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USC LBs Plummeting?

awtysst

awtysst

Draft Guru
So in addition to the Steroid rumor(we will find out on Monday) both Cushing and Mathhews III have been linked to an even less flattering rumor.

http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/facebook-group-lands-usc-football-player-in-hot-water-1.206854

According to the Daily Trojan (USC campus newspaper) Matthews III started a facebook group called ""White Nation," which featured a graphic with the caption, "arrest black babies before they become criminals."

The players defended this as an inside team joke and claim that they are not racists.

While I am not black, I am a man of color and live in a world that gives certain advantages to those of Caucasian descent. I am not offended but this group, I am merely dumbfounded. I do not care for the sentiments, I care about the students' thought processes. Both Cushing and Matthews III are potentially guilty of failing steroid tests at the Combine. To me, that tells me two things: 1) is their work on the field really reflective of ability and 2) what is their potential maturity/decision making like?

This facebook group tells me that neither one of these guys is savy enough to really get it. The football draft process is a long drawn out interview process. It is important to put your best foot forward at all times. Racial Discrimination aside, this is just a dumb way to portray yourself to a potential employer. I think it is very possible both of these tumble out of the first round and well into the second. Honestly, I could see Clay dropping all the way into the third now.

Thoughts?
 
I think this facebook thing is something that wasn't meant to be hurtful to anyone and has been completely blown out of proportion. I highly doubt that Clay is a racist. Anyone close to their age can relate to having friends call you and you calling friends things inside that others would find offensive out of context.

That being said, I completely agree that it is pretty stupid to make something like that public knowing what the NFL draft process is like. I mean, seriously guys, its not rocket science
 
I won't comment on the impact that article will or won't have on the players but everyone is throwing this out as a new article and the thing is two years old fwiw.
 
awtysst said:
So in addition to the Steroid rumor(we will find out on Monday) both Cushing and Mathhews III have been linked to an even less flattering rumor.

http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/facebook-group-lands-usc-football-player-in-hot-water-1.206854

According to the Daily Trojan (USC campus newspaper) Matthews III started a facebook group called ""White Nation," which featured a graphic with the caption, "arrest black babies before they become criminals."

The players defended this as an inside team joke and claim that they are not racists.

While I am not black, I am a man of color and live in a world that gives certain advantages to those of Caucasian descent. I am not offended but this group, I am merely dumbfounded. I do not care for the sentiments, I care about the students' thought processes. Both Cushing and Matthews III are potentially guilty of failing steroid tests at the Combine. To me, that tells me two things: 1) is their work on the field really reflective of ability and 2) what is their potential maturity/decision making like?

This facebook group tells me that neither one of these guys is savy enough to really get it. The football draft process is a long drawn out interview process. It is important to put your best foot forward at all times. Racial Discrimination aside, this is just a dumb way to portray yourself to a potential employer. I think it is very possible both of these tumble out of the first round and well into the second. Honestly, I could see Clay dropping all the way into the third now.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

The Facebook things was an inside joke between all the teammates, even the black ones.

It was in response to Sedrick Ellis calling his white teammates (David Buehler, Brian Cushing, Dan Deckas, Clay Matthews, and Dallas Sartz) the "White Nation".

Ellis even came to their defense when students at USC got angry about the group.

It happened over a year ago. I'm sure Cushing and Matthews have already been grilled about it during interviews.

Non story.
 
awtysst said:
So in addition to the Steroid rumor(we will find out on Monday) both Cushing and Mathhews III have been linked to an even less flattering rumor.

http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/facebook-group-lands-usc-football-player-in-hot-water-1.206854

According to the Daily Trojan (USC campus newspaper) Matthews III started a facebook group called ""White Nation," which featured a graphic with the caption, "arrest black babies before they become criminals."

The players defended this as an inside team joke and claim that they are not racists.

While I am not black, I am a man of color and live in a world that gives certain advantages to those of Caucasian descent. I am not offended but this group, I am merely dumbfounded. I do not care for the sentiments, I care about the students' thought processes. Both Cushing and Matthews III are potentially guilty of failing steroid tests at the Combine. To me, that tells me two things: 1) is their work on the field really reflective of ability and 2) what is their potential maturity/decision making like?

This facebook group tells me that neither one of these guys is savy enough to really get it. The football draft process is a long drawn out interview process. It is important to put your best foot forward at all times. Racial Discrimination aside, this is just a dumb way to portray yourself to a potential employer. I think it is very possible both of these tumble out of the first round and well into the second. Honestly, I could see Clay dropping all the way into the third now.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...


