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Showing posts with label St. Louis Rams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Louis Rams. Show all posts

1.14.2016

Rams relocate back to Los Angeles, and why I'm ditching them



This evening, the NFL owners have decided to vote 30-2 in favor of relocating the St. Louis Rams back to Los Angeles (Inglewood to be more precise), possibly to share with the Dean Spanos-owned San Diego Chargers. The Mark Davis-owned Oakland Raiders are expected to stay in Oakland. 
This means that the conferences and division stay the same. Had it been Oakland and San Diego that relocated to LA, then it would have necessitated moving one of the two teams to the NFC West (most likely Chargers) and consequently forcing a team to move to the AFC West (most likely Seahawks).   
Salvador Hernández at BuzzFeed News:
The NFL’s 32 team owners on Tuesday voted to approve the relocation of the St. Louis Rams, and possibly a second team, to Los Angeles, bringing the city one step closer to hosting professional football for the first time since 1994.
“We have the return of the Los Angeles Rams to their home,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said during a press conference Tuesday.
The team will play in a new stadium in Inglewood, and the Chargers will reportedly have an option to share the venue.
Kevin S. Held at Fox2Now.com: 
The move, by a 30-2 vote seemingly brings an end to a St. Louis bid to keep the Rams in Missouri with a new downtown riverfront stadium that Rams owner Stan Kroenke didn't support, and that league officials said as recently as this weekend did not meet the requirements necessary for NFL to oppose the relocation of the Rams.
[...]
City leaders have long held the belief that Kroenke was never interested in keeping the team in St. Louis. He would not meet with local and state officials, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said exactly one year ago. To this day, Kroenke and Slay have yet to meet.
[...]
The impasse between Kroenke and the city led to plans for a new NFL stadium along the St. Louis riverfront, just north of downtown. In December 2015, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved a financing package for a $1.1 billion stadium by a 17-10 vote. But on Monday, January 4, the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders all filed relocation paperwork with the NFL.
A 21-year odyssey came to an end Tuesday when National Football League owners voted to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to Los Angeles for the 2016 season and gave the San Diego Chargers an option to join the Rams in Inglewood.
Their home will ultimately be on the site of the old Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood in what will be the league’s biggest stadium, a low-slung, glass-roofed football palace with a projected opening in 2019 and a price tag that could approach $3 billion.
At an unremarkable suburban hotel, NFL owners found a way to return professional football to Los Angeles, something a succession of billionaires, political heavyweights and Hollywood power brokers couldn’t do for decades.
HOUSTON -- In a decision that Raiders fans cheered and team owner Mark Davis lamented, NFL owners on Tuesday dashed the team's hopes of moving to Los Angeles next season, voting instead to send the St. Louis Rams back to their former home and help fund a stadium project in Oakland.
The vote appears to keep the Raiders in Oakland for at least another year, although Davis, uncertain whether the NFL's $100 million Oakland stadium subsidy will help, refused to say where his team will play next season. He also wouldn't rule out eventually joining the Rams in Los Angeles if the Chargers stay in San Diego.
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - It was NFL decision day, except for San Diego Chargers fans.
We know the Rams are going to Inglewood, but the other team owners left the future of the Chargers and Raiders up in the air.
When Dean Spanos woke up Tuesday morning in his Houston hotel room, he fully expected to have his path to the city of Carson paved with all lights showing green.
However, the NFL's were more impressed with Stan Kroenke's vision in Inglewood than with Dean's plan to build a stadium with Carson refineries on the horizon.
Some reactions to the Rams relocation back to LA (and the Chargers possibly moving up I-5 and Raiders staying put in Oakland):
























