lattimer and howard suspended indefinately

[RustShack]

I'm with Cydude. You can punish someone off the field. I'm not saying don't suspend him, but you can make him work harder in practice. Make an example out of him. Make him do community service... whether its helping dudes like the one he beat up, or working at the police station, or just sticking with the standard stuff. There are a lot of things that can/should be done other than kicking him off the team.

I personally would rather have him crushing people on the field then sending him off to take his aggression out on the streets again.

As far as I'm concerned he came here with a clean slate. This was his first incident as a Cyclone, and I really don't see it as a big one. Obviously it would have been smarter for him to not interfere with his friend getting arrested, but he could have not been in the right state of mind which happens in college... Does anyone even know exactly what went down yet? There could have been something happening that he felt was wrong and interfered... Not all cops are perfect either.

 

[RustShack]

Lattimer and another player break a guys jaw and pummel him when the guy by all reports made no attempt to fight back. I don't see any facts that could justify that.

That literally has nothing to do with him getting arrested last weekend. He wasn't even a Cyclone when the ONE incident you are talking about happened. But on this subject, I have a hard time believing that the kid wasn't talking **** or mackin on his girl or anything like that at all. Seems kind of odd for someone to just randomly beat the **** out of someone one time.

 

[mitchforcy]

I'm with Cydude. You can punish someone off the field. I'm not saying don't suspend him, but you can make him work harder in practice. Make an example out of him. Make him do community service... whether its helping dudes like the one he beat up, or working at the police station, or just sticking with the standard stuff. There are a lot of things that can/should be done other than kicking him off the team.

I personally would rather have him crushing people on the field then sending him off to take his aggression out on the streets again.

As far as I'm concerned he came here with a clean slate. This was his first incident as a Cyclone, and I really don't see it as a big one. Obviously it would have been smarter for him to not interfere with his friend getting arrested, but he could have not been in the right state of mind which happens in college... Does anyone even know exactly what went down yet? There could have been something happening that he felt was wrong and interfered... Not all cops are perfect either.

What does a player have to do to get kicked off a team if we go by your standards? Because we already know murder won't do it.

 

[3TrueFans]

That literally has nothing to do with him getting arrested last weekend. He wasn't even a Cyclone when the ONE incident you are talking about happened. But on this subject, I have a hard time believing that the kid wasn't talking **** or mackin on his girl or anything like that at all. Seems kind of odd for someone to just randomly beat the **** out of someone one time.

Any other excuses? So far we have, he might have been drunk, the cop might have been abusing his power, and the guy whose jaw he broke might have been hitting on his girl.

 

[RustShack]

I'm just waiting for something to emerge worth kicking him off the team for. Pulling a cop off a friend doesn't to it for me. Attacking the cop might, but I don't see what he did as assault.

 

[RustShack]

Had the two incidents been reversed, I would be all for a severe punishment.

 

[RustShack]

I don't see you're first strike as a Cyclone as worthy of kicking him off the team though. Unless it was something much much worse than this. Deal with off the field incidents off the field for something this minor. One or two game suspension at most.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Wow, for once I am with CyDude. Not one of you guys was there to watch it, you have no idea what occurred. We had some dude on here a couple days ago that claimed Lattimer pulled the cop to the ground, that from all reports is wrong. Not all the facts are out on this story. Was he in the wrong in Kansas, hell ya, that BS. He deserved to go to jail for that. But this is not Kansas and he did not beat the **** out of someone. I have to ask, who on this site has ever been in a confrontation with the law? I know I have when I was in college and they are quick to grab the cuffs, never been arrested but they are always looking to put someone in jail. Im not going to get into this good cop/bad cop BS, but this stuff happens all the time. The worst part about this is the guys that are calling Lattimer a thug are going to be the first ones upset when he is not kicked off the team, but will be the first ones sucking up to him when he wins First Team All Big 12.

 

[RustShack]

I feel like if he was this horrible person people here are foolishly trying to paint him as, this would not be his first incident in Ames, and it would be something much worse than this.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Burn me at the stake but let howard and latt serve there suspensions and be done with it. If it makes me a horrible human being, I'm perfectly fine with it.

Pretty easy for message board posters who act all high and mighty with there high moral judgement and character to judge ones who faulter. Like any of you have never made mistakes...

The coming to false judgements and accusations is more sickening then the win at all costs people.

False judgements? The kid beat the **** out of a yell leader. I think we are pretty safe to assume that he was physically superior and started it. If that wasn't the case, I am guessing he probably would have plead not guilty. The fact is that he did it, plead guilty and then said he felt ashamed. Like I have said, I have no problem bringing him in. None. The problem for me comes when he takes the second chance and then does something again to warrant, evidently being chased by the cops and then is arrested, wrongfully or not, it doesn't matter. He put himself in a position to be chased and was arrested. Period.

I do agree with you on the thug thing though. I don't really feel all that comfortable throwing that around.

 

[Tre4ISU]

I feel like if he was this horrible person people here are foolishly trying to paint him as, this would not be his first incident in Ames, and it would be something much worse than this.

That's a solid point as well. I really wish the facts were out in what happened.

 

[Tre4ISU]

That literally has nothing to do with him getting arrested last weekend. He wasn't even a Cyclone when the ONE incident you are talking about happened. But on this subject, I have a hard time believing that the kid wasn't talking **** or mackin on his girl or anything like that at all. Seems kind of odd for someone to just randomly beat the **** out of someone one time.

