Revisiting the Douglas/Bowman Affair

In the weeks since his arrest, it seems like Anthony Bowman is going about his punishment the right way. He is open and apologetic to the media, and he sounds as if he understands why he's being punished. Now, unless we learn that his involvement in the case was much smaller than earlier reports indicate, he'll likely be suspended for the year--heck, even if he isn't, he's so far behind in practice time that he probably wouldn't play upon reinstatement anyway. As far as getting his career and life back on track, this is the way to do it.

Unfortunately, it's harder to say the same thing about Dominique Douglas; he has refused comment to the press, and I have no idea if he's planning on attending class this semester. Usually, though, the more uncertainty that surrounds a situation like this, the worse it ends up. Let's just hope James Cleveland's method of support was a "You are my friend and I really hope you turn it around" message, not "I think you have been wronged through no fault of your own and I expect no change in behavior from here on out."

Two digits, one world of uneasiness for Iowa fans.

Nicks, Dings, and Bruises

A quick look at who's spending time in the ice tubs...

Starting LT Dace Richardson (Jr.) continues to be out as he recovers from offseason knee surgery, and he is expected to be out for at least another week. Starting RT Kyle Calloway (So.) has shifted from the right side of the line to take Richardson's place.

Second-string LT Bryan Bulaga (Fr.) is questionable for Saturday's game with a shoulder injury.

Starting C Rafael Eubanks (So.) is nursing a sore foot, but should be back at practice soon. He is still expected to start this Saturday.

Reserve RT Alex Kanellis (Jr.) is still receiving treatment for post-concussion symptoms, and we'll know more later this week. He should be considered "out" for Saturday.

Reserve WR Paul Chaney Jr. (RFr.) is out for Saturday with a toe injury, and he will most likely miss the Syracuse game as well. Second-string WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (RFr.) will replace Chaney as a kickoff returner.

Starting WR Trey Stross (So.), who missed last weekend's scrimmage with a sore hamstring, is expected to start against NIU.

OL Rob Bruggeman (Jr.) continues to recover from major knee surgery and is questionable to return this season. Bruggeman was listed the second-string C at the time of his injury this spring.

Reserve LB Jeff Tarpinian (RFr.) is still recovering from a back injury and is out for Saturday.

Second-string QB Arvell Nelson (RFr.) and second-string CB Bradley Fletcher (Jr.) are both out with judgment sprains, while starting WR Dominique Douglas (So.) and reserve WR Anthony Bowman (So.) remain out indefinitely with ruptured retard tendons.

[UPDATE: Second-string DT Karl Klug (RFr.) will miss 4-6 weeks after foot surgery. Jesus.]

Kirk Ferentz: Reading between the lines

Kirk Ferentz spoke to the media regarding the Douglas/Bowman Affair for the first time yesterday. Obviously, he couldn't delve into specifics, but what he did say was carefully crafted and bad news for the suspended receivers.

“The charges are serious, and there’s a real gap right now between the information the police have provided and then also what the players have provided,” Ferentz said on ESPN. “What we’ve done is suspend both players indefinitely, and I think the only fair thing to do at this point is let it play out in the courts, and we’ll reserve judgment.”

Granted, there may be no greater group of overreachers than state prosecutors. Ferentz would be crazy to take everything on a criminal complaint at face value. That said, as mentioned before, this is some of the most easily verified stuff possible. Online credit cards purchases, shipping addresses, and university computer equipment are all virtual guarantees of identification. So when the players and police are telling Ferentz two very different stories, it's awfully hard to imagine the truth is on the side of City Boyz, Inc. So while it would be nice to believe that the police are in the wrong, it seems far more likely that Douglas and Bowman are still being less than forthright with their coach, and that is not the way back to the field.

“I think what you have to do is let the legal system dictate what’s going to take place here and how accurate the charges are,” Ferentz said. “We’ve seen other instances in college athletics where it appears to be one way and turns out to be another. At this point, what we have to do is let that play itself out.