My take: I am stunned, heartbroken, and upset that the Rams are moving back to Los Angeles (although those who live in the LA area and/or remembered them as the LA Rams are happy with this news). This is a team that I rooted for since I was 5, when they came to St. Louis. I supported them through the thick and thin during the good seasons and the bad ones. I will remember the times (good and bad), such as Dick Vermeil guiding them to a Super bowl victory over the Titans (who were coached by the current Rams HC) in 2000, lost to the Cheatriots in 2002 in their bid to have their 2nd Super Bowl win in 3 years, The Greatest Show On Turf led by Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt, Isaac Bruce, Ricky Proehl, and Orlando Pace during the late 1990s-early 2000s, the introduction of the Arizona (formerly St. Louis) Cardinals and Seattle Seachickens into the NFC West due to the 2002 realignment, the 5 Rams players who did the #HandsUpDontShoot pose during team intros a few days after the Wilson non-indictment occurred, Marc Bulger trying to succeed Warner, Rush Limbaugh nearly owning the team (thank God he was rejected, otherwise I would’ve boycotted them for that), constant O-Line injuries, boneheaded penalties (esp. by the O-line and special teams), Michael Sam being drafted (even though he never played an NFL snap) in 2014, the Sam Bradford era at QB, Todd Gurley’s rookie year, the emergence of Chris Long, E.J. Gaines, Janoris Jenkins, James Laurinaitis, Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, and Alec Ogletree as playmakers on defense, Steven Jackson carrying the club during several awful seasons, Mike Martz’s aggressiveness on timeout calls, Lovie Smith coaching the defense during the peak years, and where Jerome Bettis had started his NFL career at. 
But tonight, on 01.12.2016, with Stan Kroenke (who also owns my favorite Premier League club Arsenal) and the Rams snubbing the die-hard fans of the team who stood by them through several awful losing seasons and a few winning ones since the move to the Gateway City in 1995, and St. Louis by relocating back to Los Angeles in a deceitful manner, I will no longer support the Rams unless they are playing Seattle or New England (Gunners will be my EPL team till I die though).
The team I’m choosing to replace them with— at least until another NFL team comes to St. Louis (if ever)—  is the Pittsburgh Steelers (already my 2nd favorite team, now bumped to my first favorite). The battle for my 2nd and 3rd favorite team will come down to the Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, and Minnesota Vikings. As for now, welcome to Steeler Nation, yinz!  






(cross-posted from Daily Kos)
Posted by JGibson at 1:53 AM 0 comments
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8.09.2015

08.09.2014: The day that changed #Ferguson forever






One year ago, on August 9th, 2014, at 12:03PM CDT in Ferguson, Missouri at Canfield Green Apartments, the events of what happened that afternoon changed the fate of the city of Ferguson and the STL Metro Area forever. The event in question is the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Department officer Darren Wilson (who has since resigned) and the subsequent protests, riots, and looting that came in the aftermath of the shooting and after the Wilson grand jury decision was handed down on November 24th, 2014 at approx. 8:20PM CDT. The Andy Wurm Tire and Auto lot and the sidewalk across the Ferguson Police Department on South Florissant has been (and still is) a site of protest activity. West Florissant between Chambers Rd. and Ferguson Ave. is also a prominent protest corridor.



Shooting of Michael Brown
On August 9th, 2014, at 12:03PM, Michael Brown was shot by former Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. The exact interpretation of the event will vary between different viewpoints, with the pro-Wilson crowd saying that "Michael Brown went for Wilson's gun, thus justifying his death" and the pro-Brown side saying that "he was surrendering with his hands up." His body was left on the ground for just over four hours, which really angered the crowd in Canfield Green Apartments.

