Carmelo Ocasio

[Gene]

I am going to attempt to try to clear up the incident Carmelo Ocasio had with the Reading Police.

1st, he is presumed innoncent. Dont believe everything you read. The Eagle is as bad as The Globe. Yes Carmelo, was arrested but the circumstances were a bit different than how the paper described it. The bondsmen broke down his door, with his kids there and starting wrestling around with the person they were trying to serve the warrant too. You people with kids, is this something that you would like your kids to see? Well Carmelos kids were there and saw the whole thing. Also, getting things broken in your apartment during the arrest isnt cool either. Carmelo did what any father/parent would do and tried to get them out of his place. So much more going on with this thing and i cant get into it. I will let the front office handle it and discuss what they feel comfortable with. At this time i'd like to ask eveyone to bare with us till we get all the facts straight and please stop posting the Reading Eagle story.

2nd, i have been the one deleting everyone posts concerning the Eagle story. The Express will eventually respond to this, till then i will honor their request and delete any stories concerning the incident.

3rd, Carmelo is playing this Saturday against Canton.

[expresszac]

I have to go on record and say that when I read the paper I thought they made a mistake with the name they had in the article. Anyone who knows Carmelo knows that this is not his character at all. He is a compasionate and caring guy and would do anything for his family. I have know Melo along time and he was never this way to anyone that I have ever seen. The Reading Eagle from the start of the Express was only printing negative things about the team. Now I must say that lately this season they have printed some positive articles but it looks like they are right back to the negativity. What ever comes of this I am sure that Melo will take his bumps if any are due and move on with class.

[Coach Bernie]

alright...i know we could debate whats right whats wrong forever..here it is the best i can put it at this time....

we do not in any way condone this type of behavior from our players , front office and or management...right now the situation is this...carmelo is innocent until proven guilty...when the courts make a decision then we will make ours....

my reasons:

duke case - those 3 were instantly suspended from play, kicked out of school and the program was shut down...only to have all 3 aquitted or charges dropped..so they lost their playing time..they were denied an education...and a whole team was disrupted and for what..to have all charges dropped because some eager people wanted these 3 served up on the spot... their lives have been changed forever

tank johnson...just was given his 8 game suspension..AFTER all the legal issues were handled

again as i said we could debate this forever...bad behavior is bad behavior and we do not stand behind it, but we are also not the judge jury and executioner...what know one knows is that the whole story is yet to come out and thats why you let the legal people handle that

let the debate begin...

[exit322]

I'd agree. Since neither a team nor league representative saw the incident first-hand, they really can't make any judgment against a player.

[tmiles]

Personally, I support the actions of the Reading Police Dept 100%. The bail bondsmen were doing their jobs, and had this person taken care of the warrant in the first place, they would not have even been there. And why is Ocasio harboring a wanted fugitive in his apartment? If things got broken in his apartment, then so be it. They should not have resisted and should have cooperated with the law enforcement officials that were there to make the arrest. I hope that once this case makes its way through the legal system that the Express organization does not turn a blind eye should Ocasio plead or be convicted just because of his athletic skills. Although I do find it quite perplexing that he is being suspended without pay from his full time job yet being allowed to play in a football game that has championship implications. Interesting...

[Gene]

tmiles said:

Personally, I support the actions of the Reading Police Dept 100%. The bail bondsmen were doing their jobs, and had this person taken care of the warrant in the first place, they would not have even been there. And why is Ocasio harboring a wanted fugitive in his apartment? If things got broken in his apartment, then so be it. They should not have resisted and should have cooperated with the law enforcement officials that were there to make the arrest. I hope that once this case makes its way through the legal system that the Express organization does not turn a blind eye should Ocasio plead or be convicted just because of his athletic skills. Although I do find it quite perplexing that he is being suspended without pay from his full time job yet being allowed to play in a football game that has championship implications. Interesting...

What great inut tom. So let me get this straight. You been a member here for close to 9 months and have only 8 posts yet had the undying urge to post a negative story such as this. I find that perplexing. With all the good things the Express are doing i didnt see any posts from you concerning them?

As far as the incident the story never said he was harboring anyone. The bondsmen saw the guy on the streets and walk into the apartment. They followed. And trust me, with the stuff going on behind the scenes between Melo and the front office it has been and will continually be dealt with. Being suspended from his job was the countys decision. Once all the evidence is gone thru the Express will make a determination and not a second sooner. That said, i would imagine any legal proceedings wont take place till late summer.

[tmiles]

So I'm only suppost to post about shiny happy things concerning the Express and its players? I support the Express by buying season tickets, merchandise and going to games. Oh yeah, and also by getting other people to go who might not have originally gone. So I take offense to you questioning my support of the organization. And I post when either I get the chance to post or when I am in the mood to do so. I do believe that the other times I have posted, however few and far between they are, have been in support of what this organization is trying to do. My posting of the article occurred because I felt it was an important issue and it had not yet been discussed. But since that post and all subsequent posts have been deleted, I'm getting the impression that you and the Express organization don't want to talk about anything bad or negative. Sorry Gene, I don't give blind support. I call them as I see them and I don't support or condone Ocasio's actions and I don't agree with how the organization is handling this by allowing him to play. IMO (and I'm certainly allowed to have mine as you are) its too coincidental for me that he's being allowed to play in a game with championship implications considering the situation that he is in right now.