I totally understand and appreciate your argument. However, I disagree. These guys are 21 years old. I don't mean that the age is an excuse for bad behavior and certainly not for profane and racist comments. However, it is clear to me and any reasonable person who read the article and knows these guys a little bit, that this thing was an attempt at humor. The public display of the inside joke is an attack on political correctness, something that most adults have learned to be very cautious to do... I certainly have. However, that simply isn't the perspective and life experience of a 21 year old man.

Clearly it was an error in judgement and one that could affect them in a very significant way. However, I just don't see that this mistake says anything at all about what kind of football player they will become. Frankly, I don't think it says anything about the kind of men they will become either, other than the fact that they enjoy a laugh that flaunts convention and that they sometimes act impetuously (not a shocker for a 21 year old). I think there are plenty of men with very high character who made inappropriate attempts at humor as young men.

As a talent evaluater, I would make sure I was confident that these young men are not racists and would not be a devisive personality in the locker room. Other than that, I would see this incident as an opportunity to get one of these guys at an even better value in the draft, assuming they fell on some teams' draft boards are were probably taken off of some others all together.
 
As mentioned previously:

(1) Sedric Ellis of African-American decent nicknamed a group of the white football players on the USC team "white nation".
(2) Sedric Ellis is good friends with these players and was a member of said facebook group.
(3) This was over 2 years ago.


If anything, teams were probably asking Sedric Ellis about this last year during interviews and what was meant by all this. Obviously it didn't hurt his draft stock too bad. This will be a non-issue.
 
TimeKiller said:
Bad post atwysst.
Click to expand...

Why? Why is this a bad post? Because it happened a couple of years ago? Because you feel its a non issue? Why? If you are going to claim its a bad post, you should point out the reasoning for it. See what others did when they responded? They addressed my argument and pointed out areas where they disagreed. Thats what you should strive to do as well.

I happen to think this type of thinking helps potentially to paint the picture that these guys are bad decision makers. Clealry, this was a stupid thing to do. When you live in 2009 it is pretty dumb to associate yourself with these things. If you want to have a private joke amongst friends, thats one thing, to publicly post this is another. It hints at immaturity in my mind.

It also allows us to give a potential data point that they were immature a couple of years ago. The combine was this year. If they tests positive that is a second data point that leads towards the conclusion that he is immature. 2 data points raises eyebrows and three is a trend.

This was a good post because it stated an opinion, demonstrated my thinking, and elaborated on my original point.

Now, go ahead and tell me why this was not a good post.
 
Man you are one serious dude.

His African-American teammates didn't have a problem with the facebook.

Nuff said
 
Despite his 27 Wonderlic, I'm more concerned about how many English classes Matthews skipped...........As the head of such a prestigious group as "White Nation," you would at least expect the correct spelling of ARYAN.

http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/face...water-1.206854

"This group is not for the faint of heart," read the group's description. "All members are athletes of Caucasion (sic) descent. DISCLAIMER: In no way are the following memebers (sic) intolerant of others, we are just doing our duty of protecting the Arian (sic) brotherhood."
Click to expand...
 
awtysst said:
Why? Why is this a bad post? Because it happened a couple of years ago? Because you feel its a non issue? Why? If you are going to claim its a bad post, you should point out the reasoning for it. See what others did when they responded? They addressed my argument and pointed out areas where they disagreed. Thats what you should strive to do as well.

I happen to think this type of thinking helps potentially to paint the picture that these guys are bad decision makers. Clealry, this was a stupid thing to do. When you live in 2009 it is pretty dumb to associate yourself with these things. If you want to have a private joke amongst friends, thats one thing, to publicly post this is another. It hints at immaturity in my mind.

It also allows us to give a potential data point that they were immature a couple of years ago. The combine was this year. If they tests positive that is a second data point that leads towards the conclusion that he is immature. 2 data points raises eyebrows and three is a trend.

This was a good post because it stated an opinion, demonstrated my thinking, and elaborated on my original point.

Now, go ahead and tell me why this was not a good post.
Click to expand...
You're well liked and respected...

... Did a bug fly up your ass today? Relax, mate. Others pretty much said it all. No need to repeat what's been said but this is old news and that makes it a bad post in it's own light. All is good, atwysst!
 
bah007 said:
The Facebook things was an inside joke between all the teammates, even the black ones.

It was in response to Sedrick Ellis calling his white teammates (David Buehler, Brian Cushing, Dan Deckas, Clay Matthews, and Dallas Sartz) the "White Nation".

Ellis even came to their defense when students at USC got angry about the group.

It happened over a year ago. I'm sure Cushing and Matthews have already been grilled about it during interviews.

Non story.
Click to expand...

What he said. It's a TOTAL non-story.
 
I bet there are many teams that hope these guys fall to them. In the NFL, if you can play, you can play.
 
