"Urbz"
...for him to go to the Pro Bowl, win a championship and be finally be rewarded upon retirement with a commentator position at ESPN. I mean, who doesn't believe in second chances, right?
And probably over something petty. Stupid things usually are.
I feel the polar opposite. I really think that his level of paranoia over Lloyd talking to the 'wrong' people points to the fact that something else illegal was going on. Maybe it is in reference to the original 2007 shooting? Was Otis aware and ready to testify for money?
This is only speculation, but other posters have mentioned the rumor of pot dealings. Perhaps Lloyd was boasting/dealing/arguing with the wrong people.
There are many reasons why a person murders someone else. I'd say a couple thousand dollars or some drug jailtime is a petty reason to end someone's life. (As if there could ever be a good reason).
Again - just speculation. A sad story for everyone involved.
I'll leave this here:
What has happened is terrible. It appears that Hernandez is at least an accomplice in an execution-style murder, and there's a good chance (based on charges) that he committed it himself. That is terrible and evil.
The fact that our rival's football coach, at a previous job, coached Hernandez years ago, is completely irrelevant, and using this situation to take a cheap shot at a rival is idiocy. That the first thing you think of when someone is charged with murder is, "ooh, our football rival's coach once coached him, this is a chance to take a cheap shot" says a whole lot more about you than it says about Urban Meyer. This is the sort of thing that, were we to see it from a Sparty, we would consider it an embarassment to their fanbase. RCMB stuff.
We have plenty of time to take shots at our rival elsewhere. This is not the context for it.
my sentiments perfectly.
but an imaginary +1 from me as well
for nipping this in the bud as quickly as possible.
I agree, with a minor stipulation. Many times there have been people who have been steered wrong in life, but then found a voice of reason in a role model that has turned them around and made good people out of them. Being in your position, you yourself have likely done so to innumerable amounts of children.
Now Urban Meyer is in no way culpable for this, but he obviously was not that person in Hernandez's life. I'm not sure even a guy like Hoke would bat 1.000 in turning kids around, but the perception is that Hoke is a role model first, and a football coach second. Meyer exudes a characteristic of being a businessman in charge of a football franchise, not a moral compass. He blew off his family to the point that they made him sign a contract prior to coaching again. His hometown newspaper branded his team's defense lawyer as the team MVP due to how many of his kids were arrested at Florida.
Is it Urban Meyer's job to make sure kids stay out of trouble? No. They're all adults. But he does not embrace the father figure role like coaches at other schools. He coaches football, not life. You get the feeling that he cares more about performance on the field than problems off the field. Meyer has absolutely no wrongdoing in this case. But if I were to pick a coach for my child, it would not be Meyer.
All that said, using this instance to prove the point does diminish the events at hand, and was absolutely a cheap shot.
The TL:DR of my above post:
Urban was in no way responsible. He had absolutely no responsibility for this. However he, as well as everyone else in Hernandez's life, was not the one to stop this. When I picture the truly great coaches, I picture a guy who not only shapes a player, but also shapes a life. College kids may be adults, but they're really still kids at that point.
I don't know if this is an argument worth having here, but anyway:
1. I don't have any strong information on whether or not Urban spends time as a "mentor" to his players relative to how other coaches invest in their players. My impression is that all coaches do some of that, but are limited by the size of their team.
2. Hernandez's activities do not imply that Urban either abdicated that role or performed poorly in it; some people either resist mentoring they receive, ignore it, or turn to old or worse behaviors upon their departure from the relationship. It's not hard to see that in former Michigan players; we all loved Braylon in his Michigan uniform, but he has not infrequently said or done embarrassing things in his time since leaving the program. He was coached by Lloyd, a person who by all accounts is exactly the sort of mentor you describe.
In similar fashion, Bo did not guide Rick Leach to get into trouble, nor did he teach Jim Harbaugh to call out Michigan for its academics. But those things happened. You can find skeletons like this in the closet of every major coach in sports.
I don't think it is an argument, so much as a minor variation on how we see the picture as a whole. We both agreed that Meyer has no culpability in this. We both agreed that some kids will simply refuse to be helped. The distinction we draw is whether this reinforces the public perception of Urban Meyer.
You say no, which is the much more gracious and judicious way of handling the situation. Knowing the tiny bit of background on you that I do, you've been conditioned to be a very tolerant person, which is commendable.
I've never liked Meyer. At all. I would never get myself into a situation where I had to sign a contract to see my family. They are the most important thing in my life. I see a guy like Urban Meyer, and I feel like his values run counter to mine, and I don't like him for it. I realize that my dislike for him paints the picture for me, and probably puts you in the position of being on the right side of this.
That being said, the public perception of Urban Meyer as being kind of cold and slimey is not unfounded. There are several factors that contribute to this. I don't see this situation as something new to use against Urban, but I do see it as highlighting one of his missteps. That being the high rate of arrests while he was the coach at Florida.
I don't know why you're getting negged for this sentiment, but I feel you captured my thoughts far better than the previous poster with which you are responding.
To say the fact that Urban being his coach during some prettty influential years of his life is irrelevant is pretty strong language. Did Urban play a major role in getting this young man murdered? Hell no. Is it in any way his fault? Absolutely not.