If this defense of his players seems tepid to you, then you're not alone.

“Obviously, I want to believe our players — what they told me – but we have to go through the process. In the meantime, as far as the team goes, I think what we have to do is almost treat it as if both players are injured. We’ve got to proceed and get ready for the season.”

If Ferentz is saying he "wants to believe" Bowman and Douglas, he's also saying he does not, in fact, believe Bowman and Douglas. In case you're keeping track, that's the third time he deferred to the legal process. While it's all standard procedures for coaches in this situation ("We have to see what the courts say," "I hope it's not true," etc.), Ferentz had opportunities to show real support for the young men, and he instead chose to (correctly) mention that the team is going to move on, instead.

Lastly, because I've got no time to write more about it, Susan Harman (easily the most competent sportswriter at the P-C) has a nice write-up on the linebacking corps this morning.

I'll be out of town for the rest of the weekend, so if anything major comes out at this afternoon's press conference (unlikely), you can bet that sweet, hot ass of yours that JHC, Hawkeye State, and our resident legal expert Ciroc will be here to cover it. Also, as we approach the start of the season: weekend posts!

Life's a Hustle, All Right

Right about now, the Johnson County DA is looking into any cash advance from those stolen numbers...

Wow.

OPS says: Do we have more? Jesus yes, we have more. Fellow "City Boyz, Inc" and legal menace Arvell Nelson is (of course) involved. Seriously.

This is what a month's rent looks like.


Two months.


That's Arvell in the middle. Not in the lower left corner. In the middle.

The rest of the pictures are presented without comment, because really, fuck it.

Okay, one comment:
Why do they need $2500 in loose cash? Because fuck you, that's why!

Back on the Chain Gang

So, just when we thought it couldn't get any worse...

An arrest warrant has been issued for backup quarterback Arvell Nelson for failure to appear in court for a traffic ticket.

The 19-year-old freshman was cited in early July for driving with a suspended license. He failed to pay the fine or show up for his court hearing. Officials say Nelson has contacted the police department about the matter. (CBS 4)

"It's Just Ciroc, Your Honor, and thank you."

I decided it was time for me to check in with The Hawkeye Compulsion's resident legal analyst, the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer. He agreed that this is pretty damn minor. Arvell will likely get a tongue lashing from whatever judge he appears before, pay his fine, and that will be it. But it's awful timing to begin with, only made worse by its proximity to the season opener.

Now, as for DD and Bowman, OPS correctly laid out the law at issue. In black and white, they both face Class D felonies. But as first offenders who only stole $2000, they are likely to get a deal to stay out of jail. In fact, there's an outside chance of a deferred judgment that would keep them off probation. It's not to say they should return to the team (I haven't heard anyone arguing they should play this season, and most agree this is probably a Gots To Go situation), but it's unlikely DD or Bowman spend any time at 5th and Capitol (let alone Fort Leavenworth, as initially reported).

Finally, I asked Ciroc how he would defend these two. His words were poetic and moving, as always:

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I'm just a caveman. I fell into some ice and was thawed out by your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes, when I see my image on the security camera at the country club, I wonder, 'Are they stealing my soul?' I get so upset, I hop out of my Range Rover, and run across the fairway to the clubhouse, where I get Carlos to make me one of those martini cocktails he's so famous for, to soothe my primitive caveman brain. Sometimes, when I'm watching a football game on my 60-inch high-definition television, I think, 'Are there demons inside this box controlling what I see?' I don't know. My simple caveman mind cannot grasp these concepts.

"But there is one thing I do know. I know that when a person, such as my client, logs onto a public university computer with his personally identifiable login identification and uses stolen credit card numbers to buy $2000 worth of hats and baggy shorts, he is simply too stupid to go to jail. Thank you."

Ciroc's words would certainly move the jury to acquittal. He does it every time.

