RIP Fab Melo. | Page 9 | Syracusefan.com

RIP Fab Melo.

hungrychuck said:
Not normally a fan of Bud Poliquin, but I thought this was well put in his column today. Maybe a bit of perspective for some of us. RIP Fab.

"Imagine yourself starting to learn Portuguese in, say, August of 2014 ... and then enrolling this week at, oh, Universidade de Brasilia where your classes will be taught by fast-talking professors who will not be speaking English ... while simultaneously committing to a sport whose nuances are still fairly new to you and will command 30ish hours of your week, every week ... and doing all of that while continuing to absorb all that comes with adapting to a foreign culture."
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I posted in the daily articles thread that I really think this is one of Bud's best efforts, and like you, I'm not a fan.
 
hungrychuck said:
Not normally a fan of Bud Poliquin, but I thought this was well put in his column today. Maybe a bit of perspective for some of us. RIP Fab.

"Imagine yourself starting to learn Portuguese in, say, August of 2014 ... and then enrolling this week at, oh, Universidade de Brasilia where your classes will be taught by fast-talking professors who will not be speaking English ... while simultaneously committing to a sport whose nuances are still fairly new to you and will command 30ish hours of your week, every week ... and doing all of that while continuing to absorb all that comes with adapting to a foreign culture."
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And it's sad that some people are seemingly pondering this aspect of Fab's life for the first time.
 
hungrychuck said:
Not normally a fan of Bud Poliquin, but I thought this was well put in his column today. Maybe a bit of perspective for some of us. RIP Fab.

"Imagine yourself starting to learn Portuguese in, say, August of 2014 ... and then enrolling this week at, oh, Universidade de Brasilia where your classes will be taught by fast-talking professors who will not be speaking English ... while simultaneously committing to a sport whose nuances are still fairly new to you and will command 30ish hours of your week, every week ... and doing all of that while continuing to absorb all that comes with adapting to a foreign culture."
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Can't believe how difficult that would be. The only thing that makes the scenario set up by Bud any better is...Brazilian chicks.
 
My wife and I honeymooned in Costa Rica the summer of 2010 (before Fab's first year at SU). We were riding a ski lift thing up a mountain to do ziplining. A guy sitting across from me commented on my Cuse t-shirt and asked if I was familiar with Fab Melo. So we got to talking, he went to prep school with Fab in Florida and told me all about him. My wife and his wife had looks on their faces like, "OMG we are on our honeymoon, stop talking about college basketball for one minute of your lives."
 
The thing that we all see happened here was that he came to the states and eventually turned into a superstar due to basketball. He came to Syracuse a superstar and he fell into the life, he embraced the life and why wouldn't he, he probably never had it. Who is gonna blame him?
And we all know colleges will do EVERYTHING they can to get athletes to be eligible. So you still can't blame him.

The dude had a legendary smile, can't forget it.
 
orangefog said:
Can't believe how difficult that would be. The only thing that makes the scenario set up by Bud any better is...Brazilian chicks.
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Lol would you get to class much less the sports team practices?
 
moqui said:
Crocodile tears

The Fab Melo saga is a dark stain on Syracuse University and its athletic department, each of which failed this young man.
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Bull. The NCAA failed everybody. Do they have a policy for foreign students taking university level classes PLUS being essentially full time athletes?

Bud P is right. Portugese isn't that common a language in most of the USA compared to Spanish or French or even Italian. How hard was it to find tutors. And as JB implied the NCAA screwed Fab and the team because of an improper FOOTNOTE.

LET'S SEE what happens to Roy's team now...
 
NYCSUGrad said:
Bull. The NCAA failed everybody. Do they have a policy for foreign students taking university level classes PLUS being essentially full time athletes?

Bud P is right. Portugese isn't that common a language in most of the USA compared to Spanish or French or even Italian. How hard was it to find tutors. And as JB implied the NCAA screwed Fab and the team because of an improper FOOTNOTE.

