Brandon Miller affair thread...

[TIDE-HSV]

Here is a place to discuss this incident. Please observe the site policies on rumors...

 

[REBELZED]

I have had some rival fans hammering Bama to me over this situation and I honestly don't know enough about the details to try to retort. Can somebody provide a summary from a reasonable perspective?

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Well, let me just fill in the details that are being omitted or distorted. They had all been together, at least our three BB players had. When Miles texted Miller to "bring him his joint," Miller was already on the way, having dropped him off and deciding not to eat together because of a long line. Miller says he never saw the text. Miller didn't block in the car the victim was in. He was there already, parked. The gun was in the back seat, covered up. Miller denies knowing it was there. The shooting happened very quickly after Miller arrived, indicating Miles just grabbed it out of Miller's car and the shooting occurred. Miller's car was hit with two bullets, at which time he left. Miller says he never handled the gun and would have no reason to. All his story is backed up by video evidence, which is the reason he was not charged. You will hear none of this on the media...

 

[Bamaingeorgia81]

So I think it's possible for intelligent people to have fairly defensible takes on both sides of this issue concerning whether Miller should be playing.

However, regardless of that I was appalled at what I saw for the game introductions yesterday. I don't care if he has been doing the 'pat down' routine all season. I don't care if there was initially nothing nefarious about it and yes, I've seen other players do similar intro dances/routines before......

But in his current situation, knowing that there is a firestorm of national controversy and attention related to this tragedy HOW do you decide it's a good idea to continue with that pregame intro thing?

When you are embroiled in a national sports controversy due to being in the chain of custody concerning the murder in a capital murder case where someone was killed with a gun, how does one NOT say- "maybe I should stop doing the pregame dance where someone checks me for a gun?"

It comes across as....at best, insensitive and callous to the gravity of the tragedy. Just unnaceptable.

I was actually leaning on the side of believing Alabama did the right thing in allowing Miller to play, but watching that Saturday I was disgusting.

And how many times is "wrong place, wrong time" Oats going to be allowed to mishandle speaking about this? And just mishandle it in general? His comments on Tuesday were absurd, of course. But hey, he apologized and maybe he just made a mistake. But then to allow that crap to happen and then essentially hand-wave it by saying "you know I'm drawing up plays and stuff?"......c'mon. I will give him credit for saying it was unacceptable and won't happen again, but it never should have happened in the first place under *these circumstances*.......

 

[DrJJoyner]

Well, let me just fill in the details that are being omitted or distorted. They had all been together, at least our three BB players had. When Miles texted Miller to "bring him his joint," Miller was already on the way, having dropped him off and deciding not to eat together because of a long line. Miller says he never saw the text. Miller didn't block in the car the victim was in. He was there already, parked. The gun was in the back seat, covered up. Miller denies knowing it was there. The shooting happened very quickly after Miller arrived, indicating Miles just grabbed it out of Miller's car and the shooting occurred. Miller's car was hit with two bullets, at which time he left. Miller says he never handled the gun and would have no reason to. All his story is backed up by video evidence, which is the reason he was not charged. You will hear none of this on the media...

Everybody from Michael Wilbon to Joseph Goodman are acting like Miller is an active gang banger who was an accomplice in the shooting and that, therefore, the University should be ashamed to have him represent them on the basketball court. It's a tragic situation, to be sure, but it sounds like he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bill Parcells' admonition that "nothing good happens after midnight" continues to bear out. But these are young men in charge of their lives for the first time. They're going to make mistakes.

 

[DrJJoyner]

So I think it's possible for intelligent people to have fairly defensible takes on both sides of this issue concerning whether Miller should be playing.

However, regardless of that I was appalled at what I saw for the game introductions yesterday. I don't care if he has been doing the 'pat down' routine all season. I don't care if there was initially nothing nefarious about it and yes, I've seen other players do similar intro dances/routines before......

But in his current situation, knowing that there is a firestorm of national controversy and attention related to this tragedy HOW do you decide it's a good idea to continue with that pregame intro thing?

When you are embroiled in a national sports controversy due to being in the chain of custody concerning the murder in a capital murder case where someone was killed with a gun, how does one NOT say- "maybe I should stop doing the pregame dance where someone checks me for a gun?"

It comes across as....at best, insensitive and callous to the gravity of the tragedy. Just unnaceptable.

I was actually leaning on the side of believing Alabama did the right thing in allowing Miller to play, but watching that Saturday I was disgusting.

And how many times is "wrong place, wrong time" Oats going to be allowed to mishandle speaking about this? And just mishandle it in general? His comments on Tuesday were absurd, of course. But hey, he apologized and maybe he just made a mistake. But then to allow that crap to happen and then essentially hand-wave it by saying "you know I'm drawing up plays and stuff?"......c'mon. I will give him credit for saying it was unacceptable and won't happen again, but it never should have happened in the first place under *these circumstances*.......

