Posted on 01/27/2002 8:48:53 AM PST by moodyskeptic
I'm sorry, but someone has to voice it: the little guy had it coming. Sucker punching a man 110 pounds your better is unwise, and the little antagonist Micheal Costin was in the wrong in the heated exchange that claimed his life.
At first, I was going along with the dominant media, insisting that this Sports Rage is out of hand and that the killer was a bully who should get the electric chair. But, being a Freeper, I have learned to check my emotional response to "big stories" and get more information before I choose sides. I wanted to hate the Big Bully Thomas Junta, he was reportedly a huge man. Then I realized that he's about my size, I'm 6'1", 255. I'm no giant. And I've spent an adulthood targeted by stupid little hot headed roosters who like to pick fights they can't win. Any big guy will tell you: you learn to be the cooler head and attempt to walk away. Expect no sympathy in ANY altercation.Little guys with an agenda are everywhere, perhaps they were traumatized, they didn't get chosen for teams or were ignored by daddy, whatever.Genetics made us big, not weightlifting. We are what our ancestors were, fat or big or strong or smart or devious or small or kind or mean. There are few truly mean big guys.
It turns out that the little guy Costin was allowing high sticking and rough contact during stick practice, and when the Big Dumb Guy showed up to protest, Costen shot back that hockey is a tough game, get over it. Costin was in the wrong. He should've relented and shut up. But he was the hot head of the two and wouldn't drop it. In the dressing room, he sucker punched the bigger man and kicked at him with his skates as they continued arguing. This chicken spit tactic should've gotten him clobbered right then.True to Big Guy form, Junta went out to his truck to simmer down, only to return when he realized that his son was still in a locker room with a crazy father and his roughneck kids. Let's honestly add to that the humiliation of being sucker punched and walking away from it.
I don't know how many of you freepers have been in an inadvertant serious fight with guys who play dirty. Apparently very few. Surely the pixie woman prosecutor was in unfamiliar waters, judging by her questions. " So, this meant you had to resort to violence, Mr. Junta?" Huh? She ever experienced anything beyond her suburan car pool existance?
Wise fathers tell their boys: don't smart off to cops, don't hit women, don't pick fights you can't possibly win. Attacking a man 110 pounds bigger than you, when you are IN THE WRONG morally, is unwise. While I'm very sad that Costin died. Really. However, putting the Big Dumb father in jail for six to ten years send the message: Open Season on big guys, a jury packed with people who got overlooked when choosing sides for dodgeball will exact revenge on the Big Bully, and you can be as mean and smart alecky as you want at that next sporting event.
I simply disagree with you about what made this manslaughter. I suspect what really made this manslaughter was that the prosecution was careful to pack the jury with, little, politically correct zombies. Wish I had been on it. If I had been, given all I've heard (and I heard much of it), I would never have agreed to a guilty verdict.
Barring you having some personal interest, you and I were raised in two totally different cultures.
I'm happy for your personal safety. I protect mine as best I can. I have never started trouble. Ever.
You'll excuse me if I choose to give the cops, the jury and the judge the benefit of the doubt over your well-considered, I'm sure, opinion.
Wise fathers tell their boys: don't smart off to cops, don't hit women,
In this context, 'thou shalt not kill' means do not murder and do not commit manslaughter. That is do not take someone's life without state sanction.
Junta doesn't impress me as a murderer.
There are 13 people (the judge and jury) who were in a better position than you to decide what Junta was, and they unanimously found that he was a manslaughter, not a murderer.
Have you EVER been in a serious tussle? Do you know the feeling of adrenalin pumping too fast? Even you are capable of this mistake.
Yes, and if we make it we will get about 5 years to decide that getting 'in a serious tussle' was a stupid and potentially criminal activity.
And, I am disturbed by the fact that a man with this sort of criminal record was employable as a coach for a kid's hockey team.
They don't if the one who was struck 'turns the other cheek', and refuses to strike back.
If Mr. Junta was in control, as you state here, he was severely undercharged by the Grand Jury. If he was in control we are talking about unpremeditaded murder, and Junta should be doing 20 years to life.
Not to say that there aren't some bad little guys around...
Wow, what insight, you have launched a vanity thread not linked to a news item, about a very controversial matter, and you tell someone who posts to this thread that it 'Sounds like you like to argue.'
Have you ever heard the saying about what the pot calls the kettle, and why that is inappropriate.
Maybe you're hanging out with the wrong people. I'm a big guy, and I never get in fights with anyone of any size.
Littlemans disease is a bad thing just as big outta shape fat guys throwing their weight around is. This entire episode was two big mouth dumb@sses in too small a space IMHO. No one deserves to die for such a reason but if ya get hit with what ya bring to a fight be it words, fist's or bullets......be prepaired and understand there is one winner and one loser and in most cases all parties are the losers in more ways than one.
Walk Away if at all possible, standing your ground any place other than your home is sheer insanity in this day of litigators and criminal animals.
If ya can't walk away and your life is in danger then get medevil mean and ........Stay Safe !
While Costin was not an angel, he did not deserve to die. Your analogy is flawed, at best.
What a weasling approach you take to this. The only one who punished Junta's family was Junta. I don't think that Ted Bundy's mother needed to be permanently without a son, but Ted did that to her, not the state of Florida. For a violent felon like Junta, his lack of self-control requires that he be removed from society. This is unfortunate for his family. Perhaps after Mrs. Junta divorces him, she will choose a cooler head for her next husband.
I haven't been in a fist fight in 20 years. If I had to then medevil mean is exactly what I'd be. I would go into it looking to kill the oponent by whatever means necessary, just on basic principle. I would also go in looking to take my punishment after the fact.
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