Watkins. Ugh!
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Seriously, why do people start threads like this with some nebulous comment and no information or links?
If you can't be bothered to share the link or describe what makes you say "Ugh," don't start a thread.
Forget about the fighting. I can understand how sometimes that is hard to just walk away from.
What bothers me a LOT more are the drugs. That is more controllable. Why the crap would someone with his physical abilities and future potential mess for even one millisecond with that sh!t????? That garbage is what put him on a short leash in the first place.
I wish the best for him, but I'm afraid we may have seen the last of him at Penn State. That just sucks.
What bothers me a LOT more are the drugs. That is more controllable. Why the crap would someone with his physical abilities and future potential mess for even one millisecond with that sh!t????? That garbage is what put him on a short leash in the first place.
I wish the best for him, but I'm afraid we may have seen the last of him at Penn State. That just sucks.
He'd play lots of places and may do so here. If a coach wants to keep his job he sometimes dances around things that are not felonious. A coach has to know how to dance if he wants to get to the dance.
“Norm” swings wildly between extreme brevity and boring bloviation.
Future chair of the bot.
Suspend him for rest of semester. See if he can keep out of trouble until end of Dec. If he toes the line, play him then. If not, give him the walking papers. He has had an abundance of 2nd chances. Just can't stay out of trouble.
Advice to Mike - go to class, go to practice, stay in your apt and study/sleep the rest of the time.
Advice to Mike - go to class, go to practice, stay in your apt and study/sleep the rest of the time.
Jumps line at McDonald's and someone says something about it like I would do and it leads to him punching them. He needs to go. What kind of dude does this? Smoking weed punching people? He needs to grow up. You're getting an excellent educational for the opportunity to better your life and be successful and he's pi$$ing it away. Unbelievable
It's weed. You would be amazed if you only knew how many players on the football team smoke weed.
He grew up in a different environment with different values being ingrained. I teach at a HIGH poverty high school (over 91% live in poverty), and swinging at a stranger over a random exchange like this would not be out of the norm - what-so-ever. It's a different world, and unless if you were truly raised in poverty (and, in many cases, having to raise your younger siblings as well) it's something we will never truly understand... but you can understand that we'll never understand it. Breaking up a legit fist fight anymore doesn't phase anybody, and sometimes is not even reported to the principal -- it's just the life that the kids know, not a "disorder."
Drugs. Kick him off the team. No one player is bigger then the program.
I don’t care what other schools do.
I don’t care what other schools do.
Well that would certainly explain Saturday's performance. There's no question they played like they were all stoned.
I think this is the crux of this discussion. i don't have any issue with whatever Pat wants to do - totally coaches decision. HOWEVER, he must win and be competitive in the BIG to keep his job. if he disciplines the entire team for whatever, that is his decision, but still win. NO EXCUSES. you cannot keep the job by running pure clean, but losing. no room for that model.
So what???? You want us to feel sorry for him?? He's receiving a privilege 99% of the other students at Penn State would die for.
I don't know where you went to high school, but where I went, we had fights all the time. You make it sound like that's something new. At some point you have to put "high school" behind you and grow up. Especially if you have the future potential he has.
You think some NBA GM is going to waste good money on a kid that has a history of instigating fights and being stoned all the time? No way. He ain't no Shaq, Magic, or Michael.
Maybe you should give him a call and give him some professional counseling. It would be a real shame if Mike ends up destroying his future because people are always making excuses for him.
I’m not here to say Mike deserves a million chances but I don’t think people fully appreciate what it’s like to grow up in the environments some of these kids grow up in and what kind of trauma these kids experience the first few years of their life that end up impacting their personality and behavior for the rest of their lives.
I don’t know Mike, but from an emotional maturity and intelligence standpoint, in many ways he’s probably still just a child and that’s not something that’s overcome just by saying, “grow up already.” Some of this stuff is ingrained in these kids very early in life and is beyond their control.
At some point there has to be a realization that maybe someone is beyond help and will never get it, but Mike has had to do a lot of things right and overcome a lot of challenges just to get to where he is right now. He obviously has some impulse control issues.
