| MBB/WBB UPDATE 9/29: New Patch article: Pre-Trial Immunity Hearing For Darius Miles Started Today

My friend wanted to know about the Solo Cup Rule?
Rick, if beer was served in a Solo cup or by the can, that was pretty much a given that bar was known for fights and they wanted to limit the number of bloodbaths due to broken glass. Now, Post 37 aka SideTrack charged you $5 at the door for a Solo cup and then draft beer was $.05 a cup, all you could drink or until the kegs ran out.

Stupid autocorrect!!
 
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Rick, if beer was served in a Solo cup or by the can, that was pretty much a given that bar was known for fights and they wanted to limit the number of bloodbaths due to broken glass. Now, Post 37 aka SideTrack charged you $5 at the door for a Solo cup and then draft beer was $.05 a cup, all you could drink or until the legs ran out.
Freudian slip?
 
This won't be a popular opinion, but I've talked to friends and family about wishing they could do their best to keep college towns for college students and family. I say this due to Athens being a town where a lot of non-college students go to party and prey on college kids usually causing fights, trouble, and other incidents because they simply aren't as "refined" with as much to lose as most college kids. I get it, it will never happen and is absolutely crazy, but in instances like this where you have older people mixing with younger people you have a ticking time bomb as you have different ideals of what you want from your night. Drinks with friends, looking for a late night, binge drinking, finding a girl/boy to go home with, or just to have a drink. Wherever a good responsible time can be had will eventually be found out by troublemakers and they will crash the party. No different than communities around the country and how they change over the years.
Good observations. I don't think that will ever change, but I think you're being a little too complimentary of college students. Many can't see past the end of their nose.

Some months back, I was at a dive-ish joint, and I'd gotten into a decent conversation with a bartender. It wasn't really highbrow, but I guess it stood out, and a patron called down the bar, "you must be a college boy..."

College boy. Some years back, when I heard that it was usually a harbinger of something more, particularly when there's a volatile cocktail of ages/backgrounds/edumacation/motives - not to mention cocktails. It did make me swing my head about, and the guy who cracked it looked as old as me. I called it back, and said, "College boy!? I haven't been called that in over thirty years. Yeah, I was a college boy. Thanks for making me feel young." He didn't say anything else.
 
This won't be a popular opinion, but I've talked to friends and family about wishing they could do their best to keep college towns for college students and family. I say this due to Athens being a town where a lot of non-college students go to party and prey on college kids usually causing fights, trouble, and other incidents because they simply aren't as "refined" with as much to lose as most college kids. I get it, it will never happen and is absolutely crazy, but in instances like this where you have older people mixing with younger people you have a ticking time bomb as you have different ideals of what you want from your night. Drinks with friends, looking for a late night, binge drinking, finding a girl/boy to go home with, or just to have a drink. Wherever a good responsible time can be had will eventually be found out by troublemakers and they will crash the party. No different than communities around the country and how they change over the years.
So no student ID, no bar entry.

Yeahhhh, that'll never fly.

Good idea, though.
 
@TerryP Has Blackwell weighed in since his article was pulled? Part of me thinks that because he relied on The Patch article, he or someone above him had second thoughts about what was shared there.
Not that I'm aware.

I skimmed the article on SI. (And it's not really fair to call BamaCentral, SI. It's a fan site with fans as writers.) To me it was just like something you'd find on SDS—an aggregate of The Patch article. It was a click generator.

I'm to understand that Blackwell cautioned he was going to use a lot from the article because it was "nuanced" (my word choice,) and while it wasn't verbatim it was pretty damn close. Perhaps that had something to do with the pull. 🤷‍♂️

So yes, I'd agree it was about what was being shared by BC. But, I'm leaning more towards the way it was shared versus the subject matter.



FWIW, if you didn't know, the way the SI fan affiliated sites are set up ... a little on the odd side. When it launched Walsh was getting paid while the others reporting were considered "interns." (Unpaid labor for name recognition.) I'm not sure where Blackwell falls in their hierarchy. today.

Because they are under Chris's wing, not the SI umbrella, gives me reason to give their reporting more credence than other Alabama outlets.
 
Not that I'm aware.

I skimmed the article on SI. (And it's not really fair to call BamaCentral, SI. It's a fan site with fans as writers.) To me it was just like something you'd find on SDS—an aggregate of The Patch article. It was a click generator.

I'm to understand that Blackwell cautioned he was going to use a lot from the article because it was "nuanced" (my word choice,) and while it wasn't verbatim it was pretty damn close. Perhaps that had something to do with the pull. 🤷‍♂️

So yes, I'd agree it was about what was being shared by BC. But, I'm leaning more towards the way it was shared versus the subject matter.



FWIW, if you didn't know, the way the SI fan affiliated sites are set up ... a little on the odd side. When it launched Walsh was getting paid while the others reporting were considered "interns." (Unpaid labor for name recognition.) I'm not sure where Blackwell falls in their hierarchy. today.