[exit322]

If it's company policy to suspend someone due to impending legal issues, then that's the correct thing to do.

I've never heard anyone say it was AIFA or Reading Express policy to do that, and as such it's not appropriate for Carmelo to be taken from playing when he's not been convicted of anything.

[Gene]

tmiles said:

So I'm only suppost to post about shiny happy things concerning the Express and its players? I support the Express by buying season tickets, merchandise and going to games. Oh yeah, and also by getting other people to go who might not have originally gone. So I take offense to you questioning my support of the organization. And I post when either I get the chance to post or when I am in the mood to do so. I do believe that the other times I have posted, however few and far between they are, have been in support of what this organization is trying to do. My posting of the article occurred because I felt it was an important issue and it had not yet been discussed. But since that post and all subsequent posts have been deleted, I'm getting the impression that you and the Express organization don't want to talk about anything bad or negative. Sorry Gene, I don't give blind support. I call them as I see them and I don't agree with how the organization is handling this by allowing him to play. IMO (and I'm certainly allowed to have mine as you are) its too coincidental for me that he's being allowed to play in a game with championship implications.

No, but feel free to comment about the positive things too. You dont know whats going on behind the scenes, nor can i get into that. I did what was asked of me, whether i agreed with the request or not, i honored it for the Express as we do for any other team in the AIFA that ask for stuff to be removed.

As far as your support for the team, i didnt question that. I questioned why you felt the need to post a negative story with so much good going on. See how things get twisted? I question why you have the need to post this story with so liitle prior posts and then you accuse me of questioning your support for the team. Imagine how the Reading Eagle is twisting things around. I had deleted that story about 5 times on this board by request, and to be quite honest, i would do it for any team, player or individual that would ask me to do so. Some staff members here think differently about that but we all decide on a case by case basis and support each other whatever the decision would be.

As far as your support for the team they as well as i appreciate it. Your also more than welcome to post or respond to stories here anytime you wish. We'd love to see more of ya........

[tmiles]

Gene if you don't mind, let's move this to PM.

[picman]

I personal hope the express lets him play, I want both teams at full strength for the game

[tidegm]

Here is my rant on professional players and their behavior.

The reason the NFL has adopted this tougher player conduct policy because teams would always allow a player to continue playing after 1 arrest or several. Now if a player is accused of doing something wrong they must answer to the Commissioner and have the threat of being suspended without pay (before being convicted of anything). Hopefully this will deter players from doing something illegal.

You cannot use Tank Johnson as an example of this new policy because his punishment came long after his cases were over and he served his jail time. (he was able to travel to the superbowl while being on home detention pending his trial) Under the new policy he would have been suspended last year and missed the superbowl.

This situation puts the express in a tough spot...not sitting Carmelo sends a bad message to the community and future players will be looking for a pass on bad behavior...sitting Carmelo puts their championships hopes at risk....Damned if you do....Damned if you don't.

[exit322]

The NFL now has a policy, though I still think they're in for a fight if they want to retroactively do anything.

Oh wait, Gene Upshaw is the PA leader in that league, never mind.

Either way, the AIFA doesn't have such a policy. If Ocasio's convicted of something, then suspend him. Because if he's acquitted, there will be explaining to do if you suspend a player for something a jury concluded he didn't do.

[UnoBomber]

So the bondsmen broke into the apartment (Which I didn't notice mentioned in the article) and started wrestling and breaking misc. items... Then having Ocasios kids in the area. I think that situation could have been handled a lot differently rather than using brute force. If Ocasio did wrong then the court will decide that.

[farscape]

I think it is pretty bad Gene that you would critisize someone on the quantity of the posts that they make. That approach will not encorage others to make posts. I am disturbed that posts are deleted, this does not encorage me to post either if the team or the league request's you to delete and you obey than you need to take away the advertisment "by the fans for the fans" critisizm does not make you any less a fan although it is easier than encoragment. I think as a general rule news stories and team releases Probably should not be posted but rather linked to.
I have to argue here about the Idea that the reading paper is always negative, even the story about Carmelo was not negative, "Police said Ocasio yelled obscenities at them and was disorderly when they tried to take a man from an apartment that Ocasio said was his." the story is quoting what someone else said. It reported the facts that transpired Not all I am sure but what was available, it draws no conclusions and makes no editorial statments reguarding what anyone should do, under the circumstances that is pretty positive. Most all of the stories I have read are positive and acknowledging the success of the express last week for example there was an article on How well coach Logan has led the team, also a human interest article on the sacrifice Matt Sola is making to play, along with his asperations and dreams for a championship. This week there was a human interest story on Adam Vogel and how he has helped the team get to the northern conference championship. These are nothing but positive. I am not sure what you are reading.
I would think that the Express have the right to make what ever decision they want. I believe they can win with Carmelo or with out him he is only one player and with Shawn back the middle of the field has opened up, and I am a firm believer that Defence wins championships.