2/27 column Phil Luciano

[Da Coach]

Phil Luciano has a column in today's Peoria Journal Star. It is not linked on the website, but appears on the front of section B today.

It's another one of those columns that come out looking like he so concerned for the wellbeing of Bradley University, then he simply restates what everyone else already knows. In the end, he appears to favor punishing Ruffin harshly now, just in case he might be guilty.

Here are a few highlights--
"There's more to the university than just men's basketball"
"BU does not exist for basketball"
"If basketball were outlawed nationwide tomorrow, the school would still exist"
"We don't know exactly what happened that night"
"Ruffin was arrested by the Peoria Police Department"
"Do cops make mistakes? Sometimes"
"That's why we have the courts"
"wheels of justice grind slowly"
"BU is in a pickle"
"Ruffin...might or might not be found guilty"
"sometimes life is unfair"
"What would be the tragedy? A player misses a few games? A team loses a few contests? BU doesn't get a tournament bid?"
"Big deal"
"What if it turns out he is guilty?"
"What sort of message would that send?"
"right after other transgressions in the athletics department"
"Bradley administrators are in a tough spot"
"the risk to the school's name is far greater than the risk of losing a few ball games"


Can Phil Luciano really be this naive? Does he think that the only thing anyone cares about is winning basketball games?
Here is one thing I and most Bradley fans I have talked to care a lot more about-- we care about a tremendous young man, on the verge of having his life ruined by an allegation that has not been proven true. Luciano advocates taking Daniel's life away from him, and punishing him and the rest of the team in the most severe way the university can punish him, before any facts are know.
In his own newspaper today, is a new article revealing that an eyewitness says that none of what has been alleged occurred. But that obviously doesn't matter to Luciano. Apparently, it's the seriousness of the charge, not the truth of the matter that he cares about.

I could again go into the questions of why people in the Journal Star seemed to have the exact opposite opinions about the Jamar Smith case. There it was advocated that the young man had suffered enough by what he had done, needed to be forgiven and given another chance after he was convicted of a felony.

Now we have a graduate student with an impeccable record, and he is accused of a misdemeanor, and there are now things being revealed that suggest that the truth is not what we might have been lead to believe. He has never been proven guilty of anything, but we must take the strongest stance it is possible to take to punish Daniel and the rest of the men's basketball team, because then people like Phil Luciano can walk more proud of Bradley University.

[ser_solace]

Beyond his current suspension, what is Luciano advocating the university do? I can't imagine there's more BU can do than what it is doing now.

[basketball nut]

Movie reviewer and Radio Talk-show funny man Phil Luciano has a column in today's Peoria Journal Star. It is not linked on the website, but appears on the front of section B today.

It's another one of those columns that come out looking like he so concerned for the wellbeing of Bradley University, then he simply restates what everyone else already knows. In the end, he appears to favor punishing Ruffin harshly now, just in case he might be guilty.

Here are a few highlights--
"There's more to the university than just men's basketball"
"BU does not exist for basketball"
"If basketball were outlawed nationwide tomorrow, the school would still exist"
"We don't know exsctly what happened that night"
"Ruffin was arrested by the Peoria Police Department"
"Do cops make mistakes? Sometimes"
"That's why we have the courts"
"wheels of justice grind slowly"
"BU is in a pickle"
"Ruffin...might or might not be found guilty"
"sometimes life is unfair"
"What would be the tragedy? A player misses a few games? A team loses a few contests? BU doesn't get a tournament bid?"
"Big deal"
"What if it turns out he is guilty?"
"What sort of message would that send?"
"right after other transgressions in the athletics department"
"Bradley administrators are in a tough spot"
"the risk to the school's name is far greater than the risk of losing a few ball games"


Can Phil Luciano really be this naive? Does he think that the only thing anyone cares about is winning basketball games?
Here is one thing I and most Bradley fans I have talked to care a lot more about-- we care about a tremendous young man, on the verge of having his life ruined by an allegation that has not been proven true. Luciano advocates taking Daniel's life away from him, and punishing him and the rest of the team in the most severe way the university can punish him, before any facts are know.
In his own newspaper today, is a new article revealing that an eyewitness says that none of what has been alleged occurred. But that obviously doesn't matter to Luciano. Apparently, it's the seriousness of the charge, not the truth of the matter that he cares about.