Because they are under Chris's wing, not the SI umbrella, gives me reason to give their reporting more credence than other Alabama outlets.
Thanks. I'm unaware how most sites are managed and driven from an income standpoint, I just look at how they are written and that usually leaves enough clues from that side.
 
Good observations. I don't think that will ever change, but I think you're being a little too complimentary of college students. Many can't see past the end of their nose.

Some months back, I was at a dive-ish joint, and I'd gotten into a decent conversation with a bartender. It wasn't really highbrow, but I guess it stood out, and a patron called down the bar, "you must be a college boy..."

College boy. Some years back, when I heard that it was usually a harbinger of something more, particularly when there's a volatile cocktail of ages/backgrounds/edumacation/motives - not to mention cocktails. It did make me swing my head about, and the guy who cracked it looked as old as me. I called it back, and said, "College boy!? I haven't been called that in over thirty years. Yeah, I was a college boy. Thanks for making me feel young." He didn't say anything else.

Well, I agree with you to an extent. I am not saying there aren't entitled college students that mommy and daddy don't bail out of jail or get out of trouble, or kids dealing drugs and shit. Not saying that at all. I'm not even saying all college kids are smart, just trying to say they are there for a reason more than partying, atleast initially. I will just say I was never worried about getting shot at a bar or during a night out on campus. Been in plenty of scraps and brawls at bars, and that will never change, but was never threatened with a knife or gun in my college days either (mid-2000's to early 2010's). We partied our asses off and honestly lucky to be alive and free these days, but it was all harmless stuff that never got any more serious than a fist fight or trash talking.
 
So no student ID, no bar entry.

Yeahhhh, that'll never fly.

Good idea, though.

You're right, would never ever fly. And I don't want to take away a Gameday experience or a Parent's Weekend experience, or even a sibling coming to visit their brother/sister. It's more of a concept or just to simply get the idea out there that a lot of trouble comes from people with no association with the University, but it's always the University and the culture that get dinged.

If I'm reading into everything correctly after so many reports, it appears the three main parties (two boy shooters and the girl) involved in this were not associated with the university in any current capacity.
 
A couple of things I'll add here...

Like Terry was saying, Tuscaloosa, and specifically The Strip area has been an issue for a good while now, and a lot of the bad crowd is coming from other neighboring counties as well. Had a friend that was working Strip detail for a bit a couple years ago and he'd talk about how most of the more serious issues involved people from out of the area (and often times, people older than the usual "college crowd").

Tim's post on The Patch article over the weekend was spot on, and reporting on stuff like this should be looked at under that type of lens.... I'm just adding some more context on the writer... Ryan's dad headed up the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit for a bit and has extensive law enforcement experience with multiple agencies. Some of my friends locally who are still working with TPD and TCSO think highly of Ryan's work, specifically, the effort he puts into his investigative reporting. It was actually a former TPD investigator who told me about Ryan a few years ago when he started up The Patch and said the news from him would be much better than anything that T-News was putting out at the time (and he was right).

That last line kind of brings me to this... I talk with those friends often, be it group texts or over breakfast somewhere... we are friends that go back for about 15 years. During a meetup last month, that same former investigator with TPD brought up the Miles/Miller stuff. I'm not going to post everything that was said, but a current investigator mentioned he'd seen some of the video as he was tasked with helping identify and track down some of the witnesses. That was when the comment was made that a couple of them associated with the victim were not cooperating. A current patrol officer (TPD), commented that from what he had heard, Miles and Davis had a clear case for self defense (he had not seen the videos).

This part is heavy on speculation, but I think many other outlets have done some initial investigating and decided to back off for whatever reason. I know for a fact some national reporters were digging into it, including the NY Times (and you saw how their story ended up). I've been told The Athletic had a national writer start digging with intent to write a piece and they too shelved it. I have my suspicions that the higher ups at al.com have kept Carol Robinson from doing more in depth reporting on it as well (something she has done in the past on lots of high profile cases). This is going to be a case that eventually ends up covered on podcasts and gets national attention on programs like Dateline and 20/20 after the trail(s), but I firmly believe that the story told at that time is going to be completely different than the stories we were reading and hearing in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. On the SI article, I don't know anything about Blackwell and I've never even been to the Bama Central site (every once and a while I'll see someone RT one of their articles). I did see where Ryan was supportive of Blackwell's article on Saturday, which should count for something.
 
Not that I'm aware.

I skimmed the article on SI. (And it's not really fair to call BamaCentral, SI. It's a fan site with fans as writers.) To me it was just like something you'd find on SDS—an aggregate of The Patch article. It was a click generator.

