SLU_Lax

Again, I am getting to emotiona, but at what point should we expect the AD to recognize these concerns and effectively communicate them in an appropriately influential way to the President. Again, I am getting emotional about it and have no inside knowledge of what has happened.

That is fair. I just get upset that this is dragging on so long and becoming increasingly a cluster. I have no knowledge of what Pestello or anyone else has done. I just worry that this is not going well. Situation 1.0 upset me. The risk that this is going to make the AD and SLU look absolutely awful also is making me more nervous (regardless of what final decision is made or should be made). I should be quiet and I hope that the school has this all under control and has been handling this perfectly and we will all understand that when it is concluded.

This thought always upsets me. The Athletic Department is in no way responsible for running this investigation. It does, however, have a responsibility to bring up legitimate concerns and to voice those concerns to Pestello. Those concerns could include things like the school potentially not following their own guidelines on conducting investigations or could include things like how Situation 1.0 ran. The Athletic Department has a real voice in all of this and should be using that voice internally to make sure things are handled properly and reasonably (as best as they can know not being directly involved). The AD cannot simply just bury their head in the sand and wait for this to be over. It was terrible in the newspaper listening to Chris May say that he assumes a statement will be made when the process and investigation is over. He should know if they plan to make a statement or not. The AD has a dog in this fight because if Rosenblum brings this into the court of public opinion (no matter what ultimately happens) the school looks awful. We will look like we are both protecting predators and railroading sweet innocent kids and everything in between. I guess step #1 is figuring out if this process involves any sort of public statement at the end.

SLU has always been very weak administratively. I am confident that many minor procedural mistakes were made along the way. It will just be how those mistakes are presented and spun. Unfortunately I think Rosenblum is more effective at marketing his point-of-view than SLU will be. I hope this gets resolved quickly because it could get REALLY ugly if Rosenblum gets it moved to the forum of public opinion.

It is a shame that the Athletic Department appears unwilling to bring up any of the concerns mentioned by those on this message board. If these individuals did something terrible, then they should be removed from the SLU community as quickly as possible. If they did not, they should either be told what their lessor penalty is or absolved of wrong doing. This is not fair to anyone and it reminds me how the kids gone done wrong in Situation 1.0. Imagine how bad this would be if the kids did not lawyer up.

I do not blame the lawyers or the kids getting lawyers. Situation 1.0 took forever to resolve without lawyers. The kids did not have lawyers and they got absolutely railroaded. They were dragged into a kangaroo court and misled about how the whole thing was going to go down. If the kids did not lawyer up, the risk of the same thing happening would be just as high. If Situation 1.0 had started with the kids getting lawyers, it might have ended very differently.

I would assume this is the case. Nothing may be said because it is simply not known if they will be able to play or not. The outside law firm may not be communicating to the AD (directly or indirectly) what their timeframes are. I think it is hard reading anything into this as if it has purpose of special meaning. I think it is simply they do not know. Do not forget that a few years ago the fire alarms went off inside the arena and nobody knew what to do. The refs blew play dead and looked at Jim Crews. Crews shrugged his shoulders (in the universal "I don't know" sign) and looked across the court to someone else in the administration who looked just as confused about what to do. Gus Foul-ups then felt the need to make the announcement of "Folks nobody has told me what needs to be done". Then some in the arena went outside. Some people stayed. No official announcement was made that people could return, the game just sorta restarted and people came back as they saw fit. If basic questions like what should we do if the fire alarm goes off seems to escape the AD, then maybe it is best not to wade into the uncertain waters of Situation II. This story also reminds me of how happy I am that Ford is here and how much things have improved and are improving.

Ha! I missed that. I was focused more on how the jovial his smile was. I'm not a doctor, but I am pretty sure something like that should prompt a visit to a medical professional.

Maybe a statue like these...they'd really tie a room together.