But let's not forget that AH is only 3 years removed from college where he spent 4 years under the care and tutelage of Urban Meyer. To say that relationship is irrelevent is probably not accurate. Is there a causal relationship between his time with Urban and this murder? Hell no. But could there have been something that happened within that relationship or during his time at Florida that could help explain how AH got to this point in his life? I would say there is a good chance there is.
I mean, don't get me wrong, people BLAMING Urban for this are being ridiculous, but I don't think it is any less ridiculous to try and pretend that his time with Urban at Florida didn't help in shaping him into the person he is today (just 3 years later). Is it rare to hear athletes say that their head coaches have had a profound impact on their lives?
Maybe Urbans impact on the kid was a good one and was the only thing that has kept him out of jail this long, who knows. But to say the fact that he coached the kid for 4 years when the kid was between 18-22 is irrelevent is selling the coach/player relationship a little short I think.
That's just MHE though, people can neg me to Bolivian now.
Hernandez is from a bad area and after his stardom, he did not get rid of those negative influences and continued to hang around them. Hernandez was 3 years removed from college--he's a grown man and made his own choices. No one forced him to hang out with that crowd. We don't know how much influence Meyer had on his life. This speculation and he could have done more stuff is stupid and petty.
but unless my post says nothing like I intended, I didn`t blame Meyer for anything. I simply said that to say Meyer`s influence on the kid is irrelevent is underselling it a bit. I didn`t say whether I thought that influence was a good influence or a bad one, just that it would be pretty hard for a coach not to have SOME kind of influence on a kid of that age.
Also, the whole ``3 years removed thing`...I`d say that is a pretty short time. I have had people in my life whose influence is still with me 30 years later (again, good or bad).
To close I will repeat I didn`t blame Meyer in anyway and I`m really having a hard time figuring out how you got that from my post. Maybe you just didn`t read my post or maybe our comprehension is on different levels, but that wasn`t what was said.
The reason someone to commit murder is, without a doubt, highly contextual and multifactorial in origin. When a tragedy like this happens it's common for witnesses to search for meaning. Especially, in the face of a senseless crime.
To dismiss the possible effect UF's football culture had on Hernandez is, I think, to dismiss - in part - the reason why Hernandez is a suspect.
Now, to say "lulz Urbz clearly made him a murderer" is in poor taste. But to question what makes someone a possible murderer isn't. I object to the style of the previous quote, but not the substance.
I should have carried on reading before posting. You said it better than I did.
Amen Brother
This may have been pre-meditated, which almost always results in either the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Not trying to start a political discussion - just stating a fact.
I had not realized that. I also didn't know the event occurred in Massachusetts. I obviously know that the Patriots play in Massachusetts, but just didn't know where the shit went down.
Either way, this guy is screwed.
So you felt you were qualified to state that this may have been premediatated when you didn't even know where it took place?
Stick the the lolurbz zingers.
I'd love to know how those two are related. What do pre-meditation and location have to do with one another? The answer is nothing.
Or I'll have to flamebait you again!
I'm no stranger to being a dick to dopes on the internet, but the guy already apologized and "may" isn't exactly one of the stronger evidential markers in the language. Can't we confine all the unnecessary hostility to one thread where I'll be mean to random people and keep it "go blue" in the others?
Edit: Never mind. I see he's courting downvotes on this thread.
For what it's worth, a lot of the reports have described the murder as "execution style," which suggests premeditation (at least to this non-lawyer it does).
Also the first-degree charge.
Not really
Weren't they at a club in RI and didn't the argument take place there? If the crime happened in MA, wouldn't that count?
much less defendant friendly, but it is unlikely to be a fed case despite the media play in this case.
homicide is the unlawful killing of another human being. go to the mental state of the killer to determine degree. if premeditated and deliberate, it's a first degree murder (a 'first' in shorthand). if it wasn't premeditated, but there is no mitigation of the killer's mental state then it's a second. if killer acted under the heat of passion or under some of the imperfect self-defense laws, it's a voluntary manslaughter (a 'vol'); if done with gross negligence it is usually an involuntary manslaughter (and 'invol').
with a big 'if' regarding the reported facts of that article, if the facts are true then this is a 'first'. further, and again assuming the reported facts are true, hernandez is toast. each state has it's own laws about permitting the death penalty - for instance here in michigan it was outlawed in the 1800's.
They can make anything federal they want. It's just a matter of much the US Attorney wants to make a point of it. I'm reading this from a case this morning: (4) ammuniation, all of which were manufactured outside the state of XYZ, and thus traveled in interstate commerce, in violation of Title 18 of the.....Here, the US Attorney wants to make a point of prosecuting gun crimes. I could see them maybe trying to take the gun charges but probably not. In all likelihood, if he cops a plea to the murder and saves them the headache of a trial, the gun charges will probably be dropped or reduced.
That really is a shame. The guy had everything and may have lost it all with a single choice.
I think he's being sued for shooting someone else in the face. I have the sneaking suspicion that this isn't the first bad decision he's made.
Also, shame about the guy who was executed.
The only silver lining, hopefully the fiance and daughter are set for life with cash. They're likely better off without him.
I agree, it is a shame. However, from what I see, he has a history of making bad choices. At some point 'bad choices' turn into a lifestyle that is is bound to have real consequences. My prayers are with the family of the slain man. Am waiting to hear what Mr. Hernandez has to say to them.
It is a shame. No less so for the victim, who certainly lost everything because of someone elses single choice.
Agreed