I could again go into the questions of why people in the Journal Star seemed to have the exact opposite opinions about the Jamar Smith case. There it was advocated that the young man had suffered enough by what he had done, needed to be forgiven and given another chance after he was convisted of a felony.

Now we have a graduate student with an impeccable record, and he is accused of a misdemeanor, and there are now thning being revealed that suggest that the truth is not what we might have been lead to believe. He has never been proven guilty of anything, but we must take the strongest stance it is possible to take to punish Daniel and the rest of the men's basketball team, because then people like Phil Luciano can walk more proud of Bradley University.

Some very great points but the one thing we all have to remember is the fact that the paper is called the Peoria Journal Star in name only. We all should be very aware of the fact that this paper is really University of Illinois Journal Star. On a lot of days a person can find out more about UI then about BU. I realize that a lot of Central IL people are fans of the UI and/ or graduates from there but this is still BU country. KW says how he remembers walking across the BU campus when he was young but he diffenately has a beef w/ the school now. Maybe he feels that if he is negative towards the school that it will get the locals all rialed up and it will help sale more papers when in fact it probably sales less because of this kind of journalism.
As for Luciano I have one question for him: WHAT IF DR IS INNOCENT?-you just advocated keeping him from playing and that loosing a few games and not making the tournament would not be that big a deal but what about for all the kids on campus that support the team? What about the players that were deprived of that oppurtunity to get a chance to play in a tournament? What about the seniors, MS and especially JC who has stuck w/ BU even when he had a real hard sophomore season, is this fair to him? PL advocate all these punishments for the team just in case DR is guilty (as more facts come out it seems even less likely that he is). What a shame and Phil I hope that you never do anything that borders along these lines because maybe we will just have to close down the PJS until such time that you have been proven guilty (or maybe the accuser has lied about what really happened & you are found to be innocent). This is what you are advocating here in the paper.
I really doubt he is reading this as I am not sure he is intelligent enough to read this.

[Braves4Life]

Luciano sounds like a Communist! He should write for a "State" run newspaper (of course, it sounds like he already does).

[IheartBU]

http://pjstar.com/stories/022708/PHI_BFTD3422.049.php

[LG281]

Luciano actually taught my journalism class while I was at Bradley. Needless to say I'm no longer in journalism...

[tornado]

The PJ Star has actually taken the lead in highlighting the accuser's side of the story and refusing to even note the existence of the defendant's side of the story until now, five days later...they finally mention it.
They are part of the effort to ruin Daniel Ruffin's life.
But I guess I never expected fairness to both parties.


Also, if Phil Luciano suggests imposing the penalty on Ruffin all the way until his trial, JUST IN CASE he might be found guilty...
then I guess we should just put ALL accused criminals in jail until their trials JUST because they might be guilty!
After all, isn't "the risk to the community's good name far greater than the risk of the accuser losing a few days in jail?"

[BU ICEMAN]

By the way, what makes anybody here more of a "legal expert" than Luciano to be able to criticize him for having an opinion while they've been spouting off their own opinions?

[tornado]

Iceman, we have no idea how knowledgable PL is in legal matters, but the point is clear and it is valid,
that Luciano although allowed to have an opinion, is NOT a legal expert, but hesitates NOT to criticize anyone and everyone who holds any opinion that differs from his.
In fact he has NO respect for opposing opinion, he holds up to ridicule, and in doing so he gains the single most central part of what he does for a living.

Heck...if we can't let Daniel Ruffin play ball while he's waiting for his trial, then what's with letting him go to classes and PE free of charge??
Heck....why let him drive his car, that's a state administered legal privilege, and maybe send the social workers in and take his baby away from him as long as we are resricting privileges.....isn't it better to err on the side of caution??

