Tennessean editorial on Gallion & Co.

[quietfan 233]

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...419/1106/SPORTS

Just when you think it's time for the circus to leave town, they send in more clowns.

Attorneys representing two former Alabama assistant coaches in their case against the NCAA are putting up a stink to try and get Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer to submit to a deposition less than two weeks before the scheduled start of a trial.  But did they begin the process by appearing before a circuit court judge?

No.

As has been their habit, they first called a press conference.  You know you've got a bad case when you want to try it at press conferences and on talk radio.

...

And to hear the lawyers tell it, this is one centipede of a story. It has more legs than the Rockettes.

Every time they hit a dead end, they rev up the rhetoric. They've got Fulmer on the grassy knoll and former SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer at Area 51.

Who's head of this legal team, Oliver Stone?

...

They're firing blanks.  And now they're running out of time.

Correction: They already have run out of time, at least in this bit of legal wrangling.

According to court documents, the deadline for discovery — which includes taking depositions — was April 1. Thus, the request to take Fulmer's deposition is either an April Fool's joke or a cry for help.

"It's less than two weeks before the trial and they're attempting to issue a subpoena," said Jeff Hagood, one of Fulmer's attorneys. "You have to follow the rules of the court.

...

Next time, maybe the law firm of Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey should take up the case.

[WarTim 3,457]

Since when did something as trivial as the LAW stop uat?

Don't you know that there are rules for everyone else and then there should be a special set of rules for uat that allows cheatin' and lyin' to go on, unchecked, for many decades?

Come on, get up to speed!

[BamaGrad03 0]

Im sure Mr Climer knows more about the law than the team of lawyers representing cottrell and williams. whatever.

They are complaining that this should have been done earlier...but they CANT FORCE A DEPOSITION IF FULMER IS TOO CHICKEN TO SET FOOT IN ALABAMA.

He said he's all about the truth...but he wont give his truth under oath. If everyone KNOWS he was a witness...and everyone KNOWS he faxed and emailed kramer 20 times about us....whats the harm in telling the TRUTH now?...ohhh because its under oath.

[vatz22au 142]

I just think all this mess looks really bad on Alabama's part. I wish they would quit this mess and give it up, it looks so pathetic.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I just think all this mess looks really bad on Alabama's part.  I wish they would quit this mess and give it up, it looks so pathetic.

166931[/snapback]

It has nothing to do with alabama. I thought that had already been covered. Alabama has done everything it could to put a road block in 'team gallion's' way. They arent helping, they arent promoting, they arent even COOPERATING....

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

I just think all this mess looks really bad on Alabama's part.  I wish they would quit this mess and give it up, it looks so pathetic.

166931[/snapback]

It has nothing to do with alabama. I thought that had already been covered. Alabama has done everything it could to put a road block in 'team gallion's' way. They arent helping, they arent promoting, they arent even COOPERATING....

166932[/snapback]

Which, IMO, is smart. There is always the possibility that more dirt will come out and while the NCAA can't touch them, the pubilicity would be horrible.

Hey BG, did you have a falling out with the guys at Crimson Tusks? I noticed that the Recruiting Forum is renamed Porterhouse's Recruiting Forum now.

[vatz22au 142]

I just think all this mess looks really bad on Alabama's part.  I wish they would quit this mess and give it up, it looks so pathetic.

166931[/snapback]

It has nothing to do with alabama. I thought that had already been covered. Alabama has done everything it could to put a road block in 'team gallion's' way. They arent helping, they arent promoting, they arent even COOPERATING....

166932[/snapback]

Im not arguing that Alabama has the mindset," we want nothing to do with it." I think you can agree that it still makes Alabama look bad in the public eye of things. Not everyone out there who listens to this knows as much as you BG (the case that is), and because of that fact they are going to base opinions off of first impressions when hearing matters like this.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I just think all this mess looks really bad on Alabama's part.  I wish they would quit this mess and give it up, it looks so pathetic.

166931[/snapback]

It has nothing to do with alabama. I thought that had already been covered. Alabama has done everything it could to put a road block in 'team gallion's' way. They arent helping, they arent promoting, they arent even COOPERATING....

166932[/snapback]

Which, IMO, is smart. There is always the possibility that more dirt will come out and while the NCAA can't touch them, the pubilicity would be horrible.

Hey BG, did you have a falling out with the guys at Crimson Tusks? I noticed that the Recruiting Forum is renamed Porterhouse's Recruiting Forum now.

166939[/snapback]

no falling out at all...i just dont have time to moderate a board. and i wont have much to post over there until football starts....

[quietfan 233]

Im sure Mr Climer knows more about the law than the team of lawyers representing cottrell and williams. whatever.

They are complaining that this should have been done earlier...but they CANT FORCE A DEPOSITION IF FULMER IS TOO CHICKEN TO SET FOOT IN ALABAMA.

He said he's all about the truth...but he wont give his truth under oath. If everyone KNOWS he was a witness...and everyone KNOWS he faxed and emailed kramer 20 times about us....whats the harm in telling the TRUTH now?...ohhh because its under oath.

166928[/snapback]

It wasn't the writer, Climer, making the statement that "You have to follow the rules of the court", it was another attorney, Jeff Hagood. And as far as Fulmer not coming to Alabama, as I understand it, Gallion & Co. are now going through the normal legal channels to get an Alabama judge to request that a Tennessee judge order Fulmer to give a deposition. Well, if that legal corridor is an option now, two weeks before trial and after the deadline for disclosure, why didn't Gallion & Co. pursue it in a timely manner before April 1st instead of just complaining that Fulmer won't come to Alabama?

And why should Fulmer or anyone volunteer to be the brunt of Gallion's antics in a Tuscaloosa courtroom, or even give Gallion the satisfaction. I'm not say Fulmer is a saint, innocent, or even halfway respectable--I'm just saying I don't blame him for avoiding Gallion's inquisition. He may coach the Volunteers, but I don't blame anyone for refusing to volunteer for that.

However, I will agree with you that the administration of the University of Alabama wisely wants nothing to do with it, wishes Gallion was not keeping the fire going in the press, and knows the best thing for the school is to move on--focus on the future, not the past.

There are, however, a lot of Bama fans out there (not you, BG) who still believe that somehow the Gallion trial is going to magically prove the entire Memphis soap opera was a pre-meditated plot; that Logan Young was set up and never gave money to anybody; and that Alabama was 100% pure and blameless in the entire Means affair. They are the ones who want the circus to continue in their fantasyof future vindication.