have to look at Miles from Miller's POV as he drove to pick him up. Anything but a gang banger. The school had not disassociated him, though someone said he had been in the doghouse with Oats and the AD. But even if so, that does not characterize someone as a gang banger.

Frankly, it just looks like you are looking for something to pick at, never giving the benefit of the doubt even when it is warranted.

and

You don't know what you're talking about, and it's bordering on slanderous.

I don't know the kids or claim to know them. All I know is the events that played out. I've managed to go 57 years without being involved in a murder, either as the assailant or as the person delivering the gun to the assailant. I suspect many on this board have managed that feat as well.

But I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the guy who delivered the gun when he says he didn't realize the other guy had left a gun in his car. I'm even willing to believe that he happened to deliver said gun after having been texted "I need my joint" and hadn't read the text message.

I'm less willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the murderer. He was driving around with a gun in his buddy's car, apparently without telling said buddy he was doing so. Then he's in a sports bar in the wee hours and suddenly needs his gun delivered. The instant the gun is delivered, there's shooting and he kills a 25-year-old woman. That's simply not how upstanding citizens behave.

 

[DrJJoyner]

I was thinking on the drive home….replace Brandon Miller with Herb Jones, I’d it a different story? Or what if it’s Tua?

Trying to understand why this kid doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt.

I don't know Herb Jones (or, frankly Brandon Miller) well enough but honestly can't imagine Tua being in this situation. Would he have been out cruising in the wee hours after a big home game? Let alone with a suspended player? I doubt it.

Again, I think Miller acquitted himself admirably after the fact. I have no reason to doubt his word that he didn't know his friends had left a gun in his car. But every football player has heard a coach say "Nothing good happens after midnight." I can't imagine that hasn't made it to basketball.

More generally, media commentators, even those who aren't simply hot-take artists like Finebaum, are just shocked that three players associated with the Alabama basketball team were involved in a murder. One was the shooter, the other supplied the gun, and the other was the driver who delivered (if unintentionally) the gun.

The fact that Miller's involvement wasn't disclosed makes it looks like there was a cover-up, even if there were good reasons for keeping it private. That he wasn't suspended for even a game makes it look like we're prioritizing sports over human life; that the coaches are way ahead of the media and public in their investigation of the matter be damned. If this had happened at Tennessee or LSU, I suspect we'd be in the same boat.