Frank Ordonez/The Post-Standard
Posted: D.A.
There are no winners in Snowball-gate.
Moron throws snowball at passing car. Dude gets face mangled. Starting running back gets cuffed. Orange Nation wakes up saying, “What the hell is going on?”
There’s always three sides to every story. The William Hotaling side, the Delone Carter side and the truth. So, The Fizz jumps into the fray to dissect what we know.
What we know is there’s plenty of mistakes to go around, from all three parties.
1) “Carter and teammate Ryan Gillum were driving in an SUV on Waverly Avenue on Feb. 27 (night of Nova’geddon). As they drove by the Kimmel Food Court, a snowball struck the vehicle. Carter and Gillum pulled over and got out of the SUV, and began to argue with 20-year-old William Hotaling, who is also a sophomore in Witman School of Management.”
First, what type of 20-year-old DBs are throwing snowballs at passing cars in the middle of the night? I’m pretty sure I did that in 5th grade. Even if Hotaling is telling the truth and he didn’t throw the snowball, you’re cruising with guys who think that’s a a fun Saturday night? Dude, you’re in (bleep)ing college. Nova’geddon just dropped. It’s arguably the greatest night you’ll have in four years there. Go do an ice luge, hit on chicks and order Acropolis for late-night Mario Kart tournaments. Snowballs? This kid should be tossed off campus and forced to transfer to SUNY-Oswego just for being lame.
Hotaling then posted this on his Facebook wall: “I was actually half blind! But long story short, got attacked on the street late Friday night…ended up with 5 broken bones in the face, a concussion, swollen right eye, and a fair share of cuts and bruises. Good times.” Ok, now you’re really a douche. You’re first instinct upon suffering a concussion and having your face smashed in was to joke about it on (bleep)ing Facebook? Forgive me if I think he’s embellishing just a bit. I know those management kids. They’re always looking to sensationalize anything that happens to them since most of their crazy college nights are running T-Mobile’s second quarter profit margins with a 4-pack of wine coolers.
2) “The argument escalated until Carter allegedly punched Hotaling in the face and knocked him to the ground. Hotaling suffered facial injuries as a result of the punch and fall. Police say that Carter and Gillum then got back into the SUV and left the scene.”
Delone, you’re an idiot. You’re the starting running back. You rushed for 100-yards in four of your final six games last season. You thought about jumping to the NFL Draft. You’ll be counted on to carry the bulk of the offensive load next year with a slew of unproven quarterbacks. Why the hell would you punch some dipshit in front of Kimmel? What does that do? A Management School sophomore? You could Rampage Jackson his ass while dazed on Ambien. That’s like me punching a 3rd-grader because he tp’d my mailbox on Halloween.
3) “Carter‚Äôs lawyer says that police officers handcuffed Carter and Gillum in front of their teammates last Wednesday and took them to police headquarters for questioning.”
Wait a second. The Syracuse police took six weeks to investigate some kid getting punched in the face, agreed it was a misdemeanor, then felt the best time of the day to nab the players was at practice? You’re kidding me. You’re (bleep)ing kidding me. Is this how the Syracuse po-po works? Isn’t there a double-homicide on South Salina that needs some attention? A month and a half to crack this case?
“Sarge, I think I have a break-through on the snowball case. Took me longer than expected since I forgot my username for the license plate program we have. But I ran the plates of the SUV. It’s Carter and Gillum.”
“Good work, Smitty. Let’s head to South Campus! They’re at-large and dangerous. Cuff ’em as soon as you see ’em.”
This is all sorts of messed up. Multiple ass-backward decisions. Welcome to Syracuse athletics when it happens to spill into the real world. Where’s Mike Williams at?
