here we go again

oldcatfan · Post by **oldcatfan** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:45 am

This morning's Chronicle:

Sordid tale too surreal

The e-mail was waiting in the inbox after the press conference last Thursday announcing the arrests.
“Wow...” the subject line read.
“So is Montana State the new Baylor now?” was the message. From a person with no other ties to the university except a friendship with me.
Ouch.
And when the best defense you can muster is, “Well, at least the coach didn’t try to engineer a cover up,” you know you’re in a world of hurt.
(For those of you unaware, in 2003 Baylor University basketball player Patrick Dennehy was murdered by his teammate Carlton Dotson. Former Baylor coach Dave Bliss tried to cover up numerous NCAA violations by having his players slander Dennehy.)
By Thursday night, The Associated Press had elevated the story of Jason Wright’s murder allegedly at the hands of former Bobcats John Lebrum and Branden Miller from its state and regional wires to the national wire.
By Friday, it was the subject of discussion on several Internet message boards. You get the feeling “Pardon the Interruption” might have taken up the topic had it not been pre-empted for golf coverage.
It’s all proof that, despite what some might think, there is such a thing as bad publicity.
How long this story remains on the nation’s radar will depend on how salacious the details of the murder end up being.
Right now, if things don’t get any uglier — and you have to think things are as pretty as they’re going to get — the rest of America will forget about this and move on.
Montana State just isn’t a big enough school in an important enough conference for one murder to hold this nation’s attention for long, especially when the victim wasn’t young, white, attractive, blonde and female.
But even the most ardent optimist has to acknowledge the potential for this entire saga to sink further into a dark and disturbing underbelly. We still don’t know the motive for the killing or the extent of involvement of any of the other people named in court documents.
And what of the independent review of Bobcat athletics ordered by MSU president Geoff Gamble? What if that turns up more dirty laundry within the department?
If things do get uglier, Montana State may well indeed supplant Baylor as the unfortunate yardstick by which future athlete-related murders are judged.
Regardless of how the rest of the country ends up perceiving this sad case, it’s a safe bet that Montanans will remember it for a long, long time.
Of course, there is a school of thought out there that likes to pretend that since Miller and Lebrum were not longer Bobcats at the time of the alleged crime, their actions should not reflect in any way on MSU.
That’s just not the way the world works, especially when boosters are more than happy to stake a claim to any successes ex’Cats may enjoy.
You can’t revel in the athletic accomplishments and fame of a Lance Deal without taking some responsibility for the personal shortcomings and infamy of a Branden Miller.
No, the good and bad are inexorably linked, and as is so often the case, the bad will leave a longer-lasting impression.
Today’s students will likely be asked for years if they knew any of the principals, or if they were in town when in it happened.
Alumni will likely have to deal with taunts and jibes down the road. I have a sneaking suspicion that the less-classy fans on the other side of the Divide will find this tragedy fair game for smack talk come mid-November.
And if you don’t think some opposing coaches will use it in negative recruiting tactics, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention to college athletics lately.
The whole thing is just so surreal. This isn’t the kind of thing that’s supposed to happen here.
Perhaps our rapidly growing town is ahead of the curve on acquiring the problems that go along with the big city it seems intent on becoming.
Andrew Hinkelman is at hink@dailychronicle.com or 582-2690.

Why is it if you have a job at the Chronicle it gives you the right to spew your uninformed opinion around? There are so many stupid remarks in this article, I don't even know where to start.

catamaran · Post by **catamaran** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:49 am

Is this your first time reading a chronicle article?

oldcatfan · Post by **oldcatfan** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:59 am

[quote="catamaran"]Is this your first time reading a chronicle article? :wink:[/quote]

:lol:

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:01 am

Oh, I don't know. This murder will affect MSU Athletics quite significantly.

And, based on how President Gamble and Peter Fields are responding to the incident tells you that they believe that, too!

catmom · Post by **catmom** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:27 pm

I wonder if those idiots have ever hear of "if you can't say anything nice...STFU" I thought it would get better once that jerk Peter Fagan was gone. Boy was I wrong.

couloir41 · Post by **couloir41** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:14 pm

let's not over discuss this but what if it were a couple of ex-film and television "scholarship" students that were the culprits...just a passing mention of having attended msu and then it would have disappeared...without any negative impact on the university...

Post by **SonomaCat** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:34 pm

Okay, I've been holding off on talking about this, but the conversation seems to be at this point.

There's a lot of talk about MSU's "responsibility" in this situation because the accused were former student-athletes.

What does this mean?

Is this suggesting that their time at MSU had a negative influence on them and led them to this kind of crime? Is the suggestion that society is in a worse position for MSU having admitted them and tried to give them an education?

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:01 am

Bay Area Cat wrote:Okay, I've been holding off on talking about this, but the conversation seems to be at this point.

There's a lot of talk about MSU's "responsibility" in this situation because the accused were former student-athletes.

What does this mean?

