KiLoc69

Yeah, I can spot the alcoholic beverages. Don't think anyone has tried to hide the fact that they were on the boat. I'm not sure what you're getting at with calling it an "odd group".

I feel the exact same way, but not because of my race/ethnicity (hispanic), but because of my personal choice in appearance. To be perfectly honest, I personally believe alot of the police abuse incidents that get categorized under being racially motivated are not that at all. The person looking like a thug (usually black or hispanic) has a much liklier chance of getting abused because even if the person is not a criminal, they LOOK like many of the criminals who are legitamately arrested. My police friends have admitted as much. The way they see it, if the guy looks like a thug, and starts mouthing off, he's either gonna get extra citations or worse, regardless of skin color. They assume the person probably can't afford a lawyer and are more likely to take the abuse than to pursue the matter. If an educated looking person in a nice car mouths off, the cops lay off a bit because they fear the person may understand the law better than the average "thugs" and will be quick to call a lawyer if any harassment takes place. I understand that my looking like a "thug" away from work is my choice and I understand the consequences with being prejudged by other people and I'm ok with it. I am not ok with being pulled over just because of how I look, but when it happens, I "yes sir" and "no sir" until they let me go. Sure it pisses me off, but people that deal with this kinda thing regularly, know all too well that we better hide our anger.

Define irony lol. I'm glad you're finally seeing it our way Jason, lets not jump to conclusions and wait and see what happens haha

Jason, I think this is where the big split is between the two sides in this argument. You and a few others are already choosing sides while I and a couple of others choose not to make such determinations yet because we don't have enough evidence to support one side or the other.

Wow, Jason. A girl comes forward as a witness to an event and you automatically think it was colluding? So you believe Benson and the girl had this plan of: A)planting her on the boat that day knowing he'd get pulled over like he had the past 6 times he went out B)enticing these cops into spraying him C)calling her dad and telling him to call 911 and specifying it was her black friend getting beat up D)digging up dirt on the cop to make him seem racist Look, I'm not saying the girl can't be lying, but why on earth would your first reaction be to think she was? The 911 call should be tangible evidence, and if it exists, seems to give her version of events at least a little credit since it was made THE MOMENT the event occured. Is it possible the 22 year old girl who had a couple of beers had the foresight to have this 911 call made as a possible allibi to a story her and Benson would later agree upon? Sure, that's possible, but c'mon. I'm not saying believe her outright, but your mind seems to already be made up that she is a liar. No offense, but I gotta agree with Nfo. Your dislike of Benson and unwavering willingness to take the LCRA at their word despite legitamite questions about harrasment being raised, seems to be clouding your judgement.

I remember in Tank's case he could have been charged with DUI even if his blood alcohol level was BELOW the legal limit (driving while slightly impaired I believe it was called). If the law is the same in Texas, I can see why one would be advised to refuse the breathalyzer.

The way I understood it, he was on the police boat when he got sprayed and was calling out to his mom presumably so she can witness what happened. I could be wrong, but I can't think of any other reason to call for his mom at that point. Even the biggest sissy wouldn't call for his mom once he passes age 12 I'd think.

I was pretty excited when he came over and thought we would finally have a little stability if Brownie went down, man did he suck lol! Didn't even show a flash of being the player he once was.

Not exactly trying to make a connection, just trying to play devil's advocate by pointing out that just because they have a badge, doesn't mean we have to take them at their word 100% of the time. Legit questions have been raised int his particular incident with Benson and I'm willing to hear them out. For all the stuff we hate about Benson, no one has ever really called him a liar (as far as I know). In fact, many people hate how honest he's been when speaking publicly, even when it was to his detriment.

Even then, MOST abuses of power by the police do not go reported. Someone mentioned cops driving drunk, I was told that at the academy, once the instructors are comfortable with the new cadets, they tell them if they stop another cop, they should let them go or try to find a driver for them. How many of us have seen cops go down the emergency lane seemingly just to avoid traffic? Then there is the abuse to citizens. I will share a personal story. I can't drive my Lexus with my windows down because I will get pulled over for not looking like a typical Lexus owner (fade haircut, tattoos, earings, etc). It has happened to me countless times. They pull me over, ask me for license and registration, and immediately ask what I do for a living. The implication is that either the car is stolen or I'm dealing drugs. I am polite and always comply. Once they find out where I work and run my license and see I have no criminal history, they let me go and never say why they pulled me over to begin with. I don't get into anything with them because it will be a losing battle, I thank them for letting me go and I leave. Those types of things happen to people everyday and don't get reported. It may not be MAJOR abuse, but it is harrassment and it has made me late to work and other events before. When I tell my cop friends about this, they say hell yeah they'd pull me over too because 7 out of 10 times, they'd be right about the car being stolen or the driver selling drugs. I can understand where they are coming from to a certain extent and that is exactly why I don't blindly trust the police. Some of them may be good people who do questionable things because they believe they are doing good in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, I had read what he responded to and agree it was wayyyy extreme. I was just making a statement in general since the "walk in their shoes" thing got me thinking as to how many people just take police at their word (not meaning you Grouchy) while never stopping to think that maybe those cops are not being honest. I guess if you've never personally been exposed to police abuse, it'd be harder to believe it exists. Most police I've personally encountered have been honest, but I've ran into enough of the bad ones to know the problem is bigger than most realize. The stories my cousin tells me about some of his coworkers makes me cringe.