Paula Mejia at Newsweek: 
Just before his encounter with Brown, Wilson had reportedly responded to a call for assistance with a 2-month-old child who had been having trouble breathing. Less than 10 minutes later, at 11:53 a.m., a dispatcher called in a theft in progress at the nearby Ferguson Market. The dispatcher described the suspect, who had stolen a box of Swisher cigars, as a black male wearing a white t-shirt, a Cardinals baseball cap, khaki shorts and yellow socks. He was running toward the QuikTrip, a convenience store, and was accompanied by another man, according to the dispatcher.
[...]
Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were walking down the middle of Canfield Drive. According to unnamed sources, Wilson told authorities that he had addressed the pair and told them to get out of the middle of the street. They ignored him and continued walking. Wilson then realized that Brown matched the description of the suspect in the cigar theft. He called in for backup and parked his car, a Chevy Tahoe SUV, next to the two teens.
Wilson claims that he and Brown tussled over his gun before he wrangled the weapon and shot at Brown twice. One of the bullets hit Brown, who then ran away from Wilson. Wilson then requested for the department to “send all cars” after shots had been fired, but the Post-Dispatch could not find that call.
What happened next is unclear, due to the many conflicting witness reports. Some witnesses claim that Brown surrendered, thrust his hands in the air, and told the officer not to shoot. Johnson, Brown’s friend, said that that Wilson had clutched Brown by the throat and attempted to pull him into the police vehicle. Wilson says that Brown turned around and lunged for his gun, which prompted him to fire once and then multiple times.

My take: Michael Brown robbed the Ferguson Market and Liquor store for cigarillos, but did the crime warrant him getting shot repeatedly by Officer Wilson? HELL NO! At most, a theft would've warranted a prison sentence and not death, which is why I believe that Officer Wilson is a murderer.

 Round 1 of  the unrest
On the evening of the death of Brown, a makeshift memorial for him was erected. A police dog urinating on the memorial and a police car crushing the memorial was what inflamed tensions really high, but tame compared to the next two weeks. 

 On August 10th, 2014, after an evening candlelight vigil, the night went awry. Riots and looting then overtook the West Florissant corridor of Ferguson/Dellwood, including the QT at the W. Florissant/Northwinds Estates Dr. that got burned down (now set to become an Urban League center).

Over the next week, there were nightly protests down West Florissant and South Florissant. Scenes of tear gas, pepper spray, livestreamers, media (local, national, and international), police brutality, arbitrary arrests of journalists, politicians like Maria Chappelle-Nadal and Antonio French, militarized police vehicles, and looting all became a familiar sight in the city.

On August 15th, 2014, at an early morning press conference, the name of the officer who killed Mike Brown was (former) Ferguson PD Officer Darren Wilson.
On August 16th, 2014, Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency for Ferguson, in the wake of looting the previous night. A curfew was imposed, from 12AM-5AM. 

 On August 18th, 2014, Gov. Nixon ordered the National Guard in.

 On August 20th, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder visited Ferguson to meet with the Brown family.

 On August 21st, 2014, Nixon lifted the National Guard from Ferguson duties. 

 On August 23rd, 2014, pro-Wilson supporters held their own protests, complete with racism and white privilege.

 On August 25th, 2014, Michael Brown had his funeral. 
September 2014
On September 23rd, 2014, the Mike Brown memorial was burned down, further inflaming tensions in the city.

 The next day, on the 24th, protesters demanded the removal of Police Chief Thomas Jackson in front of the police headquarters.

October 2014
On October 4th, 2014, around 50 protesters disrupted the SLSO Symphony show. The act is a heroic act. 

 On October 6th, 2014, some Cardinals "fans" (the pro-Wilson ones) decided to disgrace Cardinal Nation by creating mischief and racism.

The next day, a Cardinals "fan" gives the Nazi salute to Ferguson protesters.

On October 8th, 2014, Vonderrit Myers was killed, thus expanding the protests to Shaw and Tower Grove.

 During #FergusonOctober weekend, a series of protests and activities took place at Downtown STL, Shaw, Clayton, and Ferguson.

 On October 20th, 2014, State Senator Jamilah Nasheed was arrested. 
#OccupySLU
On October 13th, #OccupySLU was born. It ended on October 21st.

 November 2014
On the 17th, Nixon declared a state of emergency in the anticipation of the grand jury decision coming down.