Sure it has something to do with it. Your past legal troubles always have something to do with it especially if your on probation, which, from what we know, he should be. It has everything to do with it.

Your last part is just the generic excuses given every time something like this happens. Even if any of that happened, according to the previously linked article, what he did was excessive. If's he's still on the team, then fine. I will support him just as I do Josh Lenz or Jerome Tiller or whoever, but I just think there is reason to question this whole situation right now.

 

[CloneIce]

Its hilarious how bad some of our fans want to kick kids off the team. We hear this exact same stuff year after year, every single time a player is arrested. Some of our fans never learn a thing from years and years of examples of how our athletic program deals with these incidents. He'll be suspended, probably miss spring ball, probably miss the first game.

So you guys can complain all you want, talk about how you don't want him on the team, whine about how awful he is until your blue in the face... or you can just face reality. He will be suspended for a game or two, and then back on the team, barring any other incidents. And you'll be cheering for him when he gets a sack.

 

[CycloneBadger]

First of Lattimer is a very nice guy and not some violent sociopath as some have tried to paint him. As his two arrests have indicated he has had some incidents which need to be addressed but I don't think kicking him off the team will help with those at all. But then again with this last arrest happening while he was on probation it may be hard to actively participate on a football team when you are in jail.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Should be interesting when Ken Miller has to interview him during media days....

 

[tazclone]

That literally has nothing to do with him getting arrested last weekend. He wasn't even a Cyclone when the ONE incident you are talking about happened. But on this subject, I have a hard time believing that the kid wasn't talking **** or mackin on his girl or anything like that at all. Seems kind of odd for someone to just randomly beat the **** out of someone one time.

No but he was a Cyclone 2 days after the incident. BTW- He failed to tell Rhoads about the incident until he was enrolled at ISU. So the timeline went liek this.....
May 30th- beat the hell out of a guy for no reason
June 1- commit to ISU his only D1 offer
Later date Enroll
Even later date- "Oh yeah, CPR...now that I am enrolled, I have this ongoing legal issue going on."

It is not hard to believe someone would randomly beat someone up. I was good friends with a guy that played for iowa and was in IC partying. About 1:00 a handfull of iowa players left to go to a gay bar. Turns out they were going "gay bashing." In other words, they would wait until guys left the gay bar and then beat the crap out of them because they were assumed homosexual.

You might have a hard time believing it but it happens.

 

[CykoAGR]

No it's disgusting. I can handle losses. I can handle ISU winding up in the MAC. I can't support someone who just decided to "roll" a male cheerleader and break his jaw. I want to be proud of these guys.

I'm not a fan who wants to win at all costs.

I posted the "Honor Before Victory" earlier in this thread and was "attacked" by people saying that they could care less what happens off the field and that they just wanted to win at all costs.

I am not saying that any time anyone gets into trouble that we automatically boot them but I think there must be guidelines established (I hope this has already been done) and each player should be held to these no matter what their importance to the team is.

I'm with you 100% in that I want to be proud to say that I am a fan of ISU and if we turn into Miami of the 1980's and 1990's (Win but have tons of off the field issues) I will have to reconsider my allegiance to this team. I am not saying that this one incident has put us even close to this level of off the field issues but these things can and will snowball if character issues are not addressed or taken into consideration during recruiting.

 

[CykoAGR]

What other kind of player would you want on defense? Get the kid some help and put him on the shortest leash, from Con Air "If you so much as pass gas in my directions...Your testicles will become my personal property"

I would rather have someone who can channel that aggression. Put that energy into workouts/practice during the offseason and then let it come out in a legal form on Saturdays in the fall.

 

[tazclone]

I predict you are incorrect, and he will play this year after serving a suspension. I heard the same thing you are saying here about David Sims last season.

There is a difference between Sims and Lattimer. BIG DIFFERENCE. From what I have read, Lattimer performed his crime, committed two days later and never told CPR until after he was enrolled. So he witheld some pretty important info from CPR.
CPR has already met with Lattimer and his mother alaid out expectations according to the Des Moines Rag article, Iowa State football: Second arrest doesn't change Lattimer's status, Cyclone officials say | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com.

So Sims was a first time offender but Lattimer is a second time offender. That is a little different. This instance is more comparable to Kennard Banks. Banks had a run in with the law. CPR waited to see the outcome and then the punishment followed and expectations were laid out. Banks was then kicked off for breaking team rules. Keep in mind banks charges were dropped.

 

[CloneIce]

I posted the "Honor Before Victory" earlier in this thread and was "attacked" by people saying that they could care less what happens off the field and that they just wanted to win at all costs.

I am not saying that any time anyone gets into trouble that we automatically boot them but I think there must be guidelines established (I hope this has already been done) and each player should be held to these no matter what their importance to the team is.

Those guidelines have already been established. From years of following Iowa State FB, its clear that for first offence crimes like this, the usual punishment would be somewhere in the neighborhood of a one-game suspension. That is what drives me crazy, we have so many fans who refuse to learn anything from the many examples over the years of how our program deals with behavioral offenses, and instead jump to the conclusion that every player who is arrested will be kicked off the team, and express their desire for the the coach to send a message or some such nonsense, ignoring that we already have well established guidelines for this.

Also, I'm not really sure why people keep bringing up "honor", as if honor is somehow acquired by kicking kids off football teams and having the most extreme disicipline in the conference. Having the most extreme discipline and kicking kids off the team for first offenses is not the definition of honor. That is not how a staff acquires honor. Honor is acquired by treating each student-athlete equally and consistently, and doing what is best for both the football program and the student-athlete.