Exploring the actual charges

I will warn you ahead of time that this is long and dry. For funny stuff, check out this incredibly well-executed comparison of the members of the SEC to the Bluth family. Seriously, it's outstanding.

For those of you interested in what, precisely, Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman are charged with, here's the full text of the relevant portion of Iowa code (emphasis mine):

715A.6 Credit cards.

1. A person commits a public offense by using a credit card for the purpose of obtaining property or services with knowledge of any of the following:

a. The credit card is stolen or forged.

b. The credit card has been revoked or canceled.

c. For any other reason the use of the credit card is unauthorized.

It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under paragraph "c" if the person proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the person had the intent and ability to meet all obligations to the issuer arising out of the use of the credit card.

2. An offense under this section is a class "D" felony if the value of the property or services secured or sought to be secured by means of the credit card is greater than one thousand dollars, otherwise the offense is an aggravated misdemeanor.

The first bolded text is--well, it's the title of the code. Actually, though, it's still important. It's Iowa code, which means it's not a federal crime (despite early rumors). That's good for Bowman and Douglas; if the feds take a case, you can be sure of three things: 1) there's overwhelming evidence that you did something very, very bad, 2) The Feds, having spent months meticulously preparing the case, are wholly uninterested in letting you plead down to a misdemeanor, and 3) with a conviction rate over 90%, you are grade-A fucked.

The second is a biggie, and it explains why the complaint alleges the young men "purchased or attempted to purchase" those (sigh) hats and shoes. Whether they actually received the ill-gotten property is irrelevant; the criminal act is the unlawful use of the card(s). Thus, if some anti-fraud person at the credit card company saw the transaction and nixed it, that wouldn't let Douglas or Bowman off the hook. And that is bad news for them: even if the situation was so fraught with ineptitude that the young men couldn't finalize the online purchases because they didn't know the billing address (highly plausible), the defense that the charges weren't actually made won't save them.

Lastly, the kids are accused of $2016 in attempted fraudulent purchases, which is more than twice the necessary amount for a felony. Their attorneys may try to argue that the two acts weren't in conjunction with each other, so unless they each tried to ring up $1008, one could move down to a serious misdemeanor. The judge, however, probably won't fall for the "unrelated and separate instances" defense, for some reason.

If the young men's attorneys can't get a plea bargain for misdemeanors, they are most likely facing felony conviction. I'm not assuming they're guilty, but this doesn't look good at all. I mentioned it before, but there's a whole lot of easily verifiable information that implicates them both. They used their HawkID to log into university computers to (allegedly) commit the crimes, for crying out loud. Unless they can prove the integrity of their passwords was compromised and that the goods were to be reaped by someone else with access to those computers, then they're going down.

The "good" news about that, however, is that as of 2001, a class D felon with no prior prison or jail time should "only" no more than two years [links to PDF file; page 4]. So if convicted, their lives would not be over. They'd be felons, but at least they wouldn't be in prison long enough to ruin their lives. One would hope so, anyway.

Let's hope, strictly for the personal sake of Douglas and Bowman, that their charges are reduced to misdemeanors. If so, they'd probably only face lengthy probation sentences. They definitely shouldn't expect to play a single snap of football this year, but maybe they can at least get their shit together while they're still on the right side of prison bars.

Those #88 jerseys may not sell very well anymore

One of the most interesting side stories in this giant embarrassment is what Nike plans on doing. You see, Iowa's deal with the sneaker pimps dictates that they market two numbered faux-jerseys to the public every year. Iowa always recommends one player from each side of the ball--this year they suggested Albert Young and Bryan Mattison--but Nike gets the final say. And since we're talking about it now, you can probably guess who they paired with AY.

The best news is the following quote: Dale Arens, UI's trademark licensing director, said if the jerseys are pulled off the shelf that will be a decision made by the store managers. In other words, there are definitely some still out there for sale.

Readers, your