 Wilson Grand Jury Verdict
On November 24th, 2014, Darren Wilson was handed a no true bill (aka no indictment) for the killing of Mike Brown. 

Ryan J. Reilly at Huffington Post:
CLAYTON, Mo. -- A grand jury has decided not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch announced Monday.McCulloch said members of the jury met for 25 days and heard over 70 hours of testimony from over 60 witnesses before reaching their decision. He confirmed Wilson had fired 12 shots at Brown, who was unarmed.


My take: I knew that Bob McCulloch, whose pro-cop biases are well-known, was going for an NTB at all costs. I believe that Wilson should've been at the very least indicted, and even if he was indicted, it would be very hard to get a guilty verdict rendered against him.

 Round 2 of the unrest
Immediately after the Wilson grand jury decision was handed down, protests were formed in several cities across the USA and the world, with most of them being peaceful.

 In Ferguson, however, several businesses in Ferguson and Dellwood (mostly along W. Florissant between I-270 and Lucas and Hunt) were burned and/or ransacked.
STLToday.com:
FERGUSON • The tally of damage mounted Tuesday morning in the wake of the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson.
St. Louis County Police Sgt. Brian Schellman said this morning that at least 61 people were arrested. Charges ranged from burglary to trespassing to receiving stolen property. 

Louis Head became known for yelling "Burn This Bitch Down!" in response to the verdict. 

Gov. Jay Nixon neglected to send in the National Guard to Ferguson/Dellwood the night that a bunch of buildings were burned, by keeping them in Clayton and St. Louis. 

Brendan Keefe at USA Today/KSDK:
FERGUSON, Mo. — The smoke has cleared in this riot-battered city, but the answer to one burning question remains hazy: Where was the National Guard on the night of the riots? 

[...]

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles was clearly upset when he assessed the situation the next morning. "It was my understanding they would be deployed when needed to maintain order and protect businesses. They were not," Knowles said. 
The question remains: Why call up the National Guard and then keep them garrisoned outside Ferguson, the prime target of demonstrators?
This did hurt his political capital since then and after his term is up in Jefferson City.

The next night, protests continued, and a cop car was overturned. 
On Black Friday, a few malls in St. Louis were visited by protesters to boycott Black Friday shopping.

Ever since the Wilson Grand Jury decision, Zisser Tire has had the "Epic Fail Jay Nixon Epic Fail" message on its signboard.

Darren Wilson resigns
On November 29th, 2014, Darren Wilson resigned from the Ferguson Police Department.
5 Rams players doing the "Hands Up Don't Shoot" gesture
On November 30th, 2014, in a game that the Rams shut out the Oakland Raiders 52-0, the pre-game actions of 5 St. Louis Rams players and not the game outcome itself became the watercooler talk across the are and the nation. 

 The 5 Rams players who did the #HandsUpDontShoot pose were Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey, Jared Cook, Chris Givens, and Kenny Britt. The action was both praised and criticized, with Conservatives and pro-Wilson folks slamming the move and calling a boycott of the Rams over the incident, and pro-#BlackLivesMatter crowd applauding the salute. 



My Take: The 5 Rams players who did the pose are to be applauded, not ridiculed, for taking a stand against police brutality in America. 
December 2014
On December 3rd, 2014, Daniel Pantaleo was NTB'd in the murder of Eric Garner, thereby inciting further protests across the nation. 

 Antonio Martin in Berkeley, Missouri
On December 23rd, in Berkeley, Missouri, Antonio Martin was gunned down at Mobil On The Run at the corner of Frost and North Hanley Road. 

