O'Brien to RW: "Give it Up!"

[brimsalabim]

FYI I was just reminded that it was former UNC coach John Bunting that wanted to make him a safety. That is what got him to look at NC State to begin with. At that point he had been offered by the baseball coach at NC State but was not on the radar in football.

 

[brimsalabim]

FYI I was just reminded that it was former UNC coach John Bunting that wanted to make him a safety. That is what got him to look at NC State to begin with. At that point he had been offered by the baseball coach at NC State but was not on the radar in football.

 

[theincrediblesok]

Marc Trestman recruited Wilson to NC State
Elliot Avent offered the scholarship to play both sports

Detail of the story below

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2013-nfl-offs ... -years-old

 

[Russ Willstrong]

If you're going to prop yourself up at other's expense at a freaking commencement speech, you should expect some backlash when your claims don't add up.

It's similar to claiming nano-water, which you have a stake in, prevents concussions.

Backlash is what the media lives on nowadays. Nothing generates clicks like drama. Anything good that comes out of humanity is relegated to an obscure hyperlink buried at the bottom of pages. Daily celeb drivel? Full-blown hi-res front page pics with scathing, baiting headlines.

I'm not even defending Wilson here, because it's pointless unless there's a direct audio recording. It's simply a case of he said/he said that happened 5 years ago and largely amounts to nothing. No one got knocked out in an elevator or shot after a fender-bender or punched in the face. This is all just stupid off-season gossip to fill in the gaps. People getting sand in their honey holes because of WORDS they never even heard first hand. It's stupid. It could only be more stupid if someone filed a defamation suit over it.

The only folks getting worked up are tied to NC State, and I can see where they are coming from. This is pretty much a non-story...I don't think it made any national rounds aside from the speech itself.

Like popeye mentioned, it's just another thing people will lump into Wilson's generally quirky/phony/dorky persona.

On the surface Wilson's character appears to be odd (Carlton Banks interning as a that door-to-door Jehova Witness type odd).
Dig a bit deeper and you will find that he indeed believes what he portrays to the public. When he recants his story he will continue to emphasize that his life has been uplifted by faith and blessed by miracles. What you perceive to be phony or a character flaw is what allows him to play with great confidence and dogged determination. It motivates him to make hospital visits and routinely spend time with sick or dying kids and their families which is no easy task. Didn't the Minister of Defense Reggie White have a similar level of religiosity and grandiosity contributing to a belief system that allowed him to become great on and off the field? Wilson is cut from that same cloth.
What gets lost in this is many of the persons close to Russell do attest to him being genuine and caring.

 

[Mistashoesta]

Posted Feb 2, 2014

Nowadays, Tom O’Brien is the associate head coach for offense at the University of Virginia. But his other title — The Guy Who Ran Russell Wilson Off at N.C. State — seems to never go away.

At 6:25 p.m., tonight, Wilson will quarterback the Seattle Seahawks against the Denver Broncos as they try to capture their first Super Bowl title in team history.

Don’t expect O’Brien to watch with regret.

“I’m not clairvoyant, so I can’t tell the future,” O’Brien said during a recent teleconference with reporters. “So the thing that you do, and you always do, is you make decisions on the facts that you have at that time.

“I have no problems,” O’Brien said. “It’s always been good. I think some people think it hasn’t, but certainly I think it’s been fine. I texted him and asked him for tickets when he came to the Redskins. I was just kidding, but stuff like that ... we’re good.”

http://dailyprogress.com/cavalierinside ... l?mode=jqm

 

[Russ Willstrong]

FYI I was just reminded that it was former UNC coach John Bunting that wanted to make him a safety. That is what got him to look at NC State to begin with. At that point he had been offered by the baseball coach at NC State but was not on the radar in football.

Very good point brim.
People forget that NCSU had a top 3 QB recruit and traditional strong-armed pocket passer in Glennon who had already sat behind Wilson for two years and who would have left if he didnt see the field. Glennon was chosen to start and never a mention that Wilson was offered a chance to compete for his job. Wilson was a winner but not viewed with great potential and draft value as that of a Mike Glennon.

 

[Smellyman]

Russ seems like the type who believes in fairy tales. He's certified nuts...in a very benign way. As long as he keeps bringing joy to bald children, and wins on Sundays, I cringe more than care.

He is one who believes in fairy tales and if he tells the story enough it becomes "truth". Most would call it delusional.

He loves the kudos and adulation he receives for his good deeds constantly posts them himself on his own Facebook etc.

Like you I cringe more than care.

He is an odd duck.

 

[Russ Willstrong]

Russ seems like the type who believes in fairy tales. He's certified nuts...in a very benign way. As long as he keeps bringing joy to bald children, and wins on Sundays, I cringe more than care.

He is one who believes in fairy tales and if he tells the story enough it becomes "truth". Most would call it delusional.

