Benji Bradley tie in

[lake Camelot]

The Ben Wilson documentary "Benji" airs tonight.

Tim Bankston gets some interview time on the show.

[Da Coach]

I have already watched it. It was available on Comcast "On Demand" for the past month. Tim Bankston is only on for a couple seconds. I suspect he was interviewed much more than that, as were dozens of people who knew or were connected to Ben Wilson. However, several other teammates get a lot more screen time, and Bankston got only one brief clip.

The other Bradley connection is that a number of clips in the documentary show Ben Wilson playing in the state tournament in the Assembly Hall in Champaign. The broadcaster for those games was Bradley grad, and former Bradley announcer Frank Bussone.

Incidentally, one other teammate of Ben Wilson's at Simeon ended up at Bradley. Does anyone else recall who that was? His name was mentioned in the documentary (I believe by Nick Anderson), but he was never interviewed and never appeared.

The answer is here-
highlight this line to see answer- Deon Butler- played one season at Bradley in 1988-89.

[wily coyote]

I have already watched it. It was available on Comcast "On Demand" for the past month. Tim Bankston is only on for a couple seconds. I suspect he was interviewed much more than that, as were dozens of people who knew or were connected to Ben Wilson. However, several other teammates get a lot more screen time, and Bankston got only one brief clip.

The other Bradley connection is that a number of clips in the documentary show Ben Wilson playing in the state tournament in the Assembly Hall in Champaign. The broadcaster for those games was Bradley grad, and former Bradley announcer Frank Bussone.

Incidentally, one other teammate of Ben Wilson's at Simeon ended up at Bradley. Does anyone else recall who that was? His name was mentioned in the documentary (I believe by Nick Anderson), but he was never interviewed and never appeared.

The answer is here-
highlight this line to see answer- Deon Butler- played one season at Bradley in 1988-89.

Another connection to the film. The Rock Island vs Simeon game was officiated by Peorians Ed Schmidt and Kirby Hamm. You don't see much of them but it's them. !984 Friday game. Simeon won

[Buesch N Chips]

Frank Bussone's calls from the tourney also are featured prominently/

[JMM28]

This was a great story.

I thought Bankston was featured fairly prominently throughout as one of his HS teammates.

Also goes to show you two things about healthcare. Government interference is no good as he may have survived had they taken him to a hospital with a trauma center. Also, you have to be an advocate (or have someone there) for your own care because the guy who finished last in med school is still called doctor. Hopefully Mrs. Wilson ended up with a nice chunk of change from the hospital and doctor incompetence.

[tornado]

...two things about healthcare.
Government interference is no good ..
..the guy who finished last in med school is still called doctor.....

-first there were very few trauma centers back then - it is a system that has only recently (past two decades) been refined..
...and I am not sure how the government factored into your thoughts...but very little the government does, or runs, or regulates ever does better after the government is done

-and yes - as more and more doctors are HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES, and more and more practices are hospital owned practices with doctors simply employed to fill time slots...

then consider just how you'd do business - you'd quite possibly try to fill those hired slots for the least you'd be required to pay - thus you will not necessarily seek out employed docs who are the best, or most skilled, or most well trained - possibly just the guys you can get for the least...
I know for a fact that doctors who have been kicked out of other practices still find it easy to hire on as a hospital employed doc if you are willing to work for what they pay

[tornado]

I had a chance to watch the entire documentary again last night and had a few thoughts...

When rapper R Kelly claimed he was a teammate of Ben Wilson I did a little digging. Obviously Kelly was never listed on the same roster anywhere but he did go to Simeon and was the same age - so I suspect at one time he did play on the same team....interesting...

But the whole thing is diminshed by the lack of anyone interviewed who might have been the ones who knew Ben the best..
Ben's mom has passed, his girlfriend declined to be interviewed, and most others who were close seemed oddly self-interested when talking about Benji..
The one brother that was interviewed said very little!

The show seemed to constantly look to blame someone for this tragic event -- too much emphasis on tacking blame onto "society" in general, the doctors at the hospital where they took Ben, the gangs, the city, the police, the schools, etc...
Let's just say that there were a few possible factors that were left undiscussed.

Never fails - Jesse Jackson headline grabbing...

Then - as a final thought - so many people in this documentary all said the same thing...that AT LEAST SOME GOOD MIGHT COME from this tragic event
if somehow it would lead to less violence, fewer gangs, fewer shootings, better education opportunites for poor, inner city kids...etc....
Ben's mom was a champion for all these causes until she died...but......

Here's the answer as to whether any of anyone's effort for good after this tragedy - ever succeeded......

http://www.examiner.com/article/chicago-s-record-gun-violence-continues-unabated

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/chicago-homicide-record-n_n_1817687.html

Sadly the real answer and the real way to fix the problems cited in this film would be for some moral, responsible adult male
to take the position of responsibility in the lives of these young males and guide them out of a life of crime, hate, drugs, guns gangs.etc...
It can be done and is being done in some places - just not enough men willing to step up to the plate...

[JMM28]

-first there were very few trauma centers back then - it is a system that has only recently (past two decades) been refined..
...and I am not sure how the government factored into your thoughts...but very little the government does, or runs, or regulates ever does better after the government is done

The 30for30 focused on the City of Chicago's ambulance policy that required ambulance drivers to take patients to the nearest hospital regardless of their capabilities to treat the injury. They have since changed that policy. They took him to a hospital where he had to wait 2+ hours for a surgeon. If they had taken him the extra miles to a hospital equipped to handle that sort of injury, he could have lived.

I know I wouldn't want to be forced into going to certain area hospitals if I had anything more than a sprained ankle.