I'd never seen the pre-game introductions and thus had zero awareness of the "pat down" before Saturday's game. I have no idea what the origins of it were. But, yes, it was incredibly self-aware and I'm a bit bewildered that nobody on the coaching staff 1) knew it was something that had been going on all year and 2) didn't think to say something.

Oats is the best basketball coach Alabama has had but he's not a PR genius. He definitely needs to get coached up on that aspect of the job.

 

[Titans&Tide]

You know, it seems to me that UA Athletics would maybe utilize some of the resources available on campus in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising in the School of Business. Either that, or engage a crisis management firm to help with making sure stupid statements and dumb introductions on national TV don't happen.

I'm solidly in the camp which believes that BM did nothing that would lead to him being suspended or removed from the team. But for goodness sake UA, just be intelligent and forward-looking on this stuff.

 

[CrimsonNagus]

I miss the days of athletic dorms and nightly curfews for the players.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I'd never seen the pre-game introductions and thus had zero awareness of the "pat down" before Saturday's game. I have no idea what the origins of it were. But, yes, it was incredibly self-aware and I'm a bit bewildered that nobody on the coaching staff 1) knew it was something that had been going on all year and 2) didn't think to say something.

Oats is the best basketball coach Alabama has had but he's not a PR genius. He definitely needs to get coached up on that aspect of the job.

Where it came from was the pre-match routine on MMA...

 

[DrJJoyner]

Where it came from was the pre-match routine on MMA...

Ah. That explains why I was oblivious to it!

 

[TIDE-HSV]

I was appalled when I saw it, like everyone else and I was also unaware of its origin or that he had been doing it the whole season. That said, he, and the others, should have been more sensitive of the situation. That said, college students, particularly athletes, do live in sort of a cocoon, absorbed with what's in front of their noses, and, of course, girls. I think that a reprimand is in order, but that's all. And, he needs to be counseled as to what his position really is, that the media are circling him like sharks and they smell blood in the water...

 

[Ledsteplin]

So, the gun owner had a legal carry and left it in Miller's back seat hidden in clothing. Miller wasn't aware of that. Miller comes to pick up the gun owner. The gun owner retrieves his gun and hands it to another person, who then gets in a shootout. Miller leaves. He was unaware of what was going on until shots were fired. It all happened quickly. So Miller did nothing wrong, and is a witness who cooperated fully with the TPD. But the media can't help themselves and publish unverified info on the incident, leaving people to believe Miller had done wrong. I've got to where I treat everything I hear and see in the media as FAKE NEWS, until I find out otherwise. And that's a shame.
I'm sure Miller did the pat down intro thing out of habit, without thinking. That was unfortunate timing.

 

[bamamc1]

The thing that gets me is the reporting of things still, that have been disproven (blocking in the vehicle, text messages between davis and miles, instead claiming they were sent to miller etc.) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do a little research but that's obviously not required to be a "journalist" anymore.

 

[DrJJoyner]

The thing that gets me is the reporting of things still, that have been disproven (blocking in the vehicle, text messages between davis and miles, instead claiming they were sent to miller etc.) It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do a little research but that's obviously not required to be a "journalist" anymore.

The Internet has largely killed the news business. Now, it's just about getting clicks, which means publish first, report later.

 

[twofbyc]

The Internet has largely killed the news business. Now, it's just about getting clicks, which means publish first, report later.

And they have the attention span of a squirrel- anyone heard anything on the wreck that killed the Georgia football player and the “recruiting staff” member? I haven’t seen or heard anything in over, what, a couple of weeks?

 

[crimsonaudio]

I was appalled when I saw it, like everyone else and I was also unaware of its origin or that he had been doing it the whole season. That said, he, and the others, should have been more sensitive of the situation. That said, college students, particularly athletes, do live in sort of a cocoon, absorbed with what's in front of their noses, and, of course, girls. I think that a reprimand is in order, but that's all. And, he needs to be counseled as to what his position really is, that the media are circling him like sharks and they smell blood in the water...

I'm so thankful there weren't cameras pointed at me all the time when I was 20.

 

[DrJJoyner]

I'm so thankful there weren't cameras pointed at me all the time when I was 20.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[AUDub]

*pops out of hole in the ground*

That he's playing at all is a travesty and says a lot about the current state of college athletics.

*disappears back into hole*

 

[crimsonaudio]

*pops out of hole in the ground*

That he's playing at all is a travesty and says a lot about the current state of college athletics.

*disappears back into hole*

If that's how you really feel then your bias is showing.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

If that's how you really feel then your bias is showing.

The frenzy to get him off the court (so they don't have to face him, whether they realize it or not) is really a bit comic...