 Christine Byers at STLToday.com:
BERKELEY • The region watched nervously Wednesday after another fatal shooting of a black man at the hands of a white police officer in a St. Louis County suburb prompted protests, at times violent, heading into a holiday.
Reaction from police and political leaders was markedly different in the first few hours after a Berkeley police officer shot and killed Antonio Martin, 18, Tuesday night, compared with the initial aftermath of the Michael Brown shooting that unfolded just months and miles apart from the scene.
[...]
Protesters began arriving at the scene shortly after the shooting; they included ministers and others who have been active in the protests related to the Brown shooting in Ferguson. Many stayed overnight. At one point, police believe the crowd swelled to about 300.
A memorial formed through the day Wednesday at the gas station. A crowd began to gather again after 6 p.m. and had grown to about 100 by 8 p.m. Some marched to nearby Interstate 170 and shut sections of it down. In addition, vandals broke windows at some businesses near the Mobil station, and some of the protesters forced local TV news crews to move away from the station.
Several police officers were also at the scene. The officers used pepper spray on protesters during at least one confrontation.
The incident incited more protests, especially in Berkeley (not too far from Ferguson) and STL. 

 Trish Dennison's racism
On January 24, 2015, pro-police agitator Trish Dennison made a racist insult toward a black counter-demonstrator opposing police brutality by insinuating that "he payed his taxes with welfare checks."

 One Peoples Project:
CLAYTON, MO – A pro-police rally outside police headquarters in St. Louis County Saturday brought out not only those supporting the police but also counterprotesters demanding an end to police violence. The situation became so heated that one person was arrested after an alleged shoving match and the White organizer of the pro-police rally insulted a Black counterdemonstrator suggesting he payed his taxes with welfare checks, an incident that has been captured on video.



 On July 30th, 2015, Dennison again played the role of race agitator, this time in Ferguson.

 Sarah Kendzior (@SarahKendzior) confirmed that the instigator was indeed her:

Jeff Roorda shoving incident
On January 28, 2015, a major shoving incident took place at the City Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. The instigator was St. Louis Police Union head Jeff Roorda.

 Jason Molinet at the New York Daily News:
A St. Louis City Hall meeting exploring the creation of a civilian-run police oversight board was halted Wednesday night when a melee erupted, highlighting the still simmering tensions exposed when an unarmed black Ferguson, Mo., teen was shot dead by a white cop last August.
The crowd grew testy an hour into the public forum as police officers spoke in opposition to the bill and former state Rep. Jeff Roorda, who doubles as the business manager of the city's police union, got into a shouting match with meeting chairman Alderman Terry Kennedy, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Witnesses say the a shoving match began after Roorda — who was reportedly wearing a wristband in support of Darren Wilson, the ex-cop who shot Michael Brown — pushed a black woman in the aisle of the packed hall.
DOJ Ferguson Report
The DOJ found out there was not enough evidence to charge Darren Wilson on federal criminal charges, and it doesn't mean he is guilty or innocent. 
ABCNews.com on Obama's reaction to the DOJ Ferguson Report:
“The finding that was made [by the Department of Justice] was that it was not unreasonable to determine that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Officer [Darren] Wilson. That was an objective, thorough, independent federal investigation,” Obama said in response to a question at a South Carolina town hall discussion on expanding minority youth opportunities.

“We may never know exactly what happened. But Officer Wilson like anybody else who is charged with a crime benefits from due process and a reasonable doubt standard. And if there is uncertainty about what happened then you can’t just charge them anyway just because what happened was tragic.”

Regardless, Obama said the Justice Department investigation into racial bias in Ferguson’s police department was “very clear.”

“What we saw was that Ferguson police department in conjunction with municipality saw traffic stops, arrests, and tickets as revenue generators as opposed to serving,” he continued, adding the overwhelmingly white force was “systematically” biased, placing minorities under its care into an “oppressive and abusive situation.”
Another DOJ report found that racism was prevalent in the Ferguson police force.

