Magnus

May 6th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^

Without having read the article yet, I still have no idea if you mean Lawrence Taylor, Lawrence Thomas, or Ladainian Tomlinson.  Some more detail would be nice.

Magnus

May 6th, 2010 at 11:43 AM ^

Well, this morning on "Mike and Mike" they were talking to Jon Barry on the phone and they kept calling him "JB."  With all the people in the world whose first names start with "J" and last names start with "B", it's nearly impossible sometimes to tell who "JB" is. 

I'm guessing kids who were born around 1990 or later probably think of Tomlinson before Crackhead #56 when they hear "LT."

PhillipFulmersPants

May 6th, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^

different to me than JB because I can't think of any particular JB who was as dominant as Taylor was in any particular sport. Many consider Taylor to be the greatest defensive player to ever play the game.  I'd have a hard time disagreeing. He's certainly high in the conversation.

Obviously Tomlinson's initals are LT, and its no fault of his own that that's what people call him, but it has always struck me as sounding weird.  Gen Y'ers: you'll experience this in about 20 years with some new NBA stud named KG storms the league.

Magnus

May 6th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^

Yeah, it's just the whole idea of giving people nicknames.  "Big Daddy" refers to several NFL/NBA players.  Around this board, a bunch of people call Justin Turner "JT" while one of his position-mates is named "JT [Floyd]."  It just gets confusing when you only use initials.

CWoodson

May 6th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^

LT is the best defensive player of all time.  He explicitly OK'd Tomlinson using his nickname, though many still (reasonably) call him LT2.  This is not some obscure nickname here or a "JT" situation - it's the incredibly well known nickname of, again, the best defensive NFL player ever.  Seems reasonable.

Magnus

May 6th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^

Okay...so what if somebody a year ago wrote "OT: MJ dies in a car crash"?  Without any context, you wouldn't know whether it was Michael Jackson (the greatest pop singer of all time, arguably) or Michael Jordan (the greatest basketball player of all time, arguably).  I'm not saying nicknames are bad.  I'm simply saying that they can be confusing, especially when they're not used in context.

CWoodson

May 6th, 2010 at 12:34 PM ^

This is a ridiculous discussion, but yeah, that's true.  There's definitely a fair point that when two extremely famous people have the same nickname (LT, MJ), there is going to be some confusion.  I feel like LT more clearly refers to Taylor and MJ to Jordan, but I certainly see your point.  I just love the original LT (and obviously, am saddened by this though also sadly not shocked).

Shalom Lansky

May 6th, 2010 at 11:30 AM ^

they all raped each other. LT was like, "Hey, LT, I'm going to rape you", to which LT said "Nah, I'm going rape YOU, LT."  LT overheard this conversation and was infuriated and said "I'm going to RAPE ALL OF YOU!"  I think the charges will be dropped, sounds like a consentual LT threesome.

JeepinBen

May 6th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^

but statutory. 

"being charged with third-degree rape, which involves having intercourse with a minor, authorities said."

Granted I don't have the facts, but it sounds like he didn't force her into sex (1st degree) it sounds like the issue is that he is older than 18, and she's not legal.

Still an issue, just trying to clarify

JeepinBen

May 6th, 2010 at 11:40 AM ^

I'm just saying, when I hear/read "He raped her" my first thought is that he forced himself on her physically. 

From reading the article that's not what this sounds like. I'm not saying it's ok, at 15 she's still a kid, and obviously, this is illegal for a reason. 

Totally not OK, and I'm not saying it was.

France719

May 6th, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^

Is it just me or should they change the name of statutory rape to something else.   Like you, when I hear rape I also immediately think of some guy forcing himself on a girl.  What he did was wrong, no doubt about it, but IMO it's not even in the same ballpark asforcing yourself on someone.

MaizeSombrero

May 6th, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^

I'm not lawyer, but the reason its rape is because a girl cannot give give legal consent until she is 16 or 18, depending on the state. So you'd be having sex with someone who has not given you (legal) consent, which is rape.

My question is: Can a girl's parent give consent for her to have sex before she turns 16 or 18?

CWoodson

May 6th, 2010 at 12:27 PM ^

This is rape in the 3rd degree, a Class E felony in NY.  It's rape because she's under 17 and he's over 21 (provision b) of the statute).

Class E felonies in NY are punishable by between 1.5 and 4 years in jail, if he's convicted and there are no other charges.

joeyb

May 6th, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^

That's my point. It's only considered "rape" because the definition for rape uses the word "consent" and a minor can't legally consent to anything. Basically, you are throwing a 16yo who has consensual sex with a 15yo in the same category as a 20yo that physically overpowers another 20yo. It's not the same act and it should have different names because of that.

Blue in Yarmouth

May 10th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^

In the article it says he is being charged with 3rd degree rape, that is true. However, it also says that the girl was brought there against her will and didn't want to be left with LT but her pimp left her anyway.

His lawyer is saying that sex never even took place, but IF it did, I think the Prosecutors are letting him off easy as it certainly doesn't sound (from this article, which is my only reference) that the sex was consentual at all.

Anyway, that is what I got from the article and wanted to weigh in.

BiSB

May 6th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^

There's a reason it's still called rape.  She CAN'T consent.  She's 15.

There's a simple mathematical formula to determine creepiness; take your age, divide by two, and add 7.  You can't sleep with anyone younger than that age without it being sketchy.

learmanj

May 6th, 2010 at 12:24 PM ^

With this line of thinking, I can't wait to get older.  I mean when I'm 60, it won't be creepy for me to bang a 37 yr old.  Better start working on my pimp game now or make a ton of $$$

MGoScene

May 6th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^

There's a simple mathematical formula to determine creepiness; take your age, divide by two, and add 7.  You can't sleep with anyone younger than that age without it being sketchy.

That sucks for 14-year-olds who dig 13-year olds.

(side note: when I was 14 I had no chance of getting laid, so this was irrelevant to me)

stankoniaks

May 6th, 2010 at 2:32 PM ^

Years ago, in my criminal law class I remember reading a famous case called State of NC v. Alston, a case which made it up to the Supreme Court, which had to do with what constitutes consent.  What I found terribly interesting was that the alleged attack occurred at the accuser's friend's house, whose name was LAWRENCE TAYLOR.  Considering the ages of the parties, the locale in which this occurred (near Chapel Hill) and the age of the accused and the victim, and the time in which this occurred (in 81 I believe), I think I was able to deduce that it was the very same LT that we know (which I found to be very interesting).

The fact that LT is being accused of rape and issues of consent are being brought, is very ironic to me, and of course unfortunate.