04/24/24
January 23, 2007
Will Tank make the trip?: Cook County Judge John J Moran will determine today if he will suspend Johnson's house arrest allowing him to travel to the Super Bowl.
posted by kyrilmitch_76 to football at 06:05 AM - 17 comments
The more in-depth article was SI.com that I had linked through from cnn which explains why I couldn't for the life of me find it at espn.
posted by kyrilmitch_76 at 06:28 AM on January 23, 2007
Got my fingers and toes crossed on this one....We NEED the Tank !!
posted by wdminott at 06:39 AM on January 23, 2007
Why should this guy be allowed to go and to play in the Super Bowl? He made his bed to use an old cliche', but why should the criminal justice system give any consideration whatsoever to the Super Bowl?
posted by jaygolf at 09:16 AM on January 23, 2007
Why should this guy be allowed to go and to play in the Super Bowl? He made his bed to use an old cliche', but why should the criminal justice system give any consideration whatsoever to the Super Bowl? jaygolf, that's an excellent question. Without being a legal expert, however, I think the salient factor is that he is allowed to leave home for "work." And, while it may be millions of men's "dream job" to play in the NFL and Superbowl, it is still "work." That said, the legal system has set precedents before in accommodating football players at lower levels of play. For example, take the story about HS football players who got their sentence deferred until after football season. Clearly, America's (American's) love for football plays out at many different levels. “I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m going to. I see positive things about participating in football,” Judge Gary McKinley said.
posted by Spitztengle at 10:00 AM on January 23, 2007
Tank will play in the Super Bowl.
posted by danjel at 10:33 AM on January 23, 2007
hey, wdminott, there you go! just in the Tank will play in the Big One!
posted by bavarianmotorworker at 11:01 AM on January 23, 2007
I really don't see any difference here than a person who gets sent out of town on a business trip for his job and gets a court ok to travel. Glad to see the court sees it the same.
posted by scottypup at 11:20 AM on January 23, 2007
The courts obligation is to guarantee he appears for his hearings, and doesnt skip town. Since he had already been granted travel outside of the state, this should have been a no brainer.Plus the Judge probably had season tickets and going to the game :) Glad to see the right call made here
posted by oh2rooper at 11:41 AM on January 23, 2007
And then if the Bears get blown out in the Super Bowl and Tank plays poorly, us Bears fans will all be screaming to have him sent to jail, lol.
posted by danjel at 11:51 AM on January 23, 2007
Can you imagine being the Chicago judge that doesn't let a star Bears player travel to the Super Bowl? It was never going to happen.
posted by Sophie St. Lucie at 02:31 PM on January 23, 2007
And all this time I thought it was about his coach. One guy doesn't make a team? I'm a need some help with the team concept.
posted by volfire at 03:20 PM on January 23, 2007
I just like that the punishment fits the crime. Got waaaay too many guns? Go play in the Super Bowl. Wait...maybe it's...Drugs and guns? Um...hold on...let me think about it. Yeah, the Super Bowl's the right place for you. I mean, doesn't denying someone their "dream job" emphasize the fact that they're operating outside of the bounds of society?
posted by Thisguy at 07:11 PM on January 23, 2007
You play as a family and TANK is part of the family granted he made a mistake and he will deal with it in the offseason, and so will the Bears
posted by luther70 at 09:05 PM on January 23, 2007
I just like that the punishment fits the crime. Got waaaay too many guns? Go play in the Super Bowl. I think the key here is that it is an alleged crime at this stage.
posted by bperk at 07:48 AM on January 24, 2007
I think the key here is that's a complete false dichotomy. Whatever you think of Tank Williams, all he is being accorded are his rights under the law.
posted by yerfatma at 10:15 AM on January 24, 2007
I live in Chicago (actually Joliet) and most Chicagoans are disgusted by Tank Johnson's behavior. But we're talking the Super Bowl here and you gotta throw objectivity out the window. In the offseason Tank will hopefully get what he deserves (unless he has three sacks, two forced fumbles, and 9 tackles).
posted by ChiefsSuperFan at 10:46 AM on January 24, 2007
I found out about this through an espn link that was more in-depth but subsequently lost it. The ESPN link indicated that the Judge has taken a hard line stance ($100,000 bail for a parole violation) and outside attorneys speculated that this doesn't like favorable for Johnson, or the Bears who would be without their top two defensive tackes (Tommie Harris, IR) for the Super Bowl.