Kansas basketball star injured in fight between basketball & football players

[Da Coach]

It's being described as a "skirmish" and a "fracas" (gotta love the use of euphamisms). But Kansas baketball player Tyshawn Taylor was injured seriously enough to be sent to the hospital after a fight broke out between members of the Kansas basketball team and the football team.

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/sep/22/ku-guard-tyshawn-taylor-treated-hospital-after-inc/?breaking

Here is some of the "damage control" practiced by other schools, and the media in Kansas. For some bizarre reason, the writer and the Kansas officials, and the police are all afraid to use the word FIGHT.-
Fracas sends KU guard Tyshawn Taylor to hospital

Source says Taylor hurt in skirmish with football players

Kansas University sophomore basketball guard Tyshawn Taylor was involved — and injured — in an incident that broke out in front of Burge Union on the KU campus

A source said several people witnessed a skirmish between members of the KU football team and basketball team.

The identities of the other players involved were not known as of Tuesday night.

KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony was asked about the matter on Tuesday night. “We’re aware of reports of an incident, and we are gathering facts as we speak,”

KU coach Bill Self was on a recruiting trip and unavailable for comment.

Police had no comment on the matter Tuesday night


At least this quote from a student witness uses plain language, and calls it a fight.-
I don’t know much. All I know is a fight happened (in front of union),” a KU student said before entering a Towers apartment.
A source said one group of players was entering the union as another group of players was exiting, arguing ensued, and punches were thrown.

[tornado]

"made poor choice" and "made a bad decision" are also used way, way too much....
we should just call it what it is...WRONG BEHAVIOR..

[Braves4Life]

Somebody in the KU PR Dept. broke out the Thesaurus and used every word imaginable for "fight"

[tornado]

20 full pages of discussion and speculation on Phog.net have just been deleted...yup there is a conspiracy to try to hide this incident!!

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=4812133&p=4

[tornado]

Another fight breaks out on Kansas' campus early this morning!
Reports are that the feud is still going...now there appear to have been two fights Tuesday night and one more Wednesday morning...

Tyshawn is trash talking via his Facebook:

http://deadspin.com/5365825/the-bleeding-kansas-athletic-department

and supposedly some of the bad guys came looking for him Wednesday morning after the fights Tuesday night

http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-basketball-football-players-fight-092209,0,2815969.story

http://cjonline.com/sports/basketball/2009-09-23/report_ku_athletes_fight

some reports have Sherron Collins as an integral part of these fights...

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=172&f=2481&t=4812133&p=4

http://www2.kusports.com/news/2009/sep/23/witnesses-report-second-altercation-between-basket/

and a sparsely reported (suppressed?) fight from last year involved Sherron and one of the FB players...

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/jayhawk-on-jayhawk-violence-sends-player-to-er-26190

The Wednesday fight involved plenty of basketball players trying to retaliate...and many are photgraphed, so they'll have a hard time denying it!!
"among the rostered Kansas basketball players....
the Morris twins, Mario Little, Sherron Collins, Tyshawn Taylor, Brady Morningstar,
Travis Releford, Tyrel Reed, Thomas Robinson and Elijah Johnson"
...were all photographed involved in this morning's "fracas"!

http://www.kansan.com/news/2009/sep/23/police_escort_basketball_and_football_players_insi/

[meth]

If 10 of the basketball team were to rush the court to join into a fight on the floor and exact revenge, they'd be dealt with very harshly. More harsh than the instigator.
This is calculated premeditated mob revenge, no two ways about it not much different than the guys who roam the college campuses shooting people, gang thugs every one of them. Every one of those players should be expelled and their scholarships terminated.
You can bet that won't happen since that's their entire team minus Cole Aldrich, who much have stayed home with the flu or actually went to class.

[tornado]

Here's even MORE amazing news on this near-riot that just took place...

There is a suspicion one of the Kansas basketball coaching staff might also been involved!!!



