Random Thoughts: Judkins and more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

This week’s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins, ACME baseball, 2,000 wins, pre-season football picks and a motormouth at the World Series of Poker.

Quinshon Judkins

To many people, the weekend arrest of Cleveland Browns running back Quinshon Judkins was a shock. After all, there had been no problems while he was at Ohio State and before that, at Ole Miss.

It came out Sunday morning that he had been arrested the day before in Fort Lauderdale, on charges of battery and domestic violence. It appears he spend more than 24 hours in jail before a court hearing. He was freed on $2,500 bond.

Predictably, the news hit social media quickly and even more predictably, so did the rush to judgement. Countless people assuming or thinking they knew he was guilty. Yet none of them had the facts, just a story that he had been arrested. So much for innocent until proven guilty.

Later in the day on Sunday, a few more details came out, which, in my mind, leads to more questions. A statement said the incident in question occurred on July 7 after the victim left the airport but did not report it. According to court records, the victim and Judkins came to South Florida “as friends” but after the incident, she stayed with him in Fort Lauderdale for five additional days and celebrated her birthday. On Monday, even more details came out, with allegations that Judkins punched the woman multiple times.

It doesn’t look good for him but at the same time, I still want more information. I don’t want to make light of the situation, but something just doesn’t seem right. And no, I’m not just saying that because he’s from Ohio State and was drafted by the Browns. He could be from Michigan and drafted by the Steelers and I’d say the same thing – something doesn’t seem right.

If it turns out he’s guilty, I’ll have zero sympathy for him. If he’s not guilty, that’s a whole other issue.

This is something a lot of people will be watching.

ACME

Due to weather delays, ACME state tournament baseball in Kalida was still going on after 2 a.m.on Sunday. That’s rough. I know they have a schedule to keep and kudos to all of those who made it work. Hopefully, no one has to ever go through that again.

Rarified air

Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona joined an elite club on Sunday. A 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies gave him his 2,000^th career victory, something done by just 12 other managers. Think about that – for as long as Major League Baseball has been around, only 12 other guys have accomplished that feat.

Entering the All-Star Break, Francona’s regular-season record is 2,000-1,719 in 24 seasons. He led Boston to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, and Cleveland to the World Series in 2016. 921 of his wins came in Cleveland, a franchise record. His teams have qualified for the postseason 11 times.

On top of all of that, he’s a super nice guy. I had the opportunity to speak with him several times while he was in charge in Cleveland and he was always very polite and respectful.

Kudos to Terry Franconca – keep those wins coming.

Preseason picks

Keep an eye out for the VW independent’s exclusive pre-season football picks for the Northwest Conference and Western Buckeye League. In the coming days, I’ll be gathering as much information as I can from the coaches and using it and other information to come up with a preseason poll for both conferences. I can tell you right now there’s a heavy favorite in one of them. It should be another interesting year. The polls, by the way, will appear on the Sports page in very early August.

Motormouth

I’m not sure how many people here play poker or keep up with the World Series of Poker, but there was certaintly a dust-up at the WSOP in Las Vegas late last week and on Saturday.

A British pro, Will Kassouf, was banned for the remainder of the tournament for misconduct. There are clips all over social media and online and it’s just a tiny fraction of what happened. For anyone who saw it, you know what I’m talking about. For those who don’t, here it is in a nutshell – the guy never stopped talking, ever. He would drag out each and every single hand and every single play, which held up the entire table. Even hands that no one in their right mind would play became a long, drawn out production.

Was it funny and/or entertaining? Yes, for about 5-10 minutes. Then it got old very quickly. When tournament officials penalized him (they had to on many occasions), he would argue with them incessently and play the victim. At some point, he started name calling other players and made it personal. When he finally lost all of his chips he went on a tirade and was banned for the remainder of the tournament. Yes, he was out of the main tournament but there are still others. Even when security came to escort him away he wouldn’t leave and kept babbling. 

Reading comments from social media, there are two different lines of thought on this whole thing. The first is it was entertaining and good for poker, because his antics drew attention to the game. It made it more lively. As I said before, it was funny for about 5-10 minutes but became old very quickly.

The other line of thought seems to be good riddance. It certainly couldn’t have been pleasant for others at his table. Every single card became a non-stop sideshow, which held things up for everyone. While other tables are playing hand after hand and building up chips (or losing them), he’s slowing his table to a snail’s pace. Frankly, I’m surprised someone didn’t lunge across the table at the guy.

Just Google poker player banned from WSOP and see what you think.

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.