Hoops Elbow to Face
Community
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/11/division-iii-kewan-platt-basketball-player-foul-elbow-video-apology-instagram-fitchburg-state-nichols
This has been a BIG discussion around these parts today. It involves a State U from a town over from me, and a private college about 45' away. Apparently the two kids were playing a pretty physical game, and the one finally just lost it, and he completely levels the other kid with a blatant elbow to the face. He's been kicked out of school and off the team... and there is some talk of assault charges.
The kid certainly made a big mistake and snapped. Unreal!
Pretty brutal cheap shot.
Saw that this morning. The guy should go to jail. Being on a basketball court or even football field doesn't mean you're exempt from battery.
Yeah, pretty brutal cheap shot and I'd say expulsion rather than suspension and agree with criminal charges...
Maybe I'm skeptical about this but in the end I'm betting nothing happens to him. As soon as the media dies down he'll serve a suspension and get back in school and on the court. Hope I'm wrong but accountability and consequences seem to be casualties of our "enlightened" times.
Not what I expected. Cheap shot. Not one for assault or battery charges filed against athletes in the course of competition, but this is flagrant and unquestionably intent outside the frame of competition. Were I his coach, he would be history. Not good for school, program or the sport. Adios.
Prick looked back to see if ref was watching. Expulsion followed by charges.
When I played in HS as a Freshman I was playing a Jr. Varsity game. My job was to guard the opponents's pivot man. He was taller than me, but I was beefier than him. We had a very physical game and the refs seemed to be blind to elbows. That kid hit me a few times in the side of the head during the game. I had a fat lip and bruised eye at half time. I got a few elbows into his guts and side, but he was too tall for me to hit him in the head. In the last 30 seconds the score was tied and they had the ball. They tossed it to their big man, he swung his elbows around and knocked me in the side of the head knocking me down. They went up 2 points. We came back and scored and tied it up again. The big guys gets the ball again and swings his elbows and I duck and come up under him and hit him as hard I could under the jaw. Knocked him flat, I walked off the floor and headed to the locker room. Coach never said a word about it as he knew what was happening on the floor. I think I did run a few extra laps the next practice though...
After the game we shook hands and forgot about it...
In the action of a game people get a carried away sometimes. Unless this is a repeat offense I say shake hands and go sin no more...
Reminds me of my old Hockey days. It's a kinder gentler sports world now.
Too bad the kid didn't give him something back to be truly sorry about. Punk deserves a straight-up ass whooping.
From what I've heard in the last 24hrs, the kids off the team, and out of school pending some sort of review. The thought is that he's done with hoops but they may let him ultimately come back to earn his degree.
I'm wrestling with the idea of actual assault charges. Sports get pretty heated, and people lose their cool. This just looked so clearly pre meditated and intentionally checking the ref show's he knew it was wrong. Opening the pandora's box of "you did that intentionally and should be charged" seems dicey. Then again, I do think Bernard Pollard should have been charged for hurting Tom Brady in 2008 (ha ha ha - kidding!!!) Tough to find that fine line.
My gut says deal with it via no more hoops, and some sort of academic suspension or something.
The national shaming the kid has gotten (ESPN, Fox Sports, CSN etc...) and regional via all the local news outlets has to count for something punishment wise as well...
OK...I admit I had not watched the video before my earlier posting.
After further review, I think that kid should never be allowed to play organized sports again. That was clearly an attack and not done in self defense. Whether he should be brought up on charges, I'll let the authorities decide that...
Kid sure knocked down that 3 before he took the shot to the face though!
That'll remind him to keep his elbows up
Dang if you watch the video where it shows the play before, he was cry bagging about what at worse case was a tiny slap on the wrist. Brotsky I wanted to see if he made the technical foul shots.
Let the rules of the game govern the game. Assault charges? Nah. Pandora's Box
That hit wasn't an act during the play of the game. He went out of his way to lay the kid out. That changes from a foul to assualt
I’m sure he’ll feel consequences beyond surrendering a foul shot or two...within the context of conference rules.