Melvin Robinson could get pretty fat in the off season. When I was in a Billiken basketball camp as a grade schooler, I got to witness an overweight Melvin come through the gym with a half gallon of milk and some cookies.... He got YELLED at. He was an amazing athlete though. I miss watching him match up against Marquettes center with the cool hair. I miss those days.

Oh yeah... back on topic...the Post story today was super balanced and it mentioned (multiple times) that the players may be innocent of punishable infractions (although it was in terribly bad taste and they placed themselves in a compromising position). Either way, the public narrative to non-fans is the situation is murky and not certain. Engaged fans should feel better that even the public narrative is trending the right way. I think punishments are unavoidable, but the worst case scenario seems way less likely. I truly have hope the punishment will be commiserate with the "crime".

After all the long replies focusing on details and specific experiences, I want to give the short answer.... The writers are not good. I often disagreed with Bernie in general (I did love his appreciation of Rick), but regardless of whether you liked or loathed him, he was undoubtedly talented. I enjoyed reading him The new writers are WAY less talented. I remember when people could argue Joe Straus (VCU fandom aside) was a hack. He is just about the new gold standard. I weep for what what the world has become. It should not be this hard to find minimally competent people.

The lawyers are there for the University's Title IX investigation.

So can anyone confirm this? I am excited, but not ready to accept this is 100% accurate yet. The mention of "charges to be dropped soon" is awkward as there were no charges filed. While I understand what is being said, it makes me hesitate. The fact that interim suspensions may have been in place (showing the school took it very seriously and acted quickly - as they should) as well as them being dropped (meaning the school has seen enough to move on) is potentially the biggest deal.

Old Guy, I agree if an action is announced, I agree that it is too soon for the players are exonerated. It could be an announcement of what the process will be moving forward. That transparency could serve to calm those jumping to conclusions of guilt, those assuming innocence, and those that are in between. It would be a good move by SLU to at least fill the silence by explaining how things will proceed and could help them wrestle some degree of control of what's being said from the Jesus Ortiz's of the world. Otherwise people will fill the void with speculation and accusations.

I hope that is all there is. I do not see how the school could allow the situation to be marked "completed" tomorrow. Maybe they will give a path to resolution of what punishments will or will not be (something like a school hearing in front of a special board or something). I am not sure if an Indefinite Suspension would be good because it initially shows the school is serious and gets people to calm down, or if it would be bad because it shows things are trending negatively. The team could place an Indefinite Suspension on the players and lift it 7-10 days later if the evidence justified it. It would even give their lawyers a chance to grandstand about how the players are being wrongly punished without evidence. I guess it is best to just see what comes. Regardless things look much better than they did when this started, but things can change in a hurry (as we learned during Situation 1.0). I still feel badly for how Kwamain and Willy were allowed to re-enroll in school, several months passed, and then they were blindsided with their hearing right as the new season began (in which they were not allowed any representation and the accusers had seasoned lawyers with a carefully crafted case).

I am a longtime fan who grew up going to Grawer's and Spoon's basketball camps. I have lurked here for a decade and finally signed up when it was required for access. Overall I like Chris and recognize all the good he has done. In this particular instance I was disappointed that the players were denied the same representation that the accusers got and thought it was unfair. Of course I recognize Biondi and others role in creating that situation. I was just always disappointed that the Athletic Dept didn't know or otherwise couldn't ensure the rules of the j-board were fairly applied. After all it may have cost them NCAA money, donations, sales, and other benefits. Either way, I apologize if my short comment had an overly negative tone as I didn't intend that. I also believe the distasteful acts of Situation 1.0 put everyone in a compromising situation and ultimately led to people and the Athletic Dept as a whole being compromised. I am hopeful the players getting legal representation (indicating they are trying to have more control of the process) this time will help ensure a fair and proper resolution. I have enjoyed reading your posts.

Chris May hung Kwamain and Willie out to dry in the last situation. He was the person that was suppose to be looking out for the student athletes and failed to do so. I would not assume he is behaving any differently this time. I would assume Chris May is keeping his distance and not getting directly involved.