I totally get where Pat is coming from and I don’t think it’s just about losing an all Big Ten big man.
It is about setting Mike up for future success. No one wants to see him head back to Philly and get swallowed up by these neighborhoods where there ain’t a whole lot going on that’s positive. He wouldn’t be the first basketball player this happened to.
Pretty sure Joe Paterno gave more chances to kids who came from the most challenging of environments. I personally agree with it.
I don’t know Mike, but from an emotional maturity and intelligence standpoint, in many ways he’s probably still just a child and that’s not something that’s overcome just by saying, “grow up already.” Some of this stuff is ingrained in these kids very early in life and is beyond their control.
At some point there has to be a realization that maybe someone is beyond help and will never get it, but Mike has had to do a lot of things right and overcome a lot of challenges just to get to where he is right now. He obviously has some impulse control issues.
I totally get where Pat is coming from and I don’t think it’s just about losing an all Big Ten big man.
It is about setting Mike up for future success. No one wants to see him head back to Philly and get swallowed up by these neighborhoods where there ain’t a whole lot going on that’s positive. He wouldn’t be the first basketball player this happened to.
Pretty sure Joe Paterno gave more chances to kids who came from the most challenging of environments. I personally agree with it.
It wasn’t that long ago that Javaris Crittenton and Gilbert Arenas pulled guns on each other in the Wizards locker room.
As for Mike, there’s never been any indication that he has been a bad teammate, a malcontent in the locker room, or anything other than a hard worker on and off the court. There’s just about nothing that concerns me less than him having a grinder with a little bit of pot in it; it’s just not a big deal or something that UPPD should be wasting their time charging, athlete or not. The fights and having ammunition or potentially a firearm (even if he has a license) are a little more concerning to me, but the whole situation just screams out to me that Watkins is a kid who needs more structure in order to succeed, and I don’t see kicking him off the team as doing anything positive for him - which I think is what Pat was getting at.
I just wish we would stop making excuses for bad behavior. If the allegations are true, I would hope Pat will condemn them, have Mike issue an apology, and an apporopriate punishment will follow. I am not suggesting he be thrown off the team, but it should be made clear that at Penn State, bad behavior will not be tolerated.
Translation: I am an old white man who has spent little time learning about how kids grow up in today’s age. PS- Free Jerry.
Maybe it continues to be a "high poverty high school" in part because teachers and administrators are ok w/ kids randomly swinging at strangers.
If smoking weed and getting in fights were cause for giving up on someone, I certainly wouldn’t have made it. I agree with @fairgambit that he absolutely should be punished, but throwing him off the team is a bit silly for what is really just average dumb college kid low level misdemeanor behavior.
Translation: I am even older and whiter and unwilling to consider the impact of one's upbringing on their actions.
"In today's age"????? Now that's funny. It really is. You think we should go back to the old days???????
You ever hear of Martin Luther King? Selma? Watts? George Wallace and the University of Alabama? etc, etc, etc? Heck, just go back to that 1969 Texas team that was voted ahead of us for the National Championship. Watch the Texas/Arkansas tape that put them ahead of us. Tell me how many Black kids you see.
Maybe you should read some History books and get off the racial bull sh!t. Sounds like you want to go back to the good old days of 1860.
Treat Mike like a man and quit acting like he's some helpless, brain dead child. Enabling him to fail in life is going to get him nowhere.
Yea, get rid of the fights and North Philly will probably turn into Beverly Hills...
Hmm I teach at a school like that, not quite as high only 70% below the poverty line and fights do happen. But they also understand it's wrong and deserve their punishment. So, it's NOT a different world, it's not right to do it no matter where you are raised. Kids in my school understand that no matter their income.
I never said that they do not understand that you shouldn't swing at people, but understanding does not necessarily change their actions. For punishment, yes, but rarely does punishment change the behavior. We have fully done away with detention and start with ISS, then OSS. Getting out of class, and school in general, is a reward for many of them and not a detterent.
You never heard of "Bloody Sunday"???????? Then keep your mouth fu(kin shut about how much worse things are today and do some frickin homework.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/06/politics/selma-50-years-john-lewis-bridge-anniversary/index.html
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