You can't involve the police and the courts in a sporting event. These kind of hits have been happening in sports since the beginning of sports. Granted, in Basketball no one is expecting to get hit like that but Randy is right if you turn this cheap shot into an assault charge you have set a precedent in sports and you will effectively kill all sports where there is a chance for even incidental contact. There are ways that this is dealt with within the sport itself.
Spoken like a hockey player looking to avoid jail time, Brian. ;)
...but, yeah, that’s it exactly.
There would have been a whole lot of jail time doled out over the years if dirty hits and cheap shots were prosecuted,
You guys aren't seriously defending this as "part of the game".
bb, your reply...just hard to imagine where you are coming from. I've been a coach a long time. Football, baseball, even some basketball. Sports are by nature competitive, even combative. But this - this isn't part of sports, nor should it be.
All sports, when played well and by the rules are great. Basketball, as it was designed was a low/no contact sport. That's what made it awesome. And I love contact sports - football, lacrosse, wrestling, hockey - you expect a certain level of contact involved in those sports.
But just coming up and knocking a guy flat because he made a 3 pointer ruins the game, and I'll double down - it's not only against the rules, it's against the law.
"intention to do harm to a person. that clearly was assault, this kid has done this before, maybe not in and organized game."
- With that approach, the local sports page can be the police blotter, too. At least during football, hockey and lacrosse seasons. And, did I miss the reporting stating the kid is a serial offender?
There is a huge difference in approving this action and understanding that if you start down the slope of pressing assault charges everytime you have a dirty play, you will kill that sport.
I'd want him back on the court. Payback's a b!+ch kid!!!
You can call it whatever you want. It was a cheap shot...dirty play take your pick. Guys have been doing that very thing since the beginning of time. I'm not giving a pass to anyone. If you can't understand my meaning, so be it. I grew up playing hockey and at some very high levels of competition. What you saw in that video was common place. The difference is that you're taught to watch out for that and protect yourself and don't relax even after the whistle blows. Consequently you seldom see solid contact like you did in this video even though there are plenty of times the effort and intent are the same as this video. The only reason this is such a big deal is the kid got caught square. the very same thing happens all the time in sports, the outcome is generally not as dramatic. I'm not saying its OK, just that it happens and often. You don't file assault charges for this. I'm going to point something out that through my experience I feel confident I'm dead on....When you see a play like that it generally didn't materialize out of thin air. Most likely the kid that threw the elbow, was the recipient of an elbow or some other cheap shot either as a single incident or multiple incidents that the ref missed and didn't call. That's how these kinds of things tend to happen, through escalation, it often happens when the refs start to lose control of the game by missing or non calls. Either way, it isn't about the attacker, it's about the game itself.
"I find it interesting that a pass on this as dirty play is being considered."
-'I find it interesting' anyone would consider being kicked off the team and expelled from school as getting 'a pass.' Those are heavy, life-altering consequences. Not everything has to be litigated to be justified.
I don't think you can cite where anyone has approved of this. I've explained my point of view to the best of my ability, I obviously am not getting my point across
Rhody, you are so badly representing what Brian and I are saying the only thing clear is you are having trouble reading.
you are getting it across to some BB
-'I find it interesting' anyone would consider being kicked off the team and expelled from school as getting 'a pass.' Those are heavy, life-altering consequences. Not everything has to be litigated to be justified.
Try embezzling from a company. Pretty sure you lose your job, your reputation, your career. Pretty sure that those are "heavy, life altering consequences. And it's still a crime, just as is what this "athlete" did. But some want to excuse it because it happened while serving at the alter of sports. Caught up in the moment and all that.
"Where does the line get drawn?"
Apparently it gets drawn as a circle, around the athletes.
"Every bit of contact is going to be scrutinized."
This wasn't incidental contact between two players going up for a pass, or minor bumping between players going up for the rebound. This was look back to see if the ref is watching and throwing that elbow right for the face. No scrutiny required. Like I said since it happened at the altar of sports, it gets a pass. And yeah.... I played.
Obviously no minds are going to be changed here, that's why I deleted the previous post but once you start litigating contact in sporting events if you follow the letter of the law, assault charges can be filed with far less contact than happens routinely in any sporting event....so where does the line get drawn?
