30 for 30: Benji | Syracusefan.com

30 for 30: Benji

PeteCalvin

PeteCalvin

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The directors of this documentary film hit a home run. Some of you who post and lurk here weren't alive or were too young to remember this story, the tragic loss of the nation's #1 HS player, Benji Wilson, quite literally, on the eve of his senior season. Believe it or not, he was the first ever consensus #1 player to come out of Chicago. In the long line of players referred to as "the next Magic", he was the first.

In our day and age of One-and-Done's, this is a story that needs to be re-told. So much is taken for granted now. I highly recommend this film to everyone.

Scoop Jackson wrote a solid article on the film, the impact it has already had, and the impact many in Chicago hope it will have on today's generation.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8543190/scoop-jackson-benji-wilson-tragedy
 
It was a great film. I'm 26, and had never heard his story. The directors did an amazing job.
 
I remember Ben Wilson. I still have my Street and Smiths with his profile in the back where they rated the high school players.

I watched the 30 for 30 tonight. It was well done. I thought it was interesting they told the story of his death from both sides. What the perps were charged with and how they (the perps) explain what happened. Kinda strange his gf at the time didn't want to be a part of this. Maybe just protecting their son? We will never know. But I guess that really isn't important in the long run.

Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in America today yet...really nothing has changed. Who knows, hopefully this documentary will bring this senseless violence to the forefront yet again, this time with a positive result. I hope so.

RIP Ben
 
Opus said:
I remember Ben Wilson. I still have my Street and Smiths with his profile in the back where they rated the high school players.

I watched the 30 for 30 tonight. It was well done. I thought it was interesting they told the story of his death from both sides. What the perps were charged with and how they (the perps) explain what happened. Kinda strange his gf at the time didn't want to be a part of this. Maybe just protecting their son? We will never know. But I guess that really isn't important in the long run.

Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in America today yet...really nothing has changed. Who knows, hopefully this documentary will bring this senseless violence to the forefront yet again, this time with a positive result. I hope so.

RIP Ben
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Just the opposite up here. Do not even need a license to carry a concealed weapon, but do need a license to buy a gun. The attitude is that except for criminals and the insane, it is none of the governments business. Everyone has guns and we have a low crime rate. I am under-armed with just a 30:30 and a 44. Many people do not even lock their homes. I have neighbors, and this is an urban area walking distance to downtown, that haven't locked their doors in years. Would you rob a house if there was a strong likelihood that your head would get blown off? No different from foreign affairs: the best defense is to carry a big stick. Here is another example: the fish buying tenders carry large amounts of cash but they never get robbed. AK fishing boats are floating gun ships. Take away their guns and there would be robberies.

Chicago is crazyville run by loonie lefties. Only the criminals are armed.
 
AlaskaSU said:
Just the opposite up here. Do not even need a license to carry a concealed weapon, but do need a license to buy a gun. The attitude is that except for criminals and the insane, it is none of the governments business. Everyone has guns and we have a low crime rate. I am under-armed with just a 30:30 and a 44. Many people do not even lock their homes. I have neighbors, and this is an urban area walking distance to downtown, that haven't locked their doors in years. Would you rob a house if there was a strong likelihood that your head would get blown off? No different from foreign affairs: the best defense is to carry a big stick. Here is another example: the fish buying tenders carry large amounts of cash but they never get robbed. AK fishing boats are floating gun ships. Take away their guns and there would be robberies.

Chicago is crazyville run by loonie lefties. Only the criminals are armed.
Expand...

I suppose the crime rate would be low when the temperature is -400 degrees half the year and the largest population center in the state is only slightly bigger than Syracuse. Getting back on topic, I had never heard of this story before (seems like the Len Bias story has always gotten the most "hype"). I haven't watched the documentary yet, but have it DVR'd and am looking forward to seeing it.
 
I remember him well. Sad story and a great documentary done on him.
 
I was hesitant to read the article posted, as I have the documentary DVR'd. Maybe I shouldn't speak about the story without seeing it first, as it really is a story of forgiveness...but 19 years served for a murder!?!?! What?
 
I am usually up on this type of stuff and that was the first I've heard of Ben Wilson. Tragic story all around. The kid's funeral was a circus.

Did I understand it correctly that one of the perps started program for those in post-prison life and was honored at The White House in 2009?
 
shandeezy7 said:
I suppose the crime rate would be low when the temperature is -400 degrees half the year and the largest population center in the state is only slightly bigger than Syracuse. Getting back on topic, I had never heard of this story before (seems like the Len Bias story has always gotten the most "hype"). I haven't watched the documentary yet, but have it DVR'd and am looking forward to seeing it.
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Most Alaskan's live on the W coast where temperatures are somewhat moderated by the warm Japanese current. Winters are not that much different from Syracuse, and I have lived in both places. Regardless, summers are mild and daylight is long. Weather does not explain the lack of home robberies. Other types of crime, such as rape, are more in line with National rates. Gun regulation does not decrease crime. It increases it. The weight of statistics is overwhelming. I suppose that libs do what they do because it makes them feel better. Enjoy.
 
