Dammit Man

KNOXVILLE — The co-owner of a nightclub near the University of Tennessee campus said “seven to 10” Volunteers football players were involved in a fight at the establishment early Friday.

Knoxville Police Department officials were on scene at the incident, but none would comment on the situation, including whether any arrests were made.

At least one UT player has been charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, police spokesman Darrell DeBusk told the Knoxville News Sentinel.

DeBusk said 18-year-old freshman receiver Da’Rick Rogers from Calhoun, Ga., was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. DeBusk also said a bar patron was sent to a hospital after the fight.

According to the New Sentinel, DeBusk said Knoxville police officer Robert Capouellez was found unconscious on the street outside the bar after the fight around 2 a.m. DeBusk said the officer was not in uniform or on duty, and he was being treated for a head injury. A half-dozen other people were detained.

Rogers was the No. 9-ranked high school player in the country last year. He picked UT late in the recruiting process after being committed to Georgia for almost a year. According to reports, UT safety Darren Myles, defensive tackle Montori Hughes and receiver Denarius Moore were being questioned by police about the brawl.

UT spokespeople were gathering information on the incident and also weren’t ready to comment.

Bar Knoxville co-owner Sandy Morton told the Times Free Press the fight started inside but spread outside, and it ended with an off-duty police officer knocked unconscious in Cumberland Avenue.

“Basically, it was a normal Thursday night — Thursday’s our big night,” Morton said. “We had all the UT football players come in. They’re on a first-name basis with my husband (and co-owner), and they get VIP status, which means they pay no cover at the door. We’ve never had a problem with them in the past, but tonight, apparently they had a falling out with another gentleman. I don’t know why. I don’t know what happened, but several of the guys started beating up the other customer. I want to guess there was seven to 10 guys beating up this one gentleman.

“All the security then rushed in and were trying to break it up. My husband saw them picking up bar stools and starting to swing them. We got them out the door with security. There happened to be a friend of ours who was an off-duty police officer outside. He tried to help, and he ended up getting knocked out in the street and proceeded to be kicked while he was down on the ground in the middle of Cumberland.”

source

I wish I could point my finger and look down my nose at these kids behind this incident but I can't because we had several "brawls" like this back when I played for the Vols. Doesn't make it any less wrong now than it was then but I feel obligated to not come off like a guy who is some kind of Saint that's never done anything wrong.

Having said that, this is horrible news and horrible timing for new head coach Derek Dooley. The word is he was out of town recruiting when this all went down and its gonna be hard to talk to someone's parents without them bringing it up. Not only that but camp isn't very far off and my guess is quite a few guys' status for the first games if not the season will still be up in the air when the players report.

Not exactly the way he wanted to start off his tenure I'm sure.

Unfortunately, and I'm speaking from experience, you can't hold all these kids' hands 24/7. At some point you gotta hope common sense and home training kicks in. If not, you have situations like this one.

Oh and to top off this crap sandwich people are speculating that the players getting into the club for free on a regular basis may be an NCAA violation.

When it rains...

Fresh Ink On The Blotter

Jeremy Trueblood was arrested for public intoxication late yesterday near his hometown in Indiana. The story is quite....interesting shall we say. But I'll refrain from making jokes for now.

Towell said his department received a call shortly after 10 p.m. from a gas station clerk complaining about two men who entered the store and disrupted business before leaving in a car driven by a third person.

The driver of the car was Trueblood's mother, Wanda, Towell said. A third member of the party, Benjamin McKenny, was also arrested on a public intoxication charge, Towell said.

"The gas station clerk called us and said two guys came into the store and were knocking stuff off the counters and almost knocked over a small lady with a child in her hand,'' Towell said.

"The clerk said the driver didn't come in and that he or she may be intoxicated, so we had an officer follow the car. Mr. Trueblood's (mother), Wanda, was the driver, and at the time of the stop she did not have her seat belt on.

"While talking to the driver and issuing the citation for the seat belt, the backseat passenger (McKenny) and Mr. Trueblood became beligerant and so they were locked up for failing to cooperate and public intoxication.

"Had the backseat passenger and Trueblood cooperated and not been beligerant, I won't say that wouldn't have happened, but it might have just ended with the driver getting the citation.''

Look I don't revel in players getting arrested because I know it damages not only the shield but in many instances those guys personally. But you gotta admit that this isn't your run of the mill arrest.

But hey like I said Im not going to go there. Yet...

*Update: Trueblood has now been released with no charges filed.  Seems the whole situation could have been avoided.  The lesson learned here and also previously with the Georgia AD's arrest is that if you are a passenger in a vehicle during a traffic stop STFU!!!

A Request

I was on twitter minding my own business when my stream blew up with news of JaMarcus Russell's arrest in Alabama over lean, sizzurp or purple drank if you will. Its basically a concoction of codeine cough syrup and soda that is supposed to get you high. Not only is it illegal but several prominent rappers have died from sipping lean, the most recent of which to my knowledge was PimpC.