"Brett Ballard, wearing a red shirt and black jacket, is the director of basketball operations"

then other members of the Athletic Department show up, herd the basketball players into a van and whisk them off right in front of the police...


there are people with laptops posting directly to the Kansas (Phog.net) board and most posts are staying up only a few seconds before being deleted, but they reveal this thing almost turned into a riot.


and here's a video of some of the team personnel including Athletic Dept. staff sneaking many of the players out a back door and into a waiting van to get them out of sight in a hurry, and while reporters ask questions, the players and staff ignore them and hurry the players out of sight.
Just like a scene with criminals being ushered into a courtroom, the players are all hiding their faces, turning their heads, and covering up with hats and hoodies! This is amazing....I can't wait for Bill Self's spin on this.

http://www.kansan.com/videos/2009/sep/23/338/

[MacabreMob]

I can't help but laugh.

I wonder if someone might write a piece about a "renegade program" and demand the coach be fired?

Too bad there isn't such a great newspaper as the PJS located in Lawrence.

[tornado]

Here it comes...the incredible spin...

"KU Athletics Director Lew Perkins issued a statement on Tuesday's incident:

"We are aware of an incident ...I also know that Bill Self and Mark Mangino are working together to address it, and I am confident that they will handle the situation appropriately with their teams.

"We will handle any discipline regarding this incident internally, and we will have no further comment about it."

In other words.....you won't see or hear anything about it again....
(except on message boards and blogs!!)

[basketballshadow]

was the coach involved in the fight?

[tornado]

I don't know and maybe some people don't care, but this thing is getting the whitewash and a total coverup.
It is apparent that had the whole thing just ended last night, it still would have been bad enough, with fights and bad blood between the basketball team and other students (specifically the footballers).

BUT-- the stuff this morning is really bizarre...

The entire team...at least 10 of the scholarship players and some of the support staff...including the basketball assistant went together as a group to confront some football players who had sent word via Facebook and twitter that they'd be there ready for a confrontation.

Then when other students saw what was happening, and word got around...then other staff members of the Athletic Dept. and basketball staff arrived, and ushered the basketball players into the class building (Wescoe Hall) and out the back door to a waiting van being driven by one of the basketball walk on players.
Then with the players covering their faces with hats, arms, and hoodies, they were quickly zipped away in the van.

Here is the video showing that...

http://www.kansan.com/videos/2009/sep/23/338/

and here's a description of the whole event...
"A fight broke out among football and basketball players this morning after
one of the Morris twins pushed a football player down stairs behind Budig
Hall. According to Mary Skevington, Overland Park senior, who witnessed the
initial outbreak of the brawl, players from both teams began throwing
punches and shouting racial slurs at each other at 9:48 a.m.

Basketball players congregated outside of the Wescoe Underground on
Wednesday at about 10 a.m.

Among them were the Morris twins, Mario Little, Sherron Collins, Tyshawn
Taylor, Brady Morningstar, Travis Releford, Tyrel Reed, Thomas Robinson,
Elijah Johnson and many other players. The only football players identified in
the group were Dezmon Briscoe and Chris Harris, whom police from the KU
Police Department were questioning.

Skevington said she heard a football player yell, "What did you say?" at 9:48
a.m. and run up a set of stairs behind Budig Hall. Skevington said she saw
one of the Morris twins throw the football player down the stairs. She said
the football player fell backwards down six stairs before being caught by a
fellow football player. She said immediately after, several pairs of football and
basketball players began fighting.

Erryn Kindle, Eudora junior, said he heard one of the Morris twins tell the
police later, "One of them just jumped out and threw his hands on me,"
referring to the football players who were involved in the fight.

Another source, who did not want to be identified, confirmed this
information. This source described seeing football players running toward the
scene from Sunnyside Avenue. They joined in the scuffle, which Skevington
said continued for a few minutes.

"It all happened really fast," Skevington said. "There were a lot of people
throwing punches."

