Thursday, January 21, 2010

Momentum stops and starts

Following the Aggies hoops team reminds me of driving in traffic in a big city. Just when you think things are going well and they are making progress, something always happens to bring it screeching to a halt.

A previous poster asked me where I'm at regarding Wendell's arrest and subsequent release over the weekend.

Do I think Wendell should have been allowed to play? It doesn't matter. I think that things get blown out of proportion but I understand that people think it's a disturbing trend and I tend to agree. I get that people's frustration is that Wendell played later that night. My understanding was that Wendell did pay the fines that were in question either previously or shortly after he was arrested. If that was the case, why not allow him to play?

I also have become numb I guess to these issues and understand Aggies fans. I could have a long post here on transgressions from NMSU players the past three years. I'm not defending the program. I guess I'm defending the players on this occasion. I would say that Young has grown up after his incident in a cafeteria and we did report Wendell's initial arrest in the spring that resulted in the fines that he had a warrant out.

I guess I'm just curious what you think the school should have done? My understanding is that he will play tonight. Troy Gillenwater will not, as he was not cleared as of late Wednesday. NMSU is hoping for a decision on his waiver late this week but next week is more realistic. All things we've heard before but I know there is some interest there.

Hawaii's Dwain Williams didn't play last week against San Jose State. Williams had a family issue in California and he could miss tonight's game as well.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unlike traffic in a big city it's more like teaching someone to drive stick. Because 90% of these screeching stops are the teams own doing. Whether its not getting it done in the classroom, in the weight room, in the practice gym, or drawing up the right x's and o's. This team has managed to win recently in spite of itself. With the exception of a few bright spots ie JY. Does it shock anyone that 2 of the 4 men stopped were the two biggest disappointments this year. WM and TG should have cracked open a book instead of trying to break off a stop sign.

Justin said...

The Sun-News report on the situation has turned out to be incredibly misleading... it seems to hint that the NMSU players were vandalizing stop signs, when in fact they were only in the same area as a reported vandalism. After being pulled over and showing ID, Wendell came up as having a warrant out for not having completed community service for an earlier transgression.

Anonymous said...

I think its important everyone gets their facts straight. Wendell and crew were stopped because they were in the area of the stop sign vandalism, not because they were in the process of stealing the stop sign. Everyone but Wendell was released at the scene because they had nothing to do with the "Stop sign incident". Wendell was arrested because of an outstanding bench warrant that was issued because he didn't pay all of the required fine from the criminal property damage incident that took place last March. Should he have paid the fine before the bench warrant and arrest? Yes. Is the fine paid now? Yes. Should he be punished by the team for not paying the fine? No. Is it time to move on? Yes.

Anonymous said...

JG great rational thoughts on the matter. BFD in my mind.

Anonymous said...

This team is winning despite of itself? That is about the most stupid thing I've heard on this message board, and there have been some doozies. Also THEY WEREN'T STEALING STOP SIGNS. IF THEY WERE THE ALL WOULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. How nobody is suspicious of the LCPD and the fact they DO racial profile is beyond me, but I won't make a big issue of it.

Alan said...

Yes, its amazing. I feel I am getting punished for being a silly little sports fan. Great athletes do not a great person make. Seriously, I wish to ween myself off of this drama and put my attention somewhere more creative and inspiring. Sorry for the dark mood...its just where I am as a spectator of this story.

Jason Groves said...

Justin, I believe the story in the paper said that NMSU police responded to a call about people possibly damaging or stealing a sign. If they were found out to actually be doing that, I'm sure the group could have been arrested.

Justin said...

Groves,

You and I are on the same page, and if you read the story closely, it's not misleading. However, the statement

"NMSU police pulled over a vehicle containing Aggie basketball players McKines, Troy Gillenwater, Robert Lumpkins and Hamidu Rahman after a 911 call alerted police to a group of individuals trying to steal or damage a stop sign, according to NMSU police. "

could easily be interpreted by a casual reader as "Aggie basketball players were stealing stop signs and the police were called."

I just think the syntax could have made it more clear that the players were only in the area of a reported vandalism. As always, I blame Feinberg. ;-)

Keep up the good work, JG