Not sure how hard it is to differentiate between normal play and a blatant hit.
You keep asking about that line..... it’s a circle around the athletes.
My brother and I criminally assaulted each other on a regular basis. I suppose according to Bowbender and Rhody we should have spent our childhood in juvenile correction. I’m sure “ that line” gets drawn around siblings, too.
Hmmmmm so siblings rough housing is the same as someone over the age of 18, looking to see if the ref is watching before "getting caught up in the heat of the moment" and leveling someone with an elbow to to the face? Cool. It's true....we do worship at the altar of sports.
LOL. “Rough housing” You must not have brothers.
Nope, no brothers. Just a clear sense of what is right. And what is wrong. There needs to be a clear message sent that behavior won't be tolerated. Or it shouldn't be. I never placed sports on the pedestal that some do.
"Just a clear sense of what is right. And what is wrong. There needs to be a clear message sent that behavior won't be tolerated. Or it shouldn't be. I never placed sports on the pedestal that some do." Seems to me the clear message has been sent: expelled from school and off the team. Kind of reminds me of the same argument the liberal anti 2nd amendment people use. They don't place guns on pedestals either. but you're going to do it their way because it's the only right way.
Well, I reckon I should files charges on my brother lest I be accused of idolizing brotherhood. The holidays are gonna be awkward this year...
Getting kicked off the team and possibly out of school are enough punishment.
If we start criminalizing competitive sports, although it may be justified in some instances, it'll just be another step down the pussification of this country. It's now to the point where it's "ok" to be fat, as if it's not something unhealthy, but just an "alternate body type."
We'll all be in padded rooms before long.
"Kind of reminds me of the same argument the liberal anti 2nd amendment people use. They don't place guns on pedestals either. but you're going to do it their way because it's the only right way."
Pretty sure I have the right to own a firearm. Pretty sure it's assault to throw an elbow in someones face with enough force to knock them flat. Unless of course its "in the heat of the moment" during a sporting event.
Owl. Cute. Being obtuse is NOT a virtue. Intentionally bust someone in the face and all is cool.
I have always said kids these days are just a bunch of pussies and need to buck up. I can put up with a lot of bs. My brother and would get pretty dang mean and one of us would get hurt. We have kids wearing knee pads in basketball so they don't get a boo boo on there knee. I always tell my boys to just suck it up, that's life. But this is just pure bullshit, that is no part of competition. Not trying to be a keyboard cowboy, but that most definitely would have gotten a ass beating. On the spot. And for doing it would i be off my team also, but i would ok with. That kid should be done playing ball for the team.
He is. KSRancher. No ball, no team, no school. And that’s the point. He’s suffering severe consequences. But some need a courtroom to justify their own worldview.
Idylwild is correct in his perspective also.
"Pussification" That's a good description. Litigation...I can see it now. sporting events will cease to have ambulances at the games, they'll be replaced by lawyers and paddy wagons. I have had this same treatment on numerous occasions during games, sometimes with elbows, sometimes with sticks sometimes with fists, Never occurred to me to file a criminal complaint. I can only imagine if I had the long term consequences of that would have no doubt been much worse than the hit I took.
“ Mom, I really want to play football this year.”
“Sorry, Bobby, you’re still on probation from that dodge ball game in 6th grade!”
Back in the day, when it was all over with, two kids would have had consequences to face. One from each team. Probably involved stitches and ice.
I am not getting into the discussion if he should be charged or not. But people/kids need to learn that EVERYTHING we do in life has consequences, good or bad. For me personally. I wanted to be a state trooper. But am not, because of choices I made earlier in life. And i never will be a trooper. That's just how it goes.
"This is pretty simple. Hit me with intention to cause harm while I'm not looking and haven't done anything to you personally to cause you to react that way and successfully making it happen."
-According to the OP, the two were having a "physical game" which, to anyone who's actually played a sport, means they were going after each other pretty hard. Without watching the game, no one knows what the other kid was doing to one that threw the elbow and it's rare that flagrant of a foul comes out of nowhere.
The end result is the same or can be the same, How do you decide which is the felony?
Off the team and kicked out of school is more punishment than he’ll face in court.
