GAINESVILLE — Since I’m sure a few fans of Florida’s rivals are prepared to fire off e-mails wondering why we in the media give the Gators a pass when they misbehave, I’ll explain why you haven’t read a story in the Tribune about the incident that took place Saturday at a Gainesville apartment complex.
A UF student called Gainesville police Saturday and reported that a Florida football player attacked him and tried to steal his beer keg as the student unloaded it at the Cabana Beach apartment complex. That student’s friend also posted a description of the incident on an Internet message board. The police investigated, and the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper that serves UF, cited the GPD report when it published a story Monday night detailing the incident. That story did not name the player, because the police couldn’t confirm the identity of the alleged attacker. In other words, the person may or may not have been a football player.
If the person wasn’t a UF player, the incident probably isn’t news. Two college kids tussling over a beer keg wouldn’t even make the cops briefs in the school paper. If the person was a UF football player and the police found enough evidence to issue a sworn complaint, it’s definitely news.
Unfortunately, we may never know. The alleged victim withdrew his complaint this morning, according to a Gainesville police spokeswoman. The cops consider the case closed.
This sort of thing happens every once in while. We don’t publish a story every time someone is accused of a crime. Sometimes, people get accused falsely. Sometimes, victims are pressured into withdrawing their complaints. I don’t know if either is the case here, and it’s not fair to speculate. I can’t in good conscience drag someone’s name through the mud if I feel I don’t know enough of the facts. Had the police investigated, gotten a positive ID from the victim and issued a sworn complaint, you would have read a story about it.
I’ll keep following the story, and if there is news that meets our standards of publication, you’ll read about it in the Tribune and on TBO.com.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL on 04/25 at 11:05 PM
Whole rant wouldn’t fit, so it is in 3 parts.
Part A
I can’t speak to where the Tribune places reports, because I only read it online, much like I read the Gainesville Sun and ESPN online for coverage varying perspectives on my beloved Gators. But I take issue with one of my favorite sports writers being accused of this kind of bias. So…
In all honesty, we’ve all had our incidents in and out of the papers for years, and with the way society is headed that’s likely to continue for years to come.
The weekend of the Orange and Blue game about a third of my conversations with other fans and students were about the rough few weeks we had in the police blotters. There was reasonable consensus that this needs to be a rarity.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL on 04/25 at 11:04 PM
Part B
I’d rather lose with high character players, than win with low character players. This goes for all sports and all teams, and is not intended to be a shot at any school. I don’t want to my alma mater to get the reputation of being a troubled place.
If Florida were to become a troubled place, I whole-heartedly expect Andy would report on it and the Tribune would publish it. If things are “covered-up†how would alumni and boosters bring pressure for change? Bringing us to the reason for a free press, it is here to report, to inform, and to make life better.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL on 04/25 at 11:04 PM
Part C
To keep things from getting too serious, may I add that the fun of college football is the argument. No playoff exists to settle unfinished business and few rematches are granted. Leaving die-hard fans only the joy of arguing with friends over late hits, blown calls, would-a’s, could-a’s, should-a’s, academics, and unfortunately arrests.
Do we all go too far from time to time? Of course, but lets be realistic the moon landing was real, wrestling is fake, and Gators, Seminoles, and Hurricanes will argue over anything. As for me, I’ll just try to do it a little nicer from now on. In fact, I’ll concede Bowden could probably pick at least half of his new staff out of a line-up.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL (formerly Wauchula) on 04/25 at 10:36 PM
Part B
I’d rather lose with high character players, than win with low character players. This goes for all sports and all teams, and is not intended to be a shot at any school. I don’t want to my alma mater to get the reputation of being a troubled place.
If Florida were to become a troubled place, I whole-heartedly expect Andy would report on it and the Tribune would publish it. If things are “covered-up†how would alumni and boosters bring pressure for change? Bringing us to the reason for a free press, it is here to report, to inform, and to make life better.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL (formerly of Wauchula) on 04/25 at 10:35 PM
Part C
To keep things from getting too serious, may I add that the fun of college football is the argument. No playoff exists to settle unfinished business and few rematches are granted. Leaving die-hard fans only the joy of arguing with friends over late hits, blown calls, would-a’s, could-a’s, should-a’s, academics, and unfortunately arrests.
