The real reason Marlin Lane was suspended

[VolFan4Life87]

I would have preferred we handle it like FL did-say why he was suspended to send the message that we take it seriously and that the behavior wouldn't be tolerated.

The behavior he didn't commit? I guess you or no one you know has ever been accused of anything wrongfully. This thread aptly illustrates that simply being accused = guilty in the eyes of (surprisingly) MANY, which then brings about extreme scrutiny. Regardless of TRUE guilt the scrutiny is there. I respect Jones for going through the proper channels without needlessly smearing a players name in the papers. If he had been CHARGED, different story.

 

[butchna]

If UT had handled it like UF did (quickly, openly, transparently), perhaps UT wouldn't have had to suspend Lane for 2 months, 1.5 months longer than Treon. UT did Lane no favor in the long run by trying to keep this quiet. In fact, UT made the situation far, far worse for Lane in the long run. Now a cloud looms over his head, fair or not, liberal media or not, just or not. Your attempt to protect UT's handling of the issue is short sighted for both the university and Lane.

So if Butch had held a press conference highlighting and pinpointing the allegations, in the OFFSEASON, with no games on the field, the regular denizens who comprise the court of public opinion would have gently let the process play out? Hell no! Both sides would have been howling like hyenas at the DA with their own agendas demanding and politicking...AND THEY WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT QUIETLY! Outside The Lines...First Take (with the pride of the Dores alum Skip Bayless pre Vandy scandal) et al...Righteous indignation and demands left and right! Big favor Marlin missed out on there! :glare:

 

[chargervol]

If UT had handled it like UF did (quickly, openly, transparently), perhaps UT wouldn't have had to suspend Lane for 2 months, 1.5 months longer than Treon. UT did Lane no favor in the long run by trying to keep this quiet. In fact, UT made the situation far, far worse for Lane in the long run. Now a cloud looms over his head, fair or not, liberal media or not, just or not. Your attempt to protect UT's handling of the issue is short sighted for both the university and Lane.

You do understand that UFs QB had just scored a game winning td right? Kinda impossible to not be public about his sudden suspension. Reverse the circumstances and I bet things go differently.

Anytime someone suggests we look to FL for a moral compass, I already know that flawed thinking is involved.

 

[volfan411]

If UT had handled it like UF did (quickly, openly, transparently), perhaps UT wouldn't have had to suspend Lane for 2 months, 1.5 months longer than Treon. UT did Lane no favor in the long run by trying to keep this quiet. In fact, UT made the situation far, far worse for Lane in the long run. Now a cloud looms over his head, fair or not, liberal media or not, just or not. Your attempt to protect UT's handling of the issue is short sighted for both the university and Lane.

If it was announced to the public he would have been unjustly found guilty in the perception of the public. So why ruin the young mans name in the eyes of the public until the investigation is complete.

 

[bowlinggreenvol]

If UT had handled it like UF did (quickly, openly, transparently), perhaps UT wouldn't have had to suspend Lane for 2 months, 1.5 months longer than Treon. UT did Lane no favor in the long run by trying to keep this quiet. In fact, UT made the situation far, far worse for Lane in the long run. Now a cloud looms over his head, fair or not, liberal media or not, just or not. Your attempt to protect UT's handling of the issue is short sighted for both the university and Lane.

How does announcing it to the world make it better on a young man? UT did act quickly, they suspended Lane immediately upon accusation and he remained suspended until the investigation cleared him and he reached Butch's expectations. Muschamp looks like more of a chump if comparing the two post allegation handlings. As soon as the girl dropped the charges Boom was "hell get back in here we need you in order to win". Butch made Marlin work his way back on despite being cleared, that's what took extra time.

Possible rapes/sexual assaults likely happen 5x a year on UT's campus, do you expect them to announce evey accusation and every accusee every time? If not, then athletics shouldn't be any different. A student may or may not have raped another student that's all that's needed. It's no ones business if there's nothing more than an accusation and I feel bad for Harris that his played out in the media and was dissected 24/7 on the SEC Network. It proved him guilty before innocent in a lot of viewers minds.