My cousin and two close friends of mine are cops in Miami and they will be the first to tell ya that there are ALOT of cops who do morally questionable things for several different reasons. Some are sadistic, some are racist, some are on a power trip, and some just genuinely believe they are doing a greater good by ignoring some scumbag's rights. I think most of the alleged crooked cops fall into that last category, but some land in the other categories too and we can't pretend we can take every cop at their word. Those cops that blur the line between right and wrong are the ones that cast a cloud of suspicion upon the rest of the hardworking, honest officers. Because of this reality, I always want to hear both sides of the stories. In Benson's case, his story has too much detail, imo, to be a total fabrication. From what I've heard so far, I'm inclined to believe the truth lies somewhere in between the officer and Benson's stories. I'm not even sure who I WANT to be telling the truth here. Both versions of the story would piss me off to no end...

Many were also high on Byrd, but regardless, Pope and Lewis have done nothing either. Has Vernon Davis even done enough to warrant such a high pick? As far as Clark needing a fire lit under his ass, it's possible you are correct Bradjock. I personally remember thinking Clark was decent (even before he joined the Bears) but wasn't getting enough opportunity to show what he could do.

From PFT: RAMS CUT BYRD Posted by Michael David Smith on April 29, 2008, 3:41 p.m. After repeated problems both on the field and off, tight end Dominique Byrd has been released by the St. Louis Rams. A good athlete who had a solid college career at USC, Byrd was the Rams’ third-round draft choice in 2006. But he was never productive on the field. In 14 career games he has six catches for 83 yards. Off the field, Byrd has had repeated problems. He is scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of assault and armed criminal action stemming from an incident at a St. Louis bar, when Byrd was accused of hitting someone the face with a glass. In an unrelated incident last year, Byrd pleaded no contest to DUI. Depending on the outcome of next week’s trial, Byrd could face a suspension for violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. But that is probably irrelevant because it’s unlikely that another team would sign him. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I only bring this up to remind us that even though we may be passionately upset that "our guy" didn't get drafted, it doesn't mean we know any better than the staff. I remember many people were furious that we didn't draft Byrd when TE was considered such a glaring need. Lo and behold, although we thought Clark was the problem, all we needed to do was fix a couple of pieces around him and change our gameplan a little and we found a pretty good TE already on the roster. Is it possible that with an upgraded line and some fresh blood at receivers and hopefully better coaching we discover Rex and Benson are what we'd hoped they'd be? Some may say no, but did you say the same thing about Clark? I don't know the answer but I'm willing to wait and see.

If we insist on getting a RB, I'd like one to be at least 5'10.

How about guys with long dark hair and mustaches? Like the comedian Dave Attel says "I can't trust anyone that looks like a magician but doesn't do magic."

Does it strike anyone else as odd that he gave Lovie so much praise and didn't even mention Ron Turner, the guy who recruited him? I wonder if he did comment on Ron and those comments were just left out of the article or if he just thinks he sucks like some of us do.

Bearfan, I agree with alot of what you are saying (and disagree with alot too) but thinking the way you do, I am shocked that you were against Benson's "holdout". The guy was not an employee of the Bears and they offered him a contract. He/his agent didn't feel it was fair, and he counter-offered. The Bears counter-offered and so on until he got signed. Pretty standard negotiations. If the Bears didn't like his price tag, they didn't have to sign him. I don't understand how anyone can fault Benson for that. We may disagree with what his idea of "fair" is, but that's not really for us to decide. Since Benson was not under contract, I think he had infinitaley more basis than Urlacher to try and get as much money as possible. Isn't that the idea? To get as much money as possible written into the contract so that you will be happy until it's time to sign the next one?

I like this idea ALOT. Except I wouldn't get rid of Hester. I know it can't last forever, but everytime he touches the ball, I am reminded about why I love football. He is the most entertaining player I've seen in a long time and that's worth the minor headaches. I'd be more than willing to overpay him a reasonable amount to extend him but not until he is closer to the end of his contract.

I'm not upset now. I was imagining the scenario in which I would be upset. I'm a wait and see type of guy. Sorry, meant to make that clearer.

If I were the Bears, I'd see that now was the time to start changing the "face" of the franchise. Urlacher is getting old and has not played his best lately and we need to find a player to pass the "face" torch to. I think that player may be Hester. He is arguably the most exciting player in the game right now and I think it would be a smooth transition to phase him in while phasing Urlacher out until we find our next super star. Looking towards the futureI would have no problem with the Bears letting Urlacher play out his contract and then letting him go. Obviously alot of things can happen the next couple of years and we may need to resign him if we are close to a trophy but all things being the same, I don't wanna pay a large amount of money to a player who is at the later stage of his career and who might still be good, but overrated.

I don't care if he outperformed his contract (which I'm not sure he has anyway), he signed his deal and should have to stick to it. If a player underperforms, do they give back their signing bonus? Muhammad isn't going to give any money back, why should we give more money to Urlacher? Like Nfo, I have no problem with him asking for a raise. I don't even have a problem with him missing voluntary OTA's for whatever reason he chooses. Talking to the media and possible holding out from practice or real games I DO have a problem with. This is why I had no problem with Benson "holding out" BEFORE he signed his deal. These players need to sign deals they intend to abide by. IMO they can do whatever they reasonably can to get the best deal possible. Once it's signed however, it really bothers me to see them trying to take the team hostage with their antics.

Imagine my relief when I read "when it comes to scotch".

LT and NFO are probably my two favorite posters, I'm glad they love eachother lol.

I do option 1. Needless to say I lose alot.