John Raymon article

[Jeepers]

Interesting that his Mom died of brain cancer. I wonder if that had anything to do with the abuse she gave. I'm sure he'll never know but something that caught my eye.

Thought the same. Reminds me of how Spalding Gray became suicidal after he injured his brain in a car accident.

 

[leftytg]

Breaks my heart to know there are thousands of kids across the country that go through stuff like this in varying degrees. Also, gotta wonder how many don't make it for every one that does. 100? 1,000?

Honestly though, there isn't another coaching staff in the country that is better at building a family atmosphere and treating these gus as their own. The fact that Daoust can relate to him on different levels I'm sure helps quite a bit as well.

I worked the first 6 years of my career prosecuting child abuse and neglect in Manhattan (I still work in the field, only in TX now) and saw a lot of truly disturbing things done to children by their parents. It is sad, but as awful as Raymon's case is, it wouldn't even come close to some of the bad cases I've had. Out of the hundreds, if not thousands, of kids I had on my caseload, I can think of fewer than a dozen or so who managed to escape and get into and stick at a 4 year college. I also can't emphasize strongly enough how fortunate, and rare, it was for Raymon to be taken out of the RTC and into a nonrelative's home at age 12. It is sad, but if you aren't adopted by 7 or 8, your chances of ever finding a permanent home and family are almost nil. I handled countless cases just like John. The anger, the trust issues, the insecurity - it really messes kids up and makes them lash out at prospective foster parents, it reject the foster parents before they have a chance to reject the kid. To make it worse, there are plenty of terrible foster parents out there too. I had a case where a foster parent had 4 kids (all siblings). One night she decided she didn't want them anymore, so she told the kids she was taking them out to dinner, got them in the car, and dropped the kids at the foster care agency 15 minutes before they closed. As if that wasn't bad enough, the woman had the audacity to come to court 2 months later and ask for the kids back because she couldn't pay her mortgage without the foster care subsidy. The judge about burst a blood vessel in her head screaming at the woman.

God Bless the Finney's indeed - the world needs more people like them.

 

[Ithacaorange]

These stories are starting to come out a lot - did anybody see the ESPN piece on the 2 kid wrestlers from Akron, one had no legs and the other was blind, trying to get out of inner city Cleveland.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Kudos to Nate Mink- best thing he's done since arriving in Syracuse.

Not to clog the thread, but Nolan's story on Ryan was good too. Would love to see more of the Olympic sport athletes at SU profiled by SMG.

 

[KaiserUEO]

Stories like this are where the national status and muscle strength of ESPN are needed.

F the NCAA.

As more of their incompetent dirty laundry comes to light, the more it just needs to go away.

 

[CaliCuse]

Those were my thoughts as well. You wonder where kids like Raymon would be without people like the Finneys.

BTW, Raymon looks like a beast in the photo. Any reports from practices or the spring game?

He will devour QBs and RBs within his reach.Some nay call it cannelbilism but I call it "getting even"

 

[otisco]

Stories like this are where the national status and muscle strength of ESPN are needed.

F the NCAA.

As more of their incompetent dirty laundry comes to light, the more it just needs to go away.

Exactly. Jay Bilas is on a noble, very public crusade against the NCAA's embarrassing record of inconsistency, unfairness, irrationality, and lengthy history of inequity-creating decisions. But he's flying solo. ESPN needs to sack up and get behind him.

 

[MadNY3]

Exactly. Jay Bilas is on a noble, very public crusade against the NCAA's embarrassing record of inconsistency, unfairness, irrationality, and lengthy history of inequity-creating decisions. But he's flying solo. ESPN needs to sack up and get behind him.

This is an unbelievable story. God bless John Raymon.

ESPN WILL get behind this story...if he or Syracuse does well. That's the reality of this stuff. Hope both come to fruition.

 

[BORZAK]

the big 5 conferences will leave the NCAA soon, to avoid the monopoly the federal Goverment wants to regulate to tax (the NCAA).

 

[Van111]

Kudos to the CUSE for picking up this kid. He got a well deserved second chance, and may God guide him and the demons he must have to face every day. He needs our support regardless of how his football carreer turns out. John is on the right path by being open about it. I wish him all the success in the world, and will be rooting for him all season long. ESPN has a great chance to right the ship with all of us by supporting this kid. As for the NCAA, I have very little good things to say about them, and since this is about John, this is not the place to bring up the dirty laundry list and failures of the NCAA.

 

[OrangeZone]

2 things; having had the honor to meet John I can say he is a great young man who certainly deserves support from the university and this community. What he has overcome to get here is amazing.

2nd, the NCAA has only 1 concern, money. That organization couldn't care less about student-athletes. Unfortunately the only group empowered to do something about the situation is college presidents and to them I say, "shame on you."

 

[baggerbob]

I'm normally not in favor of book burning , but the antiquated rule book of the NCAA needs to be thrown on a wood pile and burned. Jay Bilas has said get rid of it , and simplify the rules so everyone is on equal footing.

 

[Moontan]

People need to remember that the NCAA is comprised of its member institutions. If the institutions don't like the rules then they could/should change them.

AFAIK the petition to the NCAA was based on allowing John to be closer to his newborn child. Maybe Syracuse wasn't close enough to Philly to have the committee approve the petition. Perhaps a move to Temple (or SUNJ or UMD) would've been approved. We'll never know.

Raymon, and SU, missed out on a year of play. He'll still have had access to 4 years of classes and should have an opportunity to contribute and impress NFL scouts.

Was it the result that all concerned would've liked? Clearly not. Was it fair? Without knowing the details, and outcomes, of similar cases it's impossible to say.

I hope he makes the most of his opportunity. He's got a lot of people rooting for him.

 

[Whitey23]

The Big Lead is one of the better sites out there, IMO.

@jasonrmcintyre: Sad story here about a Syracuse football player http://t.co/ZClPkk7KXF Sidenote: I know him. Have played hoops w/ him many times [1of2]

@jasonrmcintyre: [2of2] Super nice guy. For 6-5, 310, incredible hoops handle, good 3-point shot, quick feet, dunks easily. NFL-caliber athlete

 

[Orangeyes]

My friend called me Sunday morning after reading the PS article and said, "That story makes the movie Blindside look mild in comparison, I know who my favorite player will be."

Then yesterday I ran into this piece

 

[DCCuse]

My friend called me Sunday morning after reading the PS article and said, "That story makes the movie Blindside look mild in comparison, I know who my favorite player will be."

Then yesterday I ran into this piece

That statement comparing John and the movie "Blindside" was also told to me by a former coach.

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