 

[hndog609]

If UT had handled it like UF did (quickly, openly, transparently), perhaps UT wouldn't have had to suspend Lane for 2 months, 1.5 months longer than Treon. UT did Lane no favor in the long run by trying to keep this quiet. In fact, UT made the situation far, far worse for Lane in the long run. Now a cloud looms over his head, fair or not, liberal media or not, just or not. Your attempt to protect UT's handling of the issue is short sighted for both the university and Lane.

Right...so if they had come straight out and held a press conference that would have what, reduced the cloud over his head? Forgive me but that's utterly nonsensical.

The way I see it is the approach taken with Lane allowed for whatever speculation* that was going to take place to happen after the investigation. Anybody that wants to believe something is going to do so but they're going to have to do so without it being during the investigation...which is much worse. (Duke Lacrosse anyone?)

*One of this country's biggest problems right now is people's extraordinary sense of entitlement to be told things that aren't/can't be vetted and then take strong stances based on incomplete (or even outright false) evidence. This creates a market and has created a media more than happy to provide incomplete/specious/outright false as long as people are willing to swallow the swill.

 

[jkleno]

I have no problem with the way CBJ handled the situation. I think it was 100% correct. The problem is what comes out afterwards from CBJ and Co. Why come out and publicly state that Lane is a "success story," a "big turn-around," "learned from his mistakes" & appoint him to a leadership position on the team. Especially since the allegations were pertaining to a sexual assault. If it was grades, then come out and say what was said, but knowing it was a "he said/she said" assault situation, CBJ should have said nothing more than we welcome Lane back to the team-end of story.

 

[jbr82]

Good post, brother..........forgiven. You know what I'm talking about.:hi:

Amen bro!

 

[sanddune50]

OJ was found not guilty so I guess Ron and Nicole aren't actually dead.

Being a victim of sexual assault is horribly embarrassing and you then we have people like you.
Marlin should be flipping burgers in Daytona Beach.

So in your world, everyone is guilty as soon as they are accused?

 

[daj2576]

Here is the problem that I see with an alleged sexual assault. In this case, I have zero idea if it did or did not take place. It would be extremely easy for a woman to get mad at a man and ruin his life by saying that she was sexually assaulted. Extremely easy. Let's say that you had consensual sex, and tests show that you did have sex with her.

Okay, she gets p.o.'d over something you did or said, and decides to make you pay. Let's say that she is a vindictive witch, and if you have never been involved with one, consider yourself lucky. Stuff like this happens every day in this country. How would you defend yourself? How would you get back your reputation after being smeared in the newspaper or TV?

This cuts both ways. There are plenty of men who have gone to prison for a supposed rape that never happened, and there are plenty walking free for actual rapes. It isn't as easy to prove , one way or the other, as you make it sound.

People should look into Tennessee's 'Rape Shield' statute. To me, it is terrifying the rights the accused loses just by being accused. In every other crime that defendant has the constitutional right to confront his accuser in open court, except when accused of rape. In general every defendant can find a way to impeach his accuser's credibility by using their past behavior, except in cases of rape. Even at the point of the accusation, the defendants image and name will be everywhere but the accuser will be protected by a vast shield of anonymity. The end result is that a defendants hands are tied after he gets accused of rape, and he gets drug into the public square to be shamed for a crime he might or might not have committed.

Again I need to say that I am not picking any side in this situation because I know none of the facts. Rape convictions might be difficult to prove as it is usually a 'he said, she said' (they both admit sex happened but differ on it being consensual) but I see no benefit to either position of outright presuming the guy is guilty any more than presuming she was at fault for being a girl.

 

[kcvols1]

Putting the university aside...one word describes the whole story....sin, which all 3 were guilty of. I can tell you being a former immoral person myself, nothing good comes from sin. They all will have consequences from this. We all reep what we sow. My fellow Christian bros know what I'm talking about.

Go Vols! Beat SC!

Thanks, but I'll keep my stone in my pocket.

There is enough of a painful lesson here for all involved, I'm sure.