 Carmiah Townes and Judd Legum at ThinkProgress Justice:
A Ferguson officer told an African-American man: “N*****, I can find something to lock you up on,” then slammed his face into a wall:This documentary evidence of explicit racial bias is consistent with reports from community members indicating that some FPD officers use racial epithets in dealing with members of the public. We spoke with one African-American man who, in August 2014, had an argument in his apartment to which FPD officers responded, and was immediately pulled out of the apartment by force. After telling the officer, “you don’t have a reason to lock me up,” he claims the officer responded: “N*****, I can find something to lock you up on.” When the man responded, “good luck with that,” the officer slammed his face into the wall, and after the man fell to the floor, the officer said, “don’t pass out motherf****r because I’m not carrying you to my car.” (73)
Ferguson officers dismissed concerns about bias, blamed disparity on lack of “personal responsibility” among African-Americans:Several Ferguson officials told us during our investigation that it is a lack of “personal responsibility” among African-American members of the Ferguson community that causes African Americans to experience disproportionate harm under Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement. Our investigation suggests that this explanation is at odd with the facts. (74)
[...]
Officers, court officials, and supervisors regularly exchanged blatantly racist emails:• A November 2008 email stated that President Barack Obama would not be President for very long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years.”
• A March 2010 email mocked African Americans through speech and familial stereotypes, using a story involving child support. One line from the email read: “I be so glad that dis be my last child support payment! Month after month, year after year, all dose payments!”
• An April 2011 email depicted President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee.
• A May 2011 email stated: “An African-American woman in New Orleans was admitted into the hospital for a pregnancy termination. Two weeks later she received a check for $5,000. She phoned the hospital to ask who it was from. The hospital said, ‘Crimestoppers.’”
• A June 2011 email described a man seeking to obtain “welfare” for his dogs because they are “mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can’t speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddies are.”
• An October 2011 email included a photo of a bare-chested group of dancing women, apparently in Africa, with the caption, “Michelle Obama’s High School Reunion.”
• A December 2011 email included jokes that are based on offensive stereotypes about Muslims. (72)
Ferguson PD chief Thomas Jackson resigns
On March 11th, 2015, Ferguson Police Department chief Thomas Jackson resigned.

 Christine Byers at STLToday.com:
FERGUSON • Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigned Wednesday, saying he always wanted to do what’s best for his community and realized that now meant leaving it.
Jackson, whose departure has been a high priority for protesters since the controversial shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, said in an exclusive interview, “This city needs to move forward without any distractions.”
Officials said that when Jackson leaves March 19, Lt. Col. Al Eickhoff will become interim chief until a national search for a replacement is finished. Eickhoff declined to comment. Jackson has been chief for five years.

Jeffrey Williams and 2 officers shot
As protests were getting ready to conclude on the same day that Jackson resigned, Jeffrey Williams shot two police officers.

 2015 Ferguson Elections
Mariah Stewart and Ryan J. Reilly at Huffington Post:
FERGUSON, Mo. -- Voters showed up at polling places in record numbers for a municipal election in this St. Louis suburb on Tuesday, tripling the number of black representatives on Ferguson City Council by electing two black candidates.
Tuesday's election in Ferguson would have been historic no matter the outcome. Three incumbents decided not to run, leaving half of the council's six seats up for grabs. The council now has one black member who was not up for re-election, and two black candidates were vying for one of the open seats. That meant city council was assured to have at least double the number of African-Americans once the votes are counted.
Election results:
Ward 1: Tihen did not run for re-election.

Ward 2: Larson did not run for re-election.

Ward 3: Conway did not run for re-election:


 Round 3 of  mini-unrest
During the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore, activity re-flared in Ferguson.

 Al Jazeera America:
Looting, fires and gunfire broke out overnight in Ferguson during protests in response to the death of a black man, who died after suffering a spinal-cord injury in police custody under unclear circumstances in Baltimore.Several dozen people gathered to protest the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray Tuesday night on West Florissant Avenue, the site of several protests last summer and fall following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white Ferguson police officer.
[...]
A gas station was looted in Dellwood, near Ferguson. KMOV-TV reported that about 50 people entered a Mobil station about 1:40 a.m. Wednesday.
Trash cans and a portable toilet were set on fire in the middle of West Florissant. Some people threw rocks at police cars. There were no reports of officers being injured.