He loves the kudos and adulation he receives for his good deeds constantly posts them himself on his own Facebook etc.

Like you I cringe more than care.

He is an odd duck.

Self-aggrandizing and hyper-religious definitely. But DELUSIONAL is a wrong descriptor clinically. We all have our slant on reality for as psychologists will tell you Perception IS Reality.
Many actors, motivational speakers and greats who have made their mark in this world were functional bipolar or personality disorders.
As for the lies told in his speech.. Are they intentional lies or did he just not recall accurate details while caught up in the story telling about his struggles and emotions. His message came across very well and was more important than the details some 5 years past. Very unlikely speech for a ROBOT qb.

 

[Popeyejones]

As for the lies told in his speech.. Are they intentional lies or did he just not recall accurate details while caught up in the story telling about his struggles and emotions.

*****MODS: Please delete if this post isn't appropriate for this forum (it's very much on topic but strays into a topic that is more commonly discussed in a different forum, and in writing it I'm being pretty careful to not intentionally poke any off-topic bears)*******

Three thoughts on this:

1) It's a prepared speech. I seriously doubt he got caught up on the details due to emotions as he wasn't speaking on the fly.

2) (The part I want to be sensitive about): For the crowd of Evangelical Christians that Wilson travels in these types of "climb the mountain" personal narratives are kind of the stock-and-trade of public speaking. It's a community that has sort of blended self-help narratives into what they understand as expressions of God's love. When speaking to and with that audience the details of the story are kind of beside the point, as it's the message of the story that makes it powerful.

This only becomes a problem when those outside of this community hear these personal narratives and call foul on their factual accuracy: they don't really buy or care about the "message" of the stories, and don't understand that for like-minded audiences the veracity of individual details is entirely beside the point of why the story is being told. It's like how Ben Carson got a ton of crap from non-Evangelical Christians for his factually fictitious story about his prof at Yale, while Evangelical Christians were pissed that people were picking on him, being unfair, and missing the point by quibbling about the details.

To be entirely clear I'm not saying that one way is right or one way is wrong, but rather, I'm saying that Wilson is kind of stumbling between two really different audiences who hear these "climb the mountain" personal narratives in two REALLY different ways.

Dollars to donuts that those in the Evangelical Christian community who heard this speech recognized the genre it was in and thought it was pretty wonderful, and think those who are complaining about it are dunderheads who just don't get it.

3) One also has to consider that it's a graduation speech, which in itself is a venue of public speaking in which "message" is much more of the point than factual accuracy. I do however think the speech was infused with dog whistles for a like-minded audience to Wilson, but such is the problem with trying to speak to multiple audiences in a single speech.

 

[Russ Willstrong]

I am not religious but I have no concern about Wilson's character.
His speech was prepared but unlike many rehearsed speeches he pauses to elaborate and embellish. IMO (and my opinion is as good as many here since we are not in Wilson's mind) some details in his speech was told on a whim for effect. Just like his comments about Recovery water was not likely scripted but a statement made for effect and later clarified/recanted for legal concerns. To me Wilson comes off as genuine, caring but at times naive.

 

[rideaducati]

No one is digging anything up, just calling a lie a lie.

Or, you know, just comments that were spoken 5 years ago and have probably been jumbled up a little bit contextually by one or both parties. Tends to always happen with verbal accounts. You remember every conversation word-ford-word from 5 years ago?

Just because one person says it's not true doesn't make it a lie. I hope you're not a judge.

If you're going to prop yourself up at other's expense at a freaking commencement speech, you should expect some backlash when your claims don't add up.

It's similar to claiming nano-water, which you have a stake in, prevents concussions.

Actually, any brand of water helps prevent concussions. A dehydrated person has less fluid in their body and gravity pulls fluids downward so a player becomes more susceptible to concussions. The first sign of dehydration is a headache. Russell just happens to use a specific brand of water to hydrate himself to help prevent concussions.

 

[Popeyejones]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Smellyman]

No one is digging anything up, just calling a lie a lie.

Or, you know, just comments that were spoken 5 years ago and have probably been jumbled up a little bit contextually by one or both parties. Tends to always happen with verbal accounts. You remember every conversation word-ford-word from 5 years ago?

Just because one person says it's not true doesn't make it a lie. I hope you're not a judge.

If you're going to prop yourself up at other's expense at a freaking commencement speech, you should expect some backlash when your claims don't add up.

It's similar to claiming nano-water, which you have a stake in, prevents concussions.

Actually, any brand of water helps prevent concussions. A dehydrated person has less fluid in their body and gravity pulls fluids downward so a player becomes more susceptible to concussions. The first sign of dehydration is a headache. Russell just happens to use a specific brand of water to hydrate himself to help prevent concussions.

true, you also need water to remain alive.