 

[sanddune50]

I have no problem with the way CBJ handled the situation. I think it was 100% correct. The problem is what comes out afterwards from CBJ and Co. Why come out and publicly state that Lane is a "success story," a "big turn-around," "learned from his mistakes" & appoint him to a leadership position on the team. Especially since the allegations were pertaining to a sexual assault. If it was grades, then come out and say what was said, but knowing it was a "he said/she said" assault situation, CBJ should have said nothing more than we welcome Lane back to the team-end of story.

What gets me here is when self appointed teachers grade how people handle life. It's as if these types of people have all of the answers and never say anything wrong in any situation.

Butch said what he said. Personally, I would have steered the conversation away as much as I could, but I'm not Butch. It's a hell of a thing, when you are in the public eye and everyone scrutinizes every word that comes out of your mouth.

 

[daj2576]

Right...so if they had come straight out and held a press conference that would have what, reduced the cloud over his head? Forgive me but that's utterly nonsensical.

The way I see it is the approach taken with Lane allowed for whatever speculation* that was going to take place to happen after the investigation. Anybody that wants to believe something is going to do so but they're going to have to do so without it being during the investigation...which is much worse. (Duke Lacrosse anyone?)

*One of this country's biggest problems right now is people's extraordinary sense of entitlement to be told things that aren't/can't be vetted and then take strong stances based on incomplete (or even outright false) evidence. This creates a market and has created a media more than happy to provide incomplete/specious/outright false as long as people are willing to swallow the swill.

Have you read the book "A Rush to Injustice" about the Duke LaCrosse case? It gave me nightmares.

 

[daj2576]

You're preaching to the choir. I fully understand the idea of innocent until proven guilty, fully understand the idea of shoddy investigating, fully understand the idea of being wrongfully accused.

Find anywhere where I am passing judgement on anyone including Jones in this matter beyond thinking Lane and Orta were stupid for putting themselves in this position to begin with.

My comments, despite the peanut galleries assertions, have much more to do with the perception of the case.

We are just gonna have to be saddened together regarding the state of the court of public opinion.

I guess I am just going to have to disagree with almost everyone on here that players being accused of rape, the media basically accusing the university of a cover up, and all of it playing out now in the press is not a good thing for the people involved or the school including Jones.

Maybe if everyone on here posts that "Butch Gets It" enough Ms. Wadhwani will just drop retract the story and agree.

I guess the place where we differ is that I am suggesting if you 'get' all of the prerequisites (innocent until proven guilty, etc) then the rest is just noise based on emotion and no data. Ignore it.

If you do, that is one less person casting stones. If I do too, there's two of us. What else can be done?

 

[jkleno]

What gets me here is when self appointed teachers grade how people handle life. It's as if these types of people have all of the answers and never say anything wrong in any situation.

Butch said what he said. Personally, I would have steered the conversation away as much as I could, but I'm not Butch. It's a hell of a thing, when you are in the public eye and everyone scrutinizes every word that comes out of your mouth.[/QUOTE]

That is why you don't add to the story. I wish I could take back many things personally. The purpose of this forum is to discuss and debate matters pertaining to sports, mainly UT sports. Therefore, discussing and questioning coaches is part of the debate. They are grown adults so I think they are open to more criticism than student athletes.

 

[butchna]

Have you read the book "A Rush to Injustice" about the Duke LaCrosse case? It gave me nightmares.

Didn't know about it....definitely on my list. I traditionally hated Duke but that case is textbook example of what some of these posters propose...tar and feather the accused and if they're innocent? They won't commit suicide. Selena Roberts jumped in both feet using her NY Times and Sports Reporters bully pulpit to champion Mike Nifong and brand the accused players as virtual gang members. She never retracted her position when this thing blew up. I've always been surprised that a 30 for 30 hasn't been done on this travesty, but it makes sense since ESPN was a big part of the public lynching.

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

I guess the place where we differ is that I am suggesting if you 'get' all of the prerequisites (innocent until proven guilty, etc) then the rest is just noise based on emotion and no data. Ignore it.

If you do, that is one less person casting stones. If I do too, there's two of us. What else can be done?

I am not expecting to change a single thing with keystrokes on a message board.

Just offering an opinion that obviously isn't too popular with the group think of this isn't anything to concern ourselves with when it is us but we can slam FSU and Vandy and whoever crowd at will.