Watched it last night. Excellent film. I was in Syracuse at the time and remember the story well. Sad.
 
Can we move this to the OT board before it turns into an all out 2nd Amendment / Gun discussion?
 
I'd hate to see what happened if someone made a thread in here about Pete Maravich... :)
 
OrangeTown said:
I'd hate to see what happened if someone made a thread in here about Pete Maravich... :)
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I'd hate to have someone try and hijack my thread using a gratuitous picture of JLH in their avatar. ;)
 
I'm watching "Benji" again and just realized that Ben Wilson could very well have been on the 1988-89 Illinois team we lost to in the 89 Elite Eight. There is no question in my mind that he would have gone there with his friend Nick Anderson. That team was loaded with homegrown Chicago talent as it was. Imagine that line-up.

I was also struck remembering at just how relevant DePaul was at the time. DePaul used to keep a lot of the top rated local talent home, and that is what helped Ray Meyer propel the program to national prominence. When they lost that Chicago pipeline, they were never the same.

Also, I don't know what was more maddening, the fact that police managed to get the shooter to sign a false version of what happened (it clearly wasn't a robbery), or that it took the hospital almost 3 hours to get Ben into surgery. It's sad that it took this tragedy to change Chicago city policy on routing trauma victims to hospitals that can actually treat traumas. That hospital had no trauma ward. Why didn't the ambulance staff disobey procedure and get him somewhere that could?

I feel somewhat bad for the Dixon kid, as he really did nothing at all other than flee the scene. He didn't even touch Wilson. It was all Moore. Seems like he got railroaded and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Of course he got out early and screwed himself by getting into trouble again (armed robbery of all things...ironic) One has to wonder what his life would have been like had Moore not taken his Aunt's gun that morning.
 
Opus said:
I remember Ben Wilson. I still have my Street and Smiths with his profile in the back where they rated the high school players.
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I still have mine as well. I did not see the 30 for 30 yet but am looking forward to it. Very sad story.
 
AlaskaSU said:
Most Alaskan's live on the W coast where temperatures are somewhat moderated by the warm Japanese current. Winters are not that much different from Syracuse, and I have lived in both places. Regardless, summers are mild and daylight is long. Weather does not explain the lack of home robberies. Other types of crime, such as rape, are more in line with National rates. Gun regulation does not decrease crime. It increases it. The weight of statistics is overwhelming. I suppose that libs do what they do because it makes them feel better. Enjoy.
Expand...

Orrrr you have the ones who love in the interior... No Japanese current here lol
I live out in the mountains, I couldn't imagine someone coming all the way to my house, making it up the driveway, just to try to rob me. All my guns, (besides "the judge") are for hunting. My wife has a .22 pistol to make her feel safe when I'm out of town
 
AlaskaSU said:
Everyone has guns and we have a low crime rate..
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I love Alaska, I've been there twice and it's one of the most beautiful places on Earth. That said, please stop making it seem like it's a utopia without problems - it has a huge problem with suicides and sexual violence.

Regarding last night's 30 for 30, I only caught the last 40 minutes of it, but it was very interesting. I personally had never heard of Benji Wilson.
 
I was in college and remember the story very well...I used to subscribe to various recruiting publications at the time, Big East Briefs, Bob Gibbons All-Star Sports, etc. as that was then the best way to really keep up with recruiting and other stories for us fanatics.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago ran a special, "25, The Ben Wilson Story" back in '09 on the 25th anniversivery of his death. This "Benji," 30 for 30 doc appears to have used a lot of the same/similar footage with its version.

That aforementioned '89 Fighting Ilini team was indeed impressive. Certainly likely would've won it all with Wilson, they were already loaded with Nick Anderson, Kenny Battle, Stephen Bardo, Kendall Gill & Marcus Liberty on that team...I remember watching that Great 8 (that's what it was called then) game, it was very exciting, fast pace by both teams. One minute after a flying dunk by Stevie Thompson we go up like 11, minutes later the Illini go on this crazy run to come back and take the lead they never relinguished, or so I recall...
 
Just finished watching the documentary..DVR'd it and then forgot about it. Man that guy had game. He actually had a throwback game...mid range smooth jumper, up and unders, finger rolls...the kind of guy that was a basketball PLAYER..not an athlete who happened to play basketball. I remember him as one of the "picture dudes" from street and smiths...was he in the same issue as Karlton Hines? (another player who would die soon thereafter).

what most impressed me was his mom. the strength she had to handle the media as she did in the wake of her sons death...incredible.

As far as the medical debacle...yeah..it sure seems to me this kid should have lived. he likely had femoral artery injury based on the description as to where he was shot and his cold feet...and also some slow bleeding from the abdominal wound...

they sued the hospital and of course there was a settlement..but is is really the hospitals fault that due to city law an ambulance brings a patient to you that you are not able to handle?
 
Illinois would have multiple NC's had he not been killed.
 
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