 Recent News
On June 26th, 2015, the bid to force a recall vote against Ferguson Mayor James Knowles fell short by 27 signatures.

On July 21st, 2015, Andre Anderson has been named as the interim Police Chief. He came fron Glendale, Arizona.



 On August 3rd, 2015, Darren Wilson was interviewed in the New Yorker, and revealed himself to be a massive racist in the process of doing so. 

 Jay Hathaway at Gawker:
Meanwhile, Halpern points out there’s a bit of hypocrisy in Wilson’s focus on the wrong upbringing—(on Michael Brown: “Do I think he had the best upbringing? No. Not at all.”)—in that Wilson’s mother, Tonya Dean, frequently wrote bad checks and stole money to pay back debts.
He worried that she would steal what little money he made working summer jobs, so he opened two bank accounts. The first, which had almost no money in it, was a decoy. He put his real earnings in the second, secret account. Wilson also tried to preëmpt his mother’s stealing. Once, he warned a friend’s parents not to let her inside their house, because she would surely find a way to steal their identities and max out their credit cards.
Dean was loving, Wilson said. “She never wanted to hurt us.” He added, “But when it came to money she was going to get it, one way or another.”
His mother died in 2002, possibly by suicide.
[...]
Darren Wilson noted that another inconvenience he’s suffered as a result of his killing of Michael Brown—other than occasionally being forced to think about Michael Brown, as a person—is that he has to be pickier about where he eats out.
“We try to go somewhere—how do I say this correctly?—with like-minded individuals,” he told Halpern. “You know. Where it’s not a mixing pot.”

On August 5th, 2015, Lesley McSpadden gave an interview to Al Jazeera America, and she said that she'll never forgive Darren Wilson for killing her son.
One Year Later
August 9th, 2015, hopefully the 1-year anniversary of Brown's death is a peaceful and a fruitful one.











The incident made me take a much closer look at white privilege and police brutality, and to take these topics seriously.









Posted by JGibson at 8:10 AM 0 comments
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4.20.2015

The state of the NFL and MLS in St. Louis




I hope and dream of seeing an MLS team come to Saint Louis someday, possibly in a stadium shared with an NFL Team (preferably the Rams) akin to Seattle (home to the Sounders FC and the Seasquawks, our hated division rivals in the NFC West).

As of now, my club soccer allegiances are currently with the Chicago Fire (MLS), Arsenal (EPL), and Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), with Arsenal being the strongest and Bayern growing due to the TV deal with Fox Sports that takes effect this fall.

My advice to the MLS and the NFL: Get that new stadium built, keep the Rams in STL, and get an MLS team! St. Louis should get the MLS team it truly deserves.

As for the Rams, I hope for them to stay in STL, in spite of Stan Kroenke. St. Louis CANNOT afford to lose another NFL team!!!! I was born in 1990, and the Rams are the STL NFL team that I know and root for.

Posted by JGibson at 4:00 PM 0 comments
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9.18.2013

The St. Louis Rams are exciting again.

I was born in 1990, when the team was known as the Los Angeles Rams. Then in 1995, the Rams moved to St. Louis and they stayed there since then.

I was so happy when the Rams won a Super Bowl back in 2000 against the Tennessee Titans.
2 years later, it was the opposite: the New England Cheatriots (Patriots) snatched a Super Bowl victory out of our hands.

And during the rest of the 2000s and until 2011, it was depressing to be a Rams fan, but I stuck with them.

During the disastrous 2009 season in which they were 1-15-0, the lowest point of the history of the occurred in franchise history, but even worse damage was thankfully averted, as Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the team was denied. Had Limbaugh been allowed to own the Rams, it would've been the impetus to quit rooting for the Rams and cheer on the Steelers, Bills, and/or the Bears instead.


Nowadays, the Rams are getting much better.
Posted by JGibson at 12:12 AM 0 comments
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