Is this suggesting that their time at MSU had a negative influence on them and led them to this kind of crime? Is the suggestion that society is in a worse position for MSU having admitted them and tried to give them an education?

Exactly.

Hinkleman's analogy that a we MSU grads have to take credit for killers that go through our school just like we take credit for those who excel is a joke. I'm quite offended by it and am offended that anyone would take his words with anything but a grain of salt. How insulting.

I might feel bad if someone went to MSU and then couldn't do the job they were trained to do, but the school didn't train anyone to be a killer, get involved in drugs, etc.. MSU doesn't hold a course in Murder 101 that I know of. MSU does train people to be engineers, nurses, teachers, etc. and has an athletic program that has trained some very notable athletes...Jan Stenerud, Dan Mortenson, LANCE DEAL, to name just a few.

jagur1 · Post by **jagur1** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:08 am

But on the other had. You have 2 kids from out of state that got recruited by MSU and then stayed in Bozeman to deal drugs. Do you think they would have ended up in Bozeman if not for MSU?

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:33 am

Jagur1: Let's keep the facts straight. No one said they were dealing drugs. Buying drugs probably. They're believed to have killed a drug dealer.

As for your point(?), no, they wouldn't be in Bozeman were it not for MSU recruiting them, obviously. That's like saying there wouldn't have been a Charles Manson had Mr. and Mrs. Manson never met.

It's not MSU's fault that they did what they did. I believe this what were discussing.

Where are you going with this? You're not saying this is MSU's fault, are you?

jagur1 · Post by **jagur1** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:51 am

MSU at fault no. MSU having a look at the recruiting process is a good thing. I know the number #1 priority on this board is looking out for the good name of MSU. In that regards the, "list of names" should be very troubling. Maybe the #1 priority should be getting the truth out and solving the problem of drugs at MSU. (Yes I know the, "it happens every place argument.)

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:34 pm

jagur1 wrote:MSU at fault no. MSU having a look at the recruiting process is a good thing. I know the number #1 priority on this board is looking out for the good name of MSU. In that regards the, "list of names" should be very troubling. Maybe the #1 priority should be getting the truth out and solving the problem of drugs at MSU. (Yes I know the, "it happens every place argument.)

You're correct, MSU isn't at fault here and it is a good move, PR and other, to look at the recruiting process. This is probably something that should be done on a cyclical basis at every school. I don't know where it's written that the #1 priority of this board is looking out for the MSU name, but I guess that could be said of any board for any institution in some way. In terms of this issue, a top priority for MSU, and any school, should be to solve the problem of drugs. Yes, it happens every place, which has gone without saying, until you said it. But thanks for the reminder.

CARDIAC_CATS · Post by **CARDIAC_CATS** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:06 pm

jagur1 wrote:But on the other had. You have 2 kids from out of state that got recruited by MSU and then stayed in Bozeman to deal drugs. Do you think they would have ended up in Bozeman if not for MSU?

Then again Jason Erickson/Travis Lulay and a host of other GREAT ATHLETES/SCHOLARS never would have attended MSU either. Miller is the exception on what happened and not the RULE. Let them pay their dues. MSU in my opinion did NOTHING wrong and should have no responsibility to what happened. Miller and Lebrum were adults and NOT ATTENDING MSU anymore. CASE CLOSED.

jagur1 · Post by **jagur1** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:14 pm

"Case Closed" I think a few more important people than Cardiac will be looking into this mess before the last chapter on this one is written.

ChiOCat · Post by **ChiOCat** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:27 pm

After living in Nebraska for 2 years and watching the Husker athletes arrested several times a year, I tend to think one murder by an ex-student athlete does not indicate a major fault in the MSU system.

Does it warrent being looked into, yes. But I don't see it as a major black eye on our university.

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:42 pm

Speaking of priorities. It seems like Jagur1's #1 priority is to see MSU get beat up on this as badly as possibly. It's called schadenfreude. There's picture of Jagur1 next to the definition in Webster's.

Cat Grad · Post by **Cat Grad** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:53 pm

crazycat wrote:Speaking of priorities. It seems like Jagur1's #1 priority is to see MSU get beat up on this as badly as possibly. It's called schadenfreude. There's picture of Jagur1 next to the definition in Webster's.

Don't worry about him; no matter what he accomplishes, he'll always be attempting to accomplish the same things his brother, the Bobcat, has with his life so he spends his time spewing venom at us. Hell, his brother probably already has a flag.

jagur1 · Post by **jagur1** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:53 pm

MSU doesn't need any help from me. You can set your calander on something good coming from the MSU campus every 6 months or so. Keep up the good work.

catamaran · Post by **catamaran** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:57 pm

Yep, nothing every happens bad in Missoula.....how's McGillis' face healing. I heard he fell repeatedly into a fist of a Griz player

briannell · Post by **briannell** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:56 pm

sorry I don't think MSU has any fault in this. these two men are adults and CHOSE to commit murder. stop making everyone else responsible for their choices in life. they did it now OWN IT!!!!!