Chiefs Tragedy

[molson]

Dola, there were early signs of his domestic abuser tendencies back at UMaine:

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/J...pe=mobile&id=1

[molson]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Yeah, I'm not upset from his friends. Just listening to the radio, random people call up all day insisting she must have done something to set him off, that she is likely to blame to some extent. I get the feeling there is a decent sized group of people that actually believe this.

Oh ya (you might have actually heard this on WEEI)

CRAZY CALLER DEFENDS JAVON BELCHER

[jeff061]

YES! I was listening to that live. But there were many others as well with a similar message. D&C did a great job with that guy, that clip is heavily edited.

[stevew]

How does a guy making 1.9m afford a Bentley? craziness.

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by molson

It's possible that he was just a douchebag jock domestic abuser who finally snapped, and then cowardly hid from the consequences. At the end of the day though, he'll probably end up with a medal or something.

No chance of the medal. Clearly the team is the most conflicted about his legacy, but so far they are making the right chooses in focusing on the victim.

We might find that he's a douchebag, but it still seems like a guy with problems and something snapping. He and his girlfriend were in counseling provided by the team to address financial and relationship problems.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I clearly was one who thought there may have been some catalyst from her (I watched a friend's wife walk out on him & their 2 kids, age 2 & 1, because she said she had them too young & didn't have a chance to live a life)

It certainly looks like he had some major problems. One thing that stood out in the things the Chiefs were counselling them on was finances... He wasn't the highest paid player on the team, but he had enough to drive a Bentley. She was taking a break from community college and had been with him three years. I see a bit of a difference here financially.

Seems like he was a guy who didn't know how to deal with much in life. He wants to have a on-again off-again girlfriend who just had his kid AND have a girlfriend? Fine. Whatever. Be an asshole. There's no need to go shooting her nine fucking times.

As far as the people who consider his death a loss, I am sure it is to them. They knew him, or thought they knew him. I'm also sure that what he did makes it damn difficult to understand why he is dead, as it's something that seems like it could have been so easy to avoid. (Don't kill her or yourself. Seems pretty fucking simple.)

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Yeah, I'm not upset from his friends. Just listening to the radio, random people call up all day insisting she must have done something to set him off, that she is likely to blame to some extent. I get the feeling there is a decent sized group of people that actually believe this.

Just look at the number of Chris Brown apologists out there. Yeah, it's very doubtful that either party is blameless in anything, but it's sickening how large a portion of the population is willing to defend domestic abusers. I've had women piss me off a number of times and the answer has never been hitting them, let alone killing them.

And I don't care if he had CTE too - a whole lot of people do, and their response isn't to murder other people.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

I don't think we have the right to be upset at friends who are sad about this.

I agree. It can't be easy for those guys. I just couldn't help being bugged by the interviews with player after player lamenting his loss, none of them that I saw were lamenting what he had done.

I don't hold it against them, I'll just say I was disappointed that there wasn't even one interview that alluded to the heinous nature of Belcher's actions.

[Fidatelo]

I have a hard time with the whole 'mental illness' excuse. You could argue that anyone who ever does anything egregiously wrong has a 'mental illness'. Used to be we called those folks 'murderers' or 'degenerates' or 'assholes'.

I think at the end of the day, in my head, once you murder someone else you cross the line from being sympathetic in any way to just plain being a monster. I don't care if you heard voices in your head or were super angry or whatever. We all have a level of responsibility on this planet and in this society and if you can't maintain even the most basic component of that then you need to be removed from it. If you couldn't recognize that you were heading down that path and remove yourself from it before you destroyed the life of someone else then I just don't think I can feel bad for you.

Maybe that's harsh, and maybe if some co-worker or friend or family member of mine did something horrible it might alter my perceptions in a way I can't account for, but from where I sit right now this Belcher guy did something absolutely horrible and the only people I feel bad for are everyone around him that has been left damaged by his atrocious actions.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

I have a hard time with the whole 'mental illness' excuse. You could argue that anyone who ever does anything egregiously wrong has a 'mental illness'. Used to be we called those folks 'murderers' or 'degenerates' or 'assholes'.

I think at the end of the day, in my head, once you murder someone else you cross the line from being sympathetic in any way to just plain being a monster. I don't care if you heard voices in your head or were super angry or whatever. We all have a level of responsibility on this planet and in this society and if you can't maintain even the most basic component of that then you need to be removed from it. If you couldn't recognize that you were heading down that path and remove yourself from it before you destroyed the life of someone else then I just don't think I can feel bad for you.

Maybe that's harsh, and maybe if some co-worker or friend or family member of mine did something horrible it might alter my perceptions in a way I can't account for, but from where I sit right now this Belcher guy did something absolutely horrible and the only people I feel bad for are everyone around him that has been left damaged by his atrocious actions.

Ya, Jerry Sandusky clearly had some issues with mental health. So how can we judge him, we don't know what it's like to have those inappropriate sexual attractions, and the accompanying mental disorder that convinces someone that acting on those attractions is OK, and even an expression of love.

Thinking about it more, I guess having different rhetoric and viewpoints about criminals isn't itself harmful. It doesn't really matter if someone has sympathy for Belcher or Sandusky. The important thing is that one's removed from society forever, and the other one would have been if he didn't kill himself. On the other hand though, that rhetoric is in the criminal justice system and it does impact how defendants are managed now. Everyone should be treated humanely and we should greatly increase access to mental health treatment in prison, but when we get closer to writing off instances of domestic violence and think we can fix the problem by sending someone home with a prescription and a therapy appointment, it gets a little scarier. BUT...crime is also way, way down in this country, so we're clearly doing something right. Which may go to show that in THIS environment, if you're still acting out violently, in society where crime is in a free fall, you're probably beyond hope.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Kasandra Perkins, slain girlfriend of Kansas City Chiefs LB Jovan Belcher, shot nine times -- autopsy - ESPN

[stevew]

Yeah but he kissed her and said he was sorry.

Poor baby is in a huge custody battle and she's going to receive a rather large amount of money over the next few years. Hopefully the best interest of the kid is protected.

[molson]

Originally Posted by stevew

Yeah but he kissed her and said he was sorry.

Poor baby is in a huge custody battle and she's going to receive a rather large amount of money over the next few years. Hopefully the best interest of the kid is protected.

I think if your relative kills his wife, fighting for custody of the kid is kind of poor form.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Hopefully this is the beginning of a new start that ends well for the baby.

Judge awards cousin custody of Jovan Belcher's daughter - NFL.com