OT: Lions player accused verbally harassing UW Band
Didn't see this on here, but Lions Center Raiola has been accused of verbally harassing members of the UW marching band prior to the beginning of the game. I don't know much about him and I didn't see the game, did anyone hear anything about this?
The Lions are investigating this.
October 7th, 2013 at 8:02 PM ^
Started, I posted a link as soon as I realized I forgot to, but by then it was buried...if you read a few posts down you can see that I posted a link, but here is the original link.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:02 PM ^
Anyone that defends Raiola's or Suh's actions are no different than Sparties defending Tom Gholston
October 7th, 2013 at 7:06 PM ^
Hooray for blanket statements!
October 7th, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
Please explain how dismissing Raiola's or Suh's actions is any different than explaining away Gholston's actions.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:25 PM ^
Uh, I'll take some random guy hurling insults with no context at me over some guy twisting my head using a defacto wrench attached to my head while I'm on the ground. Incidents aren't even comparable.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
The blanket doesn't fit, do we must acquit
October 7th, 2013 at 7:26 PM ^
Because Gholston LITERALLY TRIED TO MURDER DENARD BY SNAPPING HIS NECK.
If any further differences need explaining, I can't help you.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
A lot of Suh's "incidents" have been complete BS, IMO. A lot of them were media driven stories to create this false narrative of both Suh and the Lions so that talking heads have something to direct their faux outrage at.
It's just become a giant anti-Suh circle jerk at ESPN.
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Take the Sullivan incident....
I've seen people making claims that Suh not only attempted to injure Sullivan, but that he was aware of Sullivan's prior injury history with regard to his knee, so he intentionally dove into that knee with the malicious intent to end Sullivan's career.
It is complete and utter insanity.
What happens if Levy stumbles and falls, or fumbles the ball, and Sullivan is able to recover it or make a tackle? Then everyone would be criticizing Suh for "giving up on the play," and not making a block there.
Sullivan clearly thought he still had a shot to make a play, otherwise he would not have been running after the ball carrier.
I think Suh was trying to hit him in the waist but misjudged the block, and I've seen replays that I feel vindicate my opinion. It was simply unfortunate that Suh went too low.
I think you can criticize Suh for going too low (making the block illegal), however I think it is foolish to criticize him for attempting to make a block there.
Never give up on a play by just assuming that an outcome is a given. That's football 101.
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Now let's take the "kick" on Schaub...
Do I think Suh intentionally tried to kick Schaub in the balls? Absolutely not.
Do I think Suh tried to swing his leg into Schaub to disrupt his throwing motion? Possibly, maybe even probably.
Do I think Suh's leg hitting Schaub was an accident? Maybe. I think he might have tried to disrupt his throwing motion with the leg, but he certainly wasn't trying to sack tap Schaub. It very well could have been a complete accident.
I think that is an entirely reasonable stance and most likely describes what happened.
Then I watch ESPN.
Those douche bags just straight up say, "Suh intentionally kicked Schaub where the sun don't shine to injure him," with total impunity. I come away from that stuff completely disgusted in their commentary.
Suh has been fined for several legal hits (Cutler, grabbing Marion Barber's dreads), and for one totally incidental play (the kick) because of these media hacks.
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In my opinion, Suh is an extremely aggressive player who plays with reckless abandon. This has lead to a few unfortunate incidents in the past, but I don't think he goes out there with the intent to maim or harm his opponents.
The only truly egregious act he committed was the stomp, which was in response to dirty tactics used by the Packers' offensive line against him. You can go through the video on Youtube. They dove at his knees several times, a few after the plays were done, untied his shoelaces, held him down on the ground, etc....
The stomp was still inexcusable, but the idea that it was totally unprompted, or that it occurred in a vacuum, is ridiculous.
Suh's goal is to make the opposing quarterback's life miserable, which in today's NFL is frowned upon.
It's interesting that when Suh first entered the league his play was viewed by ESPN analysts as "aggressive," "nasty," and "hard-nosed." Suh had that "old school mentality," of "getting after it on every play," and "punishing" his opponents. He plays "angry," with "fire."
All of those adjectives were used in a positive light to reflect the kind of throwback player Suh is, but suddenly the whole of ESPN took an about face. Using a lot of the same sorts of descriptors and sayings, only those with a negative connotation. Suh is "dirty," "nasty," and "malicious." He plays with the "intent to injure" (instead of "punish"), with "unbridled rage," and is "totally out of control."
Funny how that works, isn't it?
The bottom line is that Suh was called for a number of penalties over the course of his first two seasons and corrected that behavior in his third season, but it's too late though, because the ESPN narrative has been created.
Suh is dirty and everything he does needs to be examined and re-examined through that already established "fact."
No matter the mental gymnastics or "seven degrees of Kevin Bacon" one must jump through to get there.
October 7th, 2013 at 8:07 PM ^
For future reference, statements in the mold of "Anyone who (does X) is no different than all of the people who (did Y)" assuming X does not equal Y. Raiola's and Suh's and Gholston's actions are all very different from each other it's not even funny.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:17 PM ^
I wonder if we can get him to sit with Special K. Someone is always complaining about the music.
October 7th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^
ding ding ding we have a winner.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:03 PM ^
An athlete makes fun of a band geek. Band geek cries about it on the internet.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
What do you expect from a guy who snaps a football through his legs for a living.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:19 PM ^
He really has no filter.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
And, of course, the Wisconsin Band are the same people that did this, at Lambeau:
October 7th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
I was about to give Joe Buck credit for the "lack of English majors" joke, but then he called them trombones.
October 7th, 2013 at 11:50 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
Those band members must be getting their doctorates if they're the same people.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:32 PM ^
Why was the UW band at the game anyway? Do they normally play at NFL games?
October 7th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 8:45 PM ^
A number of college bands play at NFL games. I know that the Bengals often have the bands from Ohio, OHIO, UC, and Miami (NTM) at their games.
October 8th, 2013 at 10:06 AM ^
usually play at a Lion's game each year. Not unusual at all.
October 7th, 2013 at 8:36 PM ^
Not saying the Michigan fan was right to talk smack back to him, but is it really smart to curse out fans in the state you have played your whole NFL career in? Not that was a lot before, but I lost any respect for Raiola that day. He's trash.
October 7th, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 10:13 PM ^
October 8th, 2013 at 1:33 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 9:27 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
Stadium when I didn't cringe at something a fan was yelling at a player or players.
I wonder how Raiola knew the kid's mother was dead. My mother is dead, but I never wore a sign on my head announcing that fact to random football players. I suppose it is possible that Raiola made a comment using the word mother and the band member is using his dead mother to troll for additional sympathy.
October 8th, 2013 at 10:08 AM ^
...he called the band member a MFer. I don't think he targeted the kid's mother. The dead mom part is only to make the incident look even worse than it already was. Fifteen yards for piling on.
October 8th, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^
When he flicked off his own fans several years ago!
October 7th, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
The Wisconsin fan base is garbage. Michigan State has gotten the most crap around here because of our hiatus with Wisconsin, but they're pretty much on par with MSU. Their rivalry of late is a perfect match.
October 8th, 2013 at 12:04 AM ^
The Lions are cursed, probably due to the fact that the owner doesn't care. The Ford family needs to sell this team.