I'd be done with this already if I hadn't gotten blasted from all sides last night for not following the tried and true Vol Nation mantra of " Butch Gets It" and UT can do no wrong.

I'll be at the game in a little while enjoying myself.

Butchna will still be here fighting the good fight I am sure.

 

[chargervol]

That is why I made sure I quoted 'according to her'. Most truths are found somewhere in the middle between different stories. But, does it not seem at least a little odd he called to apologize? What exactly is he apologizing for if his story was 100% true?

Isn't this just another quote from her?

 

[JonGrudensAgent]

Rape is a big deal...so are false accusations of such. FACT is neither one of us know whether this one is false or not. Without evidence, this was handled as well as it could have been. The actual mass raping by Vandy's players kept them out of a bowl and ruined Franklin's coaching career huh? Don't concern yourself and tax the limits of your medulla oblongata counting my posts, fixate on correcting your self important, righteous indignation act. Whatever the issue is...rape accusation or tax filing status, you find what position Butch took and you plant yourself on the extreme opposite side and pitch your tired look at me flag!

Kind of hard not to notice your post count when you're responding to virtually every single poster in this thread with your snide remarks.

Also find it more than a little hypocritical to call someone an attention whore when you are running up numbers like that.

And all I can say is good luck finding a single post where I said Butch or UT handled this wrong.

I don't think you even read half the posts you respond to. As long as you look hip and your e cred holds on Vol Nation, that's all that really matters at the end of the day.

It's a noble calling that you obviously enjoy. Good luck with it.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Lane has rights too..... I think jones handled it the right way. Why have Lane prematurely labeled a rapist?

 

[butchna]

Kind of hard not to notice your post count when you're responding to virtually every single poster in this thread with your snide remarks.

Also find it more than a little hypocritical to call someone an attention whore when you are running up numbers like that.

And all I can say is good luck finding a single post where I said Butch or UT handled this wrong.

I don't think you even read half the posts you respond to. As long as you look hip and your e cred holds on Vol Nation, that's all that really matters at the end of the day.

It's a noble calling that you obviously enjoy. Good luck with it.

You focus on weird things...I guess all of us with 10,000+ posts are being served notice...I read everything I respond to...yours stretches the douche scale. I'm on here a lot because I enjoy it...little drippy street preachers like you are a part of it. I can't fix you so I'm going to make fun of your existence. Have fun at the game...put on some extra scent to mask that mayonnaise reek. :yuck:

 

[Keyser Soze]

I would be shocked if CBJ didn't have his players involved submit to be interviewed with a lie detector. That way he was confident in what role his players had in the situation. It's pretty common place, even though it's not admissible in court.

 

[volgrad500]

Oh?...so he was indicted?...missed that.

The sheer tonnage of things you "miss" would probably stop a team of mules. The poster kept saying he was "cleared of all wrong doing". That is not the same thing as charges not being filed. You are either being argumentative for the sake of being so, or you are too stupid to understand the distinction.

 

[o3marine52]

All this bashing of FSU and... We ARE FSU.

Post is kind of like your avatar... ridiculous.

 

[Smallvol#1]

Didn't know about it....definitely on my list. I traditionally hated Duke but that case is textbook example of what some of these posters propose...tar and feather the accused and if they're innocent? They won't commit suicide. Selena Roberts jumped in both feet using her NY Times and Sports Reporters bully pulpit to champion Mike Nifong and brand the accused players as virtual gang members. She never retracted her position when this thing blew up. I've always been surprised that a 30 for 30 hasn't been done on this travesty, but it makes sense since ESPN was a big part of the public lynching.

Several other "big names" jumped in with unfounded accusations. To my knowledge, no one has admited they were wrong or apologized to the players or their families. Nifong got fried, deservedly so; Duke, police, etc. have consequences hitting them. Never knew what was done about the false accusations by the woman or the "big names". Wrong in so many ways.

Good reason to investigate first, and if nothing is substantiated why publicize? (Unless someone needs a storyline.) The important thing is to have trustworthy investigators: police, attorneys, university. If we don't have that then everything is worthless. IF someone believes Lane is guilty, then also go after the investigators who are either incompetent or dishonst.