Now I was just about to blog that I would like to slap the shit out of JaMarcus until he got his head on straight. But I have changed my mind in the time it took me to fire up my computer.

Instead Id like to slap the shit out of every family member, every advisor, every former coach and every homeboy that has any influence in JaMarcus' life right now or have had any influence in the last couple of years.

You folks have failed him and failed him MISERABLY.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in people taking personal responsibility for their actions. But I also believe that at some point the people around him either have to be helping him on that path of responsibility or in the event he just won't listen, refusing to be a part of his life.

Maybe its just me but I haven't heard stories of his "people" either reading him the riot act nor have I heard of them abandoning him to his own devices. Instead I hear about his hometown being disappointed he didn't make it. And unnamed advisers or "sources close to JaMarcus" claiming that he will be just fine as long as he gets another opportunity.

Well right about now you can kiss any of those opportunities goodbye. Hell I thought he was a long shot to ever be given another shot at an NFL career anyway because of his shitty work ethic. But now, after this arrest? Who in the hell do you know whose gonna give a quarterback who sips sizzurp a second chance?

I wouldn't and I consider myself a pretty forgiving guy.

Anybody who didn't see this coming had to be walking around with their eyes superglued shut and blinders on top of blue blockers. I didn't know it would be lean, but I was sure he was headed down the wrong path, so how in the hell could those closest to him not see the same thing?

Was it because the bling he was buying them was blurring their vision?

Somehow I suspect that could have played a role. Call it a hunch but I doubt JaMarcus took too kindly to folks telling him the truth. But if you are really his family, if you are really his friend, that's EXACTLY what you tell him whether he likes it or not. That's what having love for somebody is really about. Not sucking up so that you can stay in their good graces.

So while everybody is piling on JaMarcus Russell, and they have every right to do so, please save some of the vitriol to the enablers around him. They may just deserve it more than he does.

I Bet He Wishes He Had Stayed With Gloria Velez

Looks like Shawne "Lights Out" Merriman may have tried to "choke out" his "reality tv star" (ie famous for no damn reason) girlfriend, Tila Tequila.

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman was arrested Sunday and accused of choking and restraining his girlfriend, reality TV star Tila Tequila, as she tried to leave his Southern California home.

Tequila, 27, signed a citizen's arrest warrant, charging Merriman with battery and false imprisonment, San Diego County Sheriff's Lt. Gary Steadman said.

Deputies responded about 3:45 a.m. to Merriman's house in Poway, north of San Diego, after a woman called to say she was choked by the player and physically restrained when she had tried to leave, according to a Sheriff's Department statement.

Merriman, 25, was taken into custody. Authorities declined to say whether he had posted bail or been released, pending an afternoon news conference.

Tequila was taken to a hospital. Her condition was not immediately available.

Somehow I doubt it actually went down like that, considering the fact that Tila Tequila is a drama queen of the highest magnitude, but hey like my Mom always said, you lie down with dogs, you come up with fleas. I have no sympathy for Merriman's ignant ass.

Eating While Black

Is it time for another beer summit?

Baltimore Ravens undrafted rookie linebacker Tony Fein was arrested and charged Sunday with assaulting a police officer at a restaurant, authorities said.

Fein, 27, was eating dinner at Johnny Rockets in the Inner Harbor when a security officer thought he saw him pass a handgun to one of his friends, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. It turned out to be a cell phone.

When police questioned Fein, 27, he became belligerent and shoved the officer, Guglielmi said. Sgt. Joseph Donato was knocked to the ground and had an injured elbow, a police report said.
Fein's agent, Milton Dee Hobbs, says it was the officer who was aggressive and that Fein didn't shove him. Hobbs says police approached Fein because he was a black man wearing a sweat suit and hoodie.

Hobbs also says Fein has never owned a weapon.

Police told the Baltimore Sun that the three identified men with Fein fled the scene. Fein did not have a handgun in his possession, according to the newspaper.

Fein attended Mississippi and was signed as a free agent in June following a minicamp tryout. He is an Iraq veteran who served in the Army for more than three years before playing college ball. In two seasons at Ole Miss, he had 136 tackles (77 solo) in 24 games and was given the Pat Tillman Patriot Award by the Military Order of the Purple Heart his senior year of college, according to the Ravens' Web site.

Is it too much to ask that a man be allowed to eat his meal in peace? I know some folks will point to the cops version of events about him being belligerent, because as we all know cops never lie, but give me a fucking break.

One of those officers should be fired but there is zero chance that that will happen.

Tampa Bay Bucs Starting Corner Aqib Talib Arrested

Talk about starting off on the wrong foot for the Raheem Morris' era in Tampa Bay. Getting arrested mere hours after training camp breaks is just not a good look. And what is worse of course is that Aqib Talib has an extensive history of getting into trouble. This coming on the heels of the Tanard Jackson suspension and one would have to ask who was coaching these guys last year.


Oooops.