Do we all go too far from time to time? Of course, but lets be realistic the moon landing was real, wrestling is fake, and Gators, Seminoles, and Hurricanes will argue over anything.
As for me, I’ll just try to do it a little nicer from now on. In fact, I’ll concede Bowden could probably pick at least half of his new staff out of a line-up. Go Gators!
Posted by Bryan Pelham, Wauchula, FL on 04/25 at 07:10 PM
Andy, Thank you for your response.
Posted by Andy Staples, Gainesville on 04/25 at 04:16 PM
Bryan,
Here’s part two. The Ronnie Wilson arrest got buried because it happened on the same day that Billy Donovan announced he would stay at Florida and the basketball juniors announced they would go pro. That’s why I made sure to write a follow-up story for the next day’s paper. Wilson’s arrest was the most serious one for a Florida player in at least 10 years, and there will be more to that story before all is said and done. And as for Chris Rix, the QB always gets disproportionate attention. Imagine if Tim Tebow ever gets arrested.
Posted by Andy Staples, Gainesville on 04/25 at 04:09 PM
Bryan,
The A.J. Nicholson case is a sticky area. I’ve had two cases in my career—at two different schools—in which players were accused of rape and I didn’t end up writing the story because interviews with police and others suggested that they were being falsely accused. It’s tougher when a player gets suspended and sent home, though. People want to know why, and the police named Nicholson in that case. Had the police named a suspect in the UF keg case, we probably would have published that name. I’ll answer your next question in my next response.
Posted by Bryan Pelham, Wauchula on 04/25 at 12:39 PM
“We don’t publish a story every time someone is accused of a crime. Sometimes, people get accused falsely.”
Andy, Is that rule only followed when it’s associated with a UF player? A.J Nicholson was falsely accused before the Orange Bowl a couple of years ago, yet that story still found the front page. I don’t even think there was a follow-up to say the charges were dropped. It just seems every UF mishap like brandishing a semi-automatic weapon gets buried on Page 15 next to some MLS score. Yet that Chris Rix speeding ticket garners front page headlines. It just seems that the Tribune is to willing to coddle their large Gator fanbase instead of reporting the news objectivley.
Posted by Harold Brown, Washington DC on 04/25 at 08:19 AM
If this alleged non story was about a Miami Hurricane would you sweep it under the rug?
Posted by Steve Ogborn, Tampa on 04/24 at 10:17 PM
SO Chris Rix getting a parking ticket was front page news worthy?
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL (formerly of Wauchula) on 04/24 at 09:24 PM
Bryan,
I just noticed I misspelled your name. I apologize.
Posted by Mark Carlton, Bartow, FL (formerly of Wauchula) on 04/24 at 08:02 PM
Brian,
I can understand the sour-grapes (seeing as you, as a life-long ‘Nole, had Kansas in the basketball pool), but a “stolen keg” is hardly news, even if it were at Free Shoes U.
It’s not like we had anybody stricken with fake lyme disease, while screaming “I am God†in the street.
Yes, Doe defended himself in a downtown fight. Yes, Wilson acted like a moron, but unlike some other “northern schools,†as one of my heroes SOS used to say, he’s on his way out the door.
Take a deep breath, FSU hired a new staff, who I doubt Bowden could pick out of a line-up, and things should be getting better. Plus, school is almost out.
Posted by Brad Bettin, Melbourne, Florida on 04/24 at 07:53 PM
“Wonder how much that alleged victim got paid ...”
“All I want to know is when is UF going to get a moniker about all their indiscretions.”
Gee, someone seems to have an agenda ....
Posted by Bryan Pelham, Wauchula, FL on 04/24 at 05:07 PM
Figures. Wonder how much that alleged victim got paid to drop the complaint? If this would have happened at FSU there would have been some sort of blurb about it in the newspaper. There is history of this type of behavior happening at UF in regards to keg throwing…Tauraun Charles??? All I want to know is when is UF going to get a monkier about all their indiscretions. Gators love to throw out “Criminoles” as much as they can, but it seems that the Gator crime blotter is getting pretty long in the last few months. Dustin Doe, Ronnie “Firearms” Wilson, Avery Atkins, who Meyer thought about letting back on the team. I’m sure there is more, but I’m sure it’s just buried on some blog somewhere.
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Posted by Jimmy Powell, Havana, florida on 04/27 at 01:23 PM
Sounds like a cover up to me !