I'm to understand that Blackwell cautioned he was going to use a lot from the article because it was "nuanced" (my word choice,) and while it wasn't verbatim it was pretty damn close. Perhaps that had something to do with the pull. 🤷‍♂️

So yes, I'd agree it was about what was being shared by BC. But, I'm leaning more towards the way it was shared versus the subject matter.



FWIW, if you didn't know, the way the SI fan affiliated sites are set up ... a little on the odd side. When it launched Walsh was getting paid while the others reporting were considered "interns." (Unpaid labor for name recognition.) I'm not sure where Blackwell falls in their hierarchy. today.

Because they are under Chris's wing, not the SI umbrella, gives me reason to give their reporting more credence than other Alabama outlets.
Terry, Joey Blackwell is the son of a friend, as well as a friend. He is on the payroll. He is a straight shooter. I haven't been over here in a while, but if he has further comments I will update thus thread.
 
Terry, Joey Blackwell is the son of a friend, as well as a friend. He is on the payroll. He is a straight shooter. I haven't been over here in a while, but if he has further comments I will update thus thread.

Would be interesting to know for sure, but my guess is the big bosses forced it to be pulled seeing as how it kind of torched the narrative of their own highly paid senior writer.
 
Terry, Joey Blackwell is the son of a friend, as well as a friend. He is on the payroll. He is a straight shooter. I haven't been over here in a while, but if he has further comments I will update thus thread.
I've thought of you several times this season. I'm surprised we haven't seen you chime in so far.
 
Rick, if beer was served in a Solo cup or by the can, that was pretty much a given that bar was known for fights and they wanted to limit the number of bloodbaths due to broken glass. Now, Post 37 aka SideTrack charged you $5 at the door for a Solo cup and then draft beer was $.05 a cup, all you could drink or until the kegs ran out.

Yeah! I remember those days!
 
This part is heavy on speculation, but I think many other outlets have done some initial investigating and decided to back off for whatever reason. I know for a fact some national reporters were digging into it, including the NY Times (and you saw how their story ended up). I've been told The Athletic had a national writer start digging with intent to write a piece and they too shelved it. I have my suspicions that the higher ups at al.com have kept Carol Robinson from doing more in depth reporting on it as well (something she has done in the past on lots of high profile cases). This is going to be a case that eventually ends up covered on podcasts and gets national attention on programs like Dateline and 20/20 after the trail(s), but I firmly believe that the story told at that time is going to be completely different than the stories we were reading and hearing in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. On the SI article, I don't know anything about Blackwell and I've never even been to the Bama Central site (every once and a while I'll see someone RT one of their articles). I did see where Ryan was supportive of Blackwell's article on Saturday, which should count for something.
A friend of mine has heard Ryan on the radio in Mobile a few times in the last week. One thing he mentioned to me was Ryan mentioning the investigation had changed quite a bit since the story first broke. I can't recall exactly, but he said that Ryan pointed to more facts (verifiable) coming to light as the investigation has progressed and "narrative has shifted to a different place" since January as well.

I thought narrative was a great word to use considering that's the reason we've seen these publications you've mentioned pick up their bags and go home. The narrative they were after isn't there any longer. I hate saying this but I believe it to be true: their narrative never was about Jamea, it was the gun.

I'd heard it suggested before and I was told last week Ryan mentioned the first shot coming from the Jeep: evidenced on video.

I don't mean to be crass. There's a chance Johnson doesn't walk on the face of this earth any longer. It's a big deal they can't find him. I can only assume he doesn't want to be found. And we're right back to where we were a few weeks ago ...wait 'til they sort through all the video.
 
A friend of mine has heard Ryan on the radio in Mobile a few times in the last week. One thing he mentioned to me was Ryan mentioning the investigation had changed quite a bit since the story first broke. I can't recall exactly, but he said that Ryan pointed to more facts (verifiable) coming to light as the investigation has progressed and "narrative has shifted to a different place" since January as well.

I thought narrative was a great word to use considering that's the reason we've seen these publications you've mentioned pick up their bags and go home. The narrative they were after isn't there any longer. I hate saying this but I believe it to be true: their narrative never was about Jamea, it was the gun.

I'd heard it suggested before and I was told last week Ryan mentioned the first shot coming from the Jeep: evidenced on video.

I don't mean to be crass. There's a chance Johnson doesn't walk on the face of this earth any longer. It's a big deal they can't find him. I can only assume he doesn't want to be found. And we're right back to where we were a few weeks ago ...wait 'til they sort through all the video.

It was 100% always about guns and trying to use a high profile athlete like Brandon Miller to be their sacrificial lamb to pull their agenda filled wagon around.

He's alive. If they really wanted to find him, they would. But sooner or later, they are going to need him or the case falls apart. Even with him at this point, they are screwed. I don't know anything about Davis' legal team, but the one Miles has are basically criminal trial lawyer piranha who will rip apart anything that isn't legit and half the stuff that is.
 
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