[wily coyote]

The 30for30 focused on the City of Chicago's ambulance policy that required ambulance drivers to take patients to the nearest hospital regardless of their capabilities to treat the injury. They have since changed that policy. They took him to a hospital where he had to wait 2+ hours for a surgeon. If they had taken him the extra miles to a hospital equipped to handle that sort of injury, he could have lived.

I know I wouldn't want to be forced into going to certain area hospitals if I had anything more than a sprained ankle.

That is the same impression I got from watching Benji twice but I think the answer to our societies problems lay in Tornados last paragraph above your post JMM. Until that changes nothing else will change in our troubled communities. Lets hope it happens soon. the sooner the better.

[tornado]

The 30for30 focused on the City of Chicago's ambulance policy that required ambulance drivers to take patients to the nearest hospital regardless of their capabilities to treat the injury. They have since changed that policy. They took him to a hospital where he had to wait 2+ hours for a surgeon. If they had taken him the extra miles to a hospital equipped to handle that sort of injury, he could have lived.

I know I wouldn't want to be forced into going to certain area hospitals if I had anything more than a sprained ankle.

but you have to understand that plenty of times a patient in an ambulance has asked to go to a certain hospital that's farther away than the nearest hospital...then in transit - something terribly bad and unexpected happens..and guess what...
the ambulance gets their butts sued for passing a hospital just to get to some other hospital regardless of reason....
They get nailed for NOT goin to the nearest hospital....ironic since you now say they should bypass the nearest one and look for a "better one"...

Lawyers always find something to argue they shoulda done different ...

[NSBF]

I had a chance to watch the entire documentary again last night and had a few thoughts...

When rapper R Kelly claimed he was a teammate of Ben Wilson I did a little digging. Obviously Kelly was never listed on the same roster anywhere but he did go to Simeon and was the same age - so I suspect at one time he did play on the same team....interesting...

But the whole thing is diminshed by the lack of anyone interviewed who might have been the ones who knew Ben the best..
Ben's mom has passed, his girlfriend declined to be interviewed, and most others who were close seemed oddly self-interested when talking about Benji..
The one brother that was interviewed said very little!

The show seemed to constantly look to blame someone for this tragic event -- too much emphasis on tacking blame onto "society" in general, the doctors at the hospital where they took Ben, the gangs, the city, the police, the schools, etc...
Let's just say that there were a few possible factors that were left undiscussed.

Never fails - Jesse Jackson headline grabbing...

Then - as a final thought - so many people in this documentary all said the same thing...that AT LEAST SOME GOOD MIGHT COME from this tragic event
if somehow it would lead to less violence, fewer gangs, fewer shootings, better education opportunites for poor, inner city kids...etc....
Ben's mom was a champion for all these causes until she died...but......

Here's the answer as to whether any of anyone's effort for good after this tragedy - ever succeeded......

http://www.examiner.com/article/chicago-s-record-gun-violence-continues-unabated

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/21/chicago-homicide-record-n_n_1817687.html

Sadly the real answer and the real way to fix the problems cited in this film would be for some moral, responsible adult male
to take the position of responsibility in the lives of these young males and guide them out of a life of crime, hate, drugs, guns gangs.etc...
It can be done and is being done in some places - just not enough men willing to step up to the plate...

Tell you what, indirectly I can call someone who is related to the directors of the documentary and see if they will address your statements above.

As someone from Chicago who at the time dealt with the ripple effect of the Ben Wilson death in real time, not almost 30 yrs in hindsight. It highlighted all that is and was wrong with Chicagoland. I watched it once, and I'll never watch it again...not because I didn't like the documentary,but because 30 years after he is the Chicago Len Bias. Unless you're from there or lived through it you dont realize the impact it had on Chicagoans, not some suburbian wannabes. Maybe thats why some people still refuse to talk about it on camera.

But I'll see if I can have one of the directors register if you'd like.

[tornado]

I think the people who put the documentary together did an excellent job...
there's not a lot they can do about the people who they couldn't interview.....

I think they accomplished whath they set out to show - that Ben and his unfortunate death had a HUGE impact on people in Chicago and beyond...
There were a FEW great stories like Nick Anderson's lifelong dedication, and like the turnaround in the life of one of the kids who shot Benji...and Ben's mom spending the rest of her life
trying to make a difference - but beyond that - sadly - the rest of Chicago went right back to the violence-filled lives they seem so gravitated towards....
it is debatable whether much of a "difference" can be measured......

The politicians like Jesse Jackson made as much hay off this tragedy as they could - can you imagine how they would have swooped in had the shooter been any different race than the victim

[NSBF]

Therein lies the problem T. If u watched, I thought Kenny McReynolds had the most telling statement, he said he didn't go to the funeral because it was a circus, a show full of people who didn't know or care about Benji.

I saw Former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne in attendance, then mayor Harold Washington, and Rev. Jesse Jackson senior all there, but they didn't KNoW Benji. BTW....Byrne is white, so where race comes into play I'm still trying to figure that out.

This was black on black crime, and the "shooter" to most people is a real person to some of us. We hated his guts and a lot of people still do til this day. But as I stated before in close circles, Benji and his "shooter's" path and fate were long decided by a much higher power than Rev. Jackson and then politicians who took advantage of the incident. Benji's dirty laundry and "baby mama drama", his being protected by local gang bangers and his #1 player in the nation status almost made him seem invincible, cocky and maybe arrogant to some. But he could have easily been Leon Smith, Darius Miles or Shaun Livingston with endless talent, whomnever quite reached his potential. Or been Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett like at the next level. All we can do is speculate, but what of his shooter? What would HE have become? Sadly, the person who pulled the trigger has gone on to be a model citizen and try to help kids like himself, yet the other kid who "stood in the grass" is still in prison. No you can't change an entire city, but I THINK this documentary was about the loss of a talented kid in Benji and the redemption of a lost soul in the shooter.