TSJ Thread
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You know I think you right. Do you think we are all “growing up”? No question rape is super serious, but when does it go from two people making out (consensually) to rape? Only those two know, but some day maybe we even get the chief back lol
People of character and who are mature understand that sometimes (often) bad and unfair things happen to good people. And if you are such a person of character... you do not respond in kind (in anger or revenge or otherwise negatively) back to the person who did you wrong but you rise above the struggle and demonstrate an even bigger show of character than you may have had to show in the past.
The best face on this thing would be that... he didn’t do anything that crosses a fair-minded person’s view of ‘decency’... that he rides out these storm waves with class and dignity... that he is treated fairly by ‘The System’... that he can put on that uniform again... and play the game that he loves.
And get to The Association and have a hall-of-fame career. (I did say this was the ‘best’ thing that could happen).
And if he is innocent of wrongdoing and The System fails him – or the Court of Public Opinion fails him – then it is not he who has done wrong here but a failing System and lots of sad people who don’t want to be fair to another human being and who just want to bring someone down because of some failings within themselves.
Whatever happens... he will come out of this situation a changed man and we hope for the better. He can use his handling of this very public matter as a teaching moment for the sports world... fans everywhere... and the general public at large and become a public figure that transcends the world of basketball.
And he could even become a different kind of hero in the great legacy of Illini roundball.
At this point in time from what we know for sure so far... all these things are possible.
This post is spot on, but this does involve Illinois, so why not give ourselves the benefit of the doubt? Every other schools fanbase would. I would imagine that we would all give a close family member the benefit of the doubt over a complete stranger.
I still am curious what Bill Self is doing? Has one of the “people who would know” said publicly Self is doing anything? Maybe I have missed it? This is such a saga
No it’s not. He still gets “due process” from the panel since it sounds like there’s a possibility to reinstate him. The panel will review other evidence in making that decision.
The presumption of innocence in a criminal trial doesn’t mean that your life is normal while you’re waiting for trial. Depending on the severity of the charges you can be denied release on bail - certainly a detrimental action for you. Even if you’re released there are certain conditions you’d have to meet and things you’re not allowed to do. Secondly, given charges that are serious enough, such as rape or murder, I would imagine that many private employers would also strongly consider suspending their employee to avoid negative publicity until the matter is settled in the legal system.
His due process right now is that he’s allowed to continue to be a student and remain on the team. Kicking him out of school without all of the facts would have been irreparable, this isn’t.
At the end of the day, ask yourself two questions. 1) How would you feel if this wasn’t our All-American star player and was instead the 13th guy on the bench, or an AA on one of our rivals - would you still be having this conversation?
2) How would you feel if this was your child, or brother or sister, that was going through this as the alleged victim? How would you feel about the U of I if it turned out that a rape actually did occur to that person and the star athlete was allowed to continue living their life freely while your person was dealing with the trauma and no one believed them?
The "behind the scenes" info really makes me appreciate the people helping TJ... Josh, Brad, Bill, and everyone else nameless to me. It's heartening to know TJs support is so aggressive and confident that the truth will vindicate him. I can imagine TJ and family are grateful given the circumstances.
I'm actually railing against the process, whereby any athlete is suspended at the first publicity of a potentially negative event. The concern by the institution is for the public perception of the institution, not the well being of either the accused, or the accuser, despite their protestations to the contrary.
If he is innocent, the irreparable damage is from the charges not the suspension.
As long as the landing is smooth on this one, which is what lawyers are paid to have happen, nothing is irreparable.
well that's not true. You can't replace lost games. From a monetary standpoint, possibly you're right. But there is more to life than that. Of course, if this costs him AA status, that too is an irreplaceable thing.
Here’s the thing, a lot of people are using the “if this was another team point”
It’s not like we’re sitting here blindly defending TJ for no reason. There are very reasonable red flags here that allow for questioning. Along with that we have a press conference from our AD that seemed favorable to TJ. We also have somewhat reliable insiders saying Illinois is backing shannon. With all the info we have there is good reason to believe that he COULD be innocent. With all that presented I think I would at least be somewhat skeptical of the charges if it was for a rival team as well.
#2: this is completely irrelevant. Obviously you would be extremely biased for a family member and that goes the other way as well. You wouldn’t want to believe your son would do something like this whether it was true or a false accusation.
Was at the Illini-KU football game.
He was watching the football team, specifically his friend Johnny Newton.
The Kansas-Illinois football game
Thanks
I thought he was referencing reputation.
You are correct, the games lost are lost forever.
sbillini
- st petersburg, fl
I generally agree. We should give the benefit of the doubt. It just seems to be the perspective on this board has shifted to there being less doubt into what the situation is. Granted there’s been more information leaked, but, to me, that’s hasn’t been enough for me to give me much confidence as to what the real situation is.
It’s funny you mention family members. I think a lot of my perspective is developed through a family member of mine being accused of something similar in the past. I spent countless hours thinking through how to process it. One thing I learned through that process was it’s almost always a weird grey area in how these situations play out legally. The technicalities of Kansas law, the past history of the accuser, what the intentions of the accuser and accused were, etc etc all are common parts of the process but dont make me comfortable of things going one way or another. I prefer to just see how things play out and hope nobody is crossing any lines to have things play out in their favor.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- McPherson, KS
stlrunner
jakeyjakey
- St Louis, MO
Please understand I mean this with respect to you and your post.
I have to ask how you would feel if your son, brother, or cousin was Matt Araiza?
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