[The University of Louisiana] is playing Ole Miss on Saturday without four starters, each of whom is suspended …
[Okay. Four players is a lot at one time, but… ok…]
… The suspensions are related to the four being arrested during the offseason last spring.
[Related? Caused by, no? And were they arrested together because of the same offense? What’s the deal?]
Thirteen UL players, including those four, initially were arrested for conspiracy to commit felony theft.
[Whoa. Now thirteen. Thirteen, even by the rancid standards of this country’s student-athletes, is a lot. What gives?]
It’s believed the other nine served a one-game suspension at various points earlier in the season, but their suspensions were not made public at the time – and the Cajuns did nothing to make clear the real reason they were out.
[Murkier and murkier! So the university quietly suspended this player for this game and that player for that game without telling anyone… Cuz a couple of player absences per game isn’t going to attract attention… And the university said nothing about it…]
It some cases, it was thought the absent players were out because of injuries.
[Why was that thought? Because the coaches told the local press that?]
The 13 later had the charge against them reduced to criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, with a chance to have the charge eventually dismissed upon completion of a pre-trial diversion program that includes community service, drug testing and other program requirements.
[What the fuck did they do? Aren’t you a newspaper? Aren’t you supposed to tell me?]
… They were arrested April 25, following an investigation that produced video evidence of an occurrence at Huger Hall on campus.
[An occurrence? Now I’m laughing! WTF.]
The alleged victim in the case: former teammate Artez Williams, who was arrested for felony rape on the same day items allegedly were taken from his room.
[My head is spinning. Hold on. We don’t know what they did, but they did it to Artez, whose recent terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day featured an arrest for rape and the theft of items from his room, but whose woes also include a still-unspecified attack by thirteen current football players…. Or are we talking about the theft?]
Williams recently had a pre-trial hearing in which he was scheduled for another pre-trial for a date in 2018.
[… And?… But this is basically the end of the article…]
November 11th, 2017 at 2:50PM
thieves big and small
http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/slate_money/2017/11/slate_money_on_saudi_arabia_wilbur_ross_and_endowments.html
November 12th, 2017 at 9:51AM
They saved up suspensions for a non-conference game they were supposed to lose anyway.
The whole thing–university, football team, newspaper, etc.–stinks.
November 12th, 2017 at 10:01AM
John: ‘fraid so.