I disagree that this is a non-story. As I posted above, I wouldn't let the story affect my draft board. However, the story is now being picked up by national and local media (see John McClain's blog). So, it could have an impact on how some teams rate these guys. I think it's an unrealistic assumption that all the teams have already dealt with this matter during the combine interviews, etc... I'm sure this will be new news to a number of teams. Not only that, other teams may be impacted by public reaction as it begins to spill out.
 
I think this is the kind of joke only people of our generation could understand. My high school team had a group like that; it's not a racist thing.


Edit: after reading the thread, maybe not. I guess not everyone's been in a school with that kind of racial makeup. My high school was mostly black, the football team even more so, like I'm guessing USC's football team to be.
 
dalemurphy said:
I disagree that this is a non-story. As I posted above, I wouldn't let the story affect my draft board. However, the story is now being picked up by national and local media (see John McClain's blog). So, it could have an impact on how some teams rate these guys. I think it's an unrealistic assumption that all the teams have already dealt with this matter during the combine interviews, etc... I'm sure this will be new news to a number of teams. Not only that, other teams may be impacted by public reaction as it begins to spill out.
Click to expand...

It happened two years ago. If the NFL guys interviewing the prospects didn't know about by the time the combine came around, then they probably aren't very good at their jobs.

Personally, I think it's safe to say that Cushing and Matthews were asked about it this year AND Ellis was asked about it last year.
 
I don't think the facebook event is goingto have nearly a big impact as the steroid rumors, and like Gtexan brought up how their play as a unit will impact how they play apart as individuals.
 
bah007 said:
It happened two years ago. If the NFL guys interviewing the prospects didn't know about by the time the combine came around, then they probably aren't very good at their jobs.
Click to expand...

That's right! some NFL personnel people aren't good at their jobs... here's a short little list for you:

Charlie Casserly
Matt Millen
Mike Brown
Jerry Jones


If John McClain can choose Sarah Palin as his running mate for the Pres. and Vice Pres. of the USA after one short conversation, I think it's possible that the Cincinnati Bungles may not have been up to date on some prospects and potential character issues... you think?!
 
dalemurphy said:
That's right! some NFL personnel people aren't good at their jobs... here's a short little list for you:

Charlie Casserly
Matt Millen
Mike Brown
Jerry Jones


If John McClain can choose Sarah Palin as his running mate for the Pres. and Vice Pres. of the USA after one short conversation, I think it's possible that the Cincinnati Bungles may not have been up to date on some prospects and potential character issues... you think?!
Click to expand...

I'd take McCain and Palin anyday over what we have now. Welcome to the USSA!
 
dalemurphy said:
I disagree that this is a non-story. As I posted above, I wouldn't let the story affect my draft board. However, the story is now being picked up by national and local media (see John McClain's blog). So, it could have an impact on how some teams rate these guys. I think it's an unrealistic assumption that all the teams have already dealt with this matter during the combine interviews, etc... I'm sure this will be new news to a number of teams. Not only that, other teams may be impacted by public reaction as it begins to spill out.
Click to expand...

Since when has he been at the forefront of a story and not on the tail end of it?
 
bckey said:
Funny. The world I live in is opposite of the way you describe it.
Click to expand...

Maybe we live in the same world. My Cousin quit a very good job at Shell a few years back as an HR exec because due to internal policy and a certain quota he was held against... he was being forced to hire less qualified minorities over white candidates who fit or exceeded the qualifications required for the position.
 
Tailgate said:
Maybe we live in the same world. My Cousin quit a very good job at Shell a few years back as an HR exec because due to internal policy and a certain quota he was held against... he was being forced to hire less qualified minorities over white candidates who fit or exceeded the qualifications required for the position.
Click to expand...

Harris county Sherri's department changed its testing because the NAACP said its physical test were unfair to minorities.
 
Specnatz said:
Harris county Sherri's department changed its testing because the NAACP said its physical test were unfair to minorities.
Click to expand...

I guess this is a few dominoes down from the teachers no longer being able to or choosing not to grade papers with red ink one???
 
awtysst said:
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
My thoughts are that everyone needs to stay on topic. There's another forum setup for the purpose of discussing your cousin, McCain & Palin, and the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

As was said earlier in the thread, this was a poor inside joke among teammates that was made public thanks to the glorious World Wide Web. Matthews apologized for the facebook page and it was removed. Over 2 years ago. End of story, except Mike Florio of PFT has been unable to come up with any juicy draft rumors, so he pulls up this crap.

Yeah, there is racism in this country. From all sides. However, there is zero evidence that Clay Matthews is a racist. So if there are any football related concerns as to why any of the Trojan LB's are "plummeting", carry on.
 
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