[MacabreMob]

All I know is....

Luciano is a great American.



(for you outta towners, that's an inside joke aimed at his radio show in the afternoon.... pre-empting a much better national radio show)

[LG281]

I happen to think its the nature of the "newspaper" - people have been conditioned to think that what is in print is always factual, always the truth...when sometimes it is merely opine (right Scouter).

With print articles the end user has no forum for response - what is said by the writer goes, seemingly without consequence when statements are made that allude or impress upon the reader the writer's personal agenda.

Simply put, people want their news source, be it TV, Radio, or Newspaper to be unbiased. The Journal Star while it wants to call itself a "major" publication with both morals and values, that is dedicated to providing unbiased news, certainly falls very short of its goal.

No one here believes that they are any more qualified in the inner workings of the legal system than any other member (save Vromanfan who is actually a lawyer, if I'm not mistaken) - but it is understood that everything written here is an opinion and is most definitely biased.

[bu fan 9]

Don't forget if Ruff is found not guilty or the charges are dropped he can sue the school just like the Duke players did.

[Dallas Brave]

Luciano actually taught my journalism class while I was at Bradley. Needless to say I'm no longer in journalism...

With banal comments like, "There's more to the university than just men's basketball," Phil shows he is not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. This guy actual taught at Bradley? Doesn't say much for Bradley that a bulb that burns this dimmly was allowed to teach.

[Da Coach]

No one here believes that they are any more qualified in the inner workings of the legal system than any other member (save Vromanfan who is actually a lawyer, if I'm not mistaken) - but it is understood that everything written here is an opinion and is most definitely biased.

But, LG, I believe the opposite is true-- the posts here represent our opinions, and we have every right to render an opinion as Phil Luciano, or anyone else. And because we aren't lawyers is absolutely irrelevant. If possessing a law degree was a prerequisite to having an opinion, than that immediatly disqualifies Luciano, too. As far as I can tell, Luciano's experience with the law comes from reviewing movies like The Firm and Sleeping With the Enemy.

I guess for generations members of the media were accustomed to ramming their opinions down our throats. And now the internet has given average people who aren't in the media the ability to present their opinions to a wider sphere of people. And for some reason that scares the heck out of the media. Why are they so frightened of opposing opinions?

Why does Phil Luciano feel he has to insult and put down Bradley basketball fans? Can't he express his opinion without taking shots at the other side and misrepresenting their views?

Here are the first couple lines from Luciano's column--
I have shocking news for some red-sweater fanatics who follow the Bradley Braves:

There's more to the university than just men's basketball. I know, I know: To some red sweaters, that's just crazy talk, bordering on sacrilege.

If someone expressed an opinion here on the BradleyFans board but felt he first had to denigrate and insult those people with opposing views, I would probably remove the post because it violates our rules for civility. But apparently that's OK because it's Phil Luciano.

[BUBraves2006]

Having also had Phil for class when I attended Bradley, I've always wondered if he just doesn't think sports are very important. He enjoys writing columns about some gravedigger who works for free in Eureka (sarcasm, don't look it up) rather than caring about sports story. I understand that, as it's his prerogative and it's also his job as a features/columnist writer. I also think a column like this is intended to appease his readers, which may include that segment of the Peoria readers who have negative feelings toward BU, the basketball program, etc.

As is with many writers, they have to put something in the paper on a daily (or multiple times a week) basis, so they spew their thoughts whether or not they are based in fact.

Most of Luciano's remarks are totally sarcastic and intended for comedic appeal for his readers, but in reality, they are in poor taste. I don't think there's a single loyal poster on this board (or even beyond the board) that thinks the basketball team is bigger than the school or that we shouldn't hold our players to the highest standard.

The best (or some might think the worst) columns get people talking. This achieved that, whether or not you agree with his opinion.