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PJ Star 6/22

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Staff member
The PJ Star has a couple articles about Squeaky Melchiorre today--

Considering Squeaky--
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x379972970/BU-president-considers-retiring-No-23

Kirk Wessler pleads for forgiveness for Squeaky, and for BU to retire his jersey.
Wessler: Squeaky paid his dues; reward him
http://www.pjstar.com/sports_columnists/x1713645822/Wessler-Squeaky-paid-his-dues-reward-him

KW's blog--
http://www2.pjstar.com/index.php?/wessler/article/more_on_melchiorre

I actually agree that BU should honor Squeaky in some way, but KW's column does little to stenghthen his case.
I do find it incredible that the title uses the term that Squeaky has "paid his dues". That is an odd analogy. Maybe "served his punishment" might be more appropriate. The term "paid his dues" suggests it was by his choice, and he is now entitled to something. Also, the article seems to put more of the blame on Bradley than on Squeaky. Why am I not surprised?
 
KW says it is time to forgive. I think Squeaky has already been forgiven. He was elected into the Bradley Hall of Fame. Having your number retired is about honoring, not forgiving. I'm sorry, but unless the school wants to completely undermine the integrity of having a number retired, Squeaky should not be given the honor. It's about what the player did while in school, not afterwards. I think more weight should be given to the message it would send our current players than worrying about Squeaky. The message to our current players would not be a good one. The amount of time that has passed is irrelevant as to the seriousness of the offense.
 
I actully have a copy of the PJS today and find it curious that the KW article titled "Squeky paid his dues; reward him" on the internet is titled "Melchiorre's a better man now." in the newspaper.

That being said, I think that it is time that Bradley retired Melchiorre's number. I will admit that I am biased on this issue though. As KW stated in his article, we can forgive but never forget. Melchiorre admited his mistake, and has done a lot of things for Bradley without public acknowledgement.
 
Squeaky and Pete Rose have the same exact cases as they both gambled on sports and rose should never make the hall of fame and Squeaky most likely will never have his jersey retired; it is a tough call but if you expect to ever have your program held in the highest respect you cannot allow someone that was involved in such a bad scandal to be rewarded later on like nothing ever happened; this would set a very bad example for future or present players of this program.
 
What I do not get is that Paul Unruh was mentioned as one of the players that accepted cash, although, not until after the fact, shouldn't his number be taken down if Squeaky's can't go up?
 
patrick_o'brian said:
What I do not get is that Paul Unruh was mentioned as one of the players that accepted cash, although, not until after the fact, shouldn't his number be taken down if Squeaky's can't go up?
Click to expand...

I wish that KW's blog on this was published in today's paper along with the other articles and not available solely on the internet. The rift between the teammates on this issue has always been there, but this is the first time that I have seen this mentioned in the media.

Politics...Politics....Politics.... POB that is the answer to your post. imo
 
Squeaky and Rose are not comparable because Melchiorre did not play a handful of games on the level. Nobody would ever accuse Rose of giving less that 100% all the time.

Rose was never accused of, nor was it ever suggested he gambled on his team, his agreement to leave baseball was that yes he did bet on baseball while he was in a position to affect the outcomes of games, though he never took advantage of that situation.

As for Unruh, the $100 in question was given to the starting players during the initial meeting with the Englises thugs in exchange for "consideration" with a guarantee of more after following through. Frightened, none of the players said anything. While several players agreed to go ahead with the plan, Unruh did not and effectively removed himself from the ring.

Unruh has also said in the past that he would have his number brought down in Melchiorre's went up. I have trouble insulting a member of the same team who was on the level just to do something that might be popular.

The article talks about Kentucky, but doesn't point out that they don't retire numbers. . .they retire jerseys.

Some schools do both, and perhaps that separation allows BU a window here. Still retire select numbers, but retire jerseys as well so there's still a distinction.
 
real fan said:
Rose bet on his team to win and admitted to it.
Click to expand...

Right, in 2004, 15 years after being banned from baseball, he admitted to betting on the Reds to win in an effort to gain favor with the HOF. And there is some question of genuine truth in his admission as it appears to be strictly political.

However, that was not the case at the time of his banishment. And that was not included in the statement from baseball in 1989.
 
squirrel said:
Squeaky and Rose are not comparable because Melchiorre did not play a handful of games on the level. Nobody would ever accuse Rose of giving less that 100% all the time.

Rose was never accused of, nor was it ever suggested he gambled on his team, his agreement to leave baseball was that yes he did bet on baseball while he was in a position to affect the outcomes of games, though he never took advantage of that situation.

As for Unruh, the $100 in question was given to the starting players during the initial meeting with the Englises thugs in exchange for "consideration" with a guarantee of more after following through. Frightened, none of the players said anything. While several players agreed to go ahead with the plan, Unruh did not and effectively removed himself from the ring.

Unruh has also said in the past that he would have his number brought down in Melchiorre's went up. I have trouble insulting a member of the same team who was on the level just to do something that might be popular.

The article talks about Kentucky, but doesn't point out that they don't retire numbers. . .they retire jerseys.

Some schools do both, and perhaps that separation allows BU a window here. Still retire select numbers, but retire jerseys as well so there's still a distinction.
Click to expand...
Agree Rose and Melchiorre are not comparable but for different reasons. Rose's admission that he gambled on baseball was for the purpose of helping Rose's Hall of Fame chances. Yes Rose signed the agreement, but long after the agreement was signed, all that was heard from Rose were denials. Melchiorre has never denied his involvement the way that Rose did nor has Melchiorre used his admission to help retire his number.
I disagree with KW that the retired jerseys of Kentucky players should not be used as a precedent. Legal rulings happen every day based on prior rulings. The Kentucky precedent should be considered, but should not be an overwhelming factor to retire Melchiorre's number.

and... If Mr Unruh still thinks his jersey should come down if Melchiorre's number is retired, then I will gladly help take it down for him. Heck, from KW's blog yesterday, he may have a teammate or past player or two help bring his jersey down for him if he still feels that way.;) Unruh still took the $$$$$$$$$.
 
I have a friend who was on campus back in the early 50's. She had a sorority pledge sister who was dating Billy Mann. She recalled being very scared for her pledge sister.

She also told me that she went to the Western Tap about 2 times while at Bradley, but she was told by many friends who would go... Squeaky was there often and never had a shortage of cabbage as evidenced by viewing his bulging wallet.
 
Good point MMob. . .not to trivialize the whole thing, but lives were put at risk during the whole thing. There was the St. Joseph's game at MSG where there was a rift amongst the gamblers (the Englises tried to undercut their boss) and one of them was being held at gunpoint during the game until the satisfactory result went through. The other brother after being found out was summoned to take the call at the scorers table and had to flag down the involved Bradley players to inform them to reverse the agreed upon fix.
 
squirrel said:
Good point MMob. . .not to trivialize the whole thing, but lives were put at risk during the whole thing. There was the St. Joseph's game at MSG where there was a rift amongst the gamblers (the Englises tried to undercut their boss) and one of them was being held at gunpoint during the game until the satisfactory result went through. The other brother after being found out was summoned to take the call at the scorers table and had to flag down the involved Bradley players to inform them to reverse the agreed upon fix.
Click to expand...



Wow! I DID NOT know all the "detail stuff" :o This is some heavy $h!t :o
 
I was talking to a friend of mine today and this article from the summer was part of our conversation. Does anyone know the status of President Glasser's decision on this topic? I have a fairly good idea what the decision will be or was, but nothing has been made public.
 
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