LET'S SEE what happens to Roy's team now...
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Cant we say BOTH the NCAA and the university failed the kid? Does this have to be mutually exclusive? With what they had riding on this kid(another title run), you think eveery Portuguese student on campus would be culled through carefully for a fitting tutor. I mean during recruiting, maybe admissions would have a keen eye out for kids who spoke Portuguese, etc. Nobody puts Fab in corner.

Anyhow, that is where my vote currently is and is likely to remain. RIP Fab Melo.
 
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I haven't had good success in this thread *cough cough*. However, I want to tribute Fab Melo(no not that way), with a song fitting for all of us who are misunderstood by a decent enough segment. Feel free to clone your tab and let this play in the background as you continue your perusal of the board. You know you want to, folks, it's Pink Floyd!

SHINE ON, Fab Melo. Some of us never turned our backs on you, NEVER. May something on campus be (re)named in your honor, and let the university save a little face from this terrible disgrace. I'm really biting my tongue and clenching my fists hard right now, and I hope those in the know can respect that. Some of us take this harder than others, and the affronts as well.

 
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moqui said:
Crocodile tears

The Fab Melo saga is a dark stain on Syracuse University and its athletic department, each of which failed this young man.
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You have bigger cajones than me.

I'm thinking a top (however many) list for such may actually be interesting?
 
OttoinGrotto said:
My favorite Fab Melo play was a drive and dish he had to Rick Jackson. It just wasn't the kind of move you ever saw out of a guy his size. Can't remember exactly which game and have never found video of it, but it was nuts.
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Late on this, but Michigan State in December 2010, I think?

Anyway, very sad for Fab and his family.
 
Melo's improvement from Freshman to Soph year is definitely right up there. Just using stats is misleading (what, like 8 and 6 or something?). This is a case where you had to actually watch the games. Defensive force. Not even in terms of actual blocks (around 3 is amazing), but disruptions. He was a part of one of our greatest teams ever, which included Joseph, Waiters, Triche, Jardine- all guys who could handle the scoring.
 
CaptainJ said:
Cant we say BOTH the NCAA and the university failed the kid? Does this have to be mutually exclusive? With what they had riding on this kid(another title run), you think eveery Portuguese student on campus would be culled through carefully for a fitting tutor. I mean during recruiting, maybe admissions would have a keen eye out for kids who spoke Portuguese, etc. Nobody puts Fab in corner.

Anyhow, that is where my vote currently is and is likely to remain. RIP Fab Melo.
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I'm sure they did that

Doesn't mean they were able to FIND the right tutor on campus though.

There just aren't necessarily enough students who can handle kind of massaging the ego of a 7 foot budding superstar from Brazil who makes a HUGE adjustment in almost every way.

Including his meals.
 
Madbiker said:
I feel sad for a human being whose life is over at just 26. I feel sympathy for his family who no doubt loved him. SU fans liked him just fine that season before the suspension. Nobody really knows who bears the blame for the paper fiasco, it wasn't all on Fab. But the NCAA/NBA feeder system did this guy no favors. He clearly was not academically able to do college work. He would have been better off playing in Brazil or Europe for a couple years and then going to the NBA...as many foreign players do today. That wasn't as preferred a route in 2010 when he came to SU as a freshman. RIP Fab.
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You know he might really have WANTED the college experience in the States. Including the frat parties. Can't blame him for that if he ever saw Animal House, even dubbed or subtitled!

And certainly he did his best on court because the difference between freshman Fab and sophomore Fab was tremendous.
 
JDubbin said:
One of my favorite things about Fab Melo's improvement as a basketball player from year 1 to year 2 wasn't just his significantly increased shot-blocking prowess (as evidenced in this thread with the Seton Hall 10 block mentions), but his ability to take charges as shot blocking center in the zone too. He just seemed to find that perfect balance of when to contest and when to stay on his feet and take in the chest. Maybe one of the best ever to do so at that position in the zone, at least for a year? I've found myself thinking about that some this season, I don't feel like Lydon or Thompson ever take charges... miss that about Fab the player.
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Neither is 7 foot and BUILT
 
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