Harrison Hems, San Diego senior, saw basketball and football players
gathered in groups between Anschutz Library and the lower entrance to the
Wescoe Underground. Hems said several basketball players were yelling at
the group of football players. Hems said the group of football players
continued to grow to 15 or more. He said police arrived on the scene after
nearly five minutes of the players arguing with each other.

"Mario Little told me football players had beef with Sherron," Kindle said. "He
said they were talking trash."

Joe Dooley, assistant coach of the basketball team, arrived while the police
officers were questioning the basketball players.

After the initial yelling between teams subsided, the two separate groups of
basketball and football players stood opposite each other, about 20 yards apart.

Police officers escorted some of the players inside Wescoe Hall shortly after
the incident. The players were seen congregating outside the building near
the entrance to The Underground. No police officers or players were available
for questioning."

http://www.kansan.com/news/2009/sep/23/police_escort_basketball_and_football_players_insi/

then ..the official statement form the university is that nothing happened...there will be no charges and no arrests, and that really there wasn't anything to this in the first place.
it's none of anyone else's business and the fine folks at KU will handle it all.
Never mind that major fights are going on involving kids on state property who are getting an education at taxpayers' expense.
Everyone simply needs to forget all this and butt out, because the KU people have decided they are in control and they'll handle it.

It never pays to coddle thugs...it simply feeds their egos and they think they can just keep getting away with it...
this situation at Kansas is going to explode...thugs will continue their same thuggish behavior..not good for the other 25,000 people on that campus.

[it's boogie time]

there will be no charges and no arrests.

"Schuyler Bailey, the captain of the KU Public Safety Office, said that his officers had been called to skirmishes between football and basketball players three times in the last 24 hours. Each time, the reporting officers couldn??™t find anybody involved who considered themselves a victim or wanted to press charges. Bailey said his office can??™t do anything until someone comes forward."

[tornado]

Bailey said his office can’t do anything until someone comes forward."

if not then why did police continue to pursue charges against Daniel Ruffin even when the so called victim desired not to press charges?
The authorities are within their rights to arrest anyone they want if they feel a violation has occurred or to file charges if a law has been broken....
and why do cops barge into parties and arrest any who are underage even when "nobody came forward" or nobody complained?? They can give you a speeding ticket when nobody comes forward and they can arrest you for public drunkeness and a million other things -- even without a complaint and if nobody "comes forward".

Secondly, clearly someone did come forward...the newspaper quotes them...
"Skevington said she saw one of the Morris twins throw the football player down the stairs.
She said the football player fell backwards down six stairs before being caught by a
fellow football player. She said immediately after, several pairs of football and
basketball players began fighting."

isn't that good enough? The police are literally turning a blind eye to the fact that people did witness illegal activity!

since when does someone have to be hurt and press charges?
The reports detail that witnesses saw Morris throw one of the football players down the stairs.....
I can assure you that's good enough in most jurisdictions in America...but not on the campus of Kansas when it's one of their Kansas basketball players...the campus police are simply going to pretend nothing happened...
it's a coverup and a done deal...........the whole thing stinks like a crime syndicate protecting their own and buying off the cops.
This reporter is naive and either swallowed some lies or is simply misreporting the facts about the cops unable to proceed.

[tribecalledquest]

It never pays to coddle thugs...it simply feeds their egos and they think they can just keep getting away with it...
this situation at Kansas is going to explode...they're unrepentant thugs and they will continue their same thuggish behavior..not good for the other 25,000 people on that campus.

Which players on the Kansas roster are "thugs"? What makes one a "thug"?

[SFP]

Which players on the Kansas roster are "thugs"? What makes one a "thug"?

They are all "thugs"!

A thug in Modern English means a violent and/or anti-social person.

Thug, a person, often a criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, especially for hire.

They all should be considered criminals now. How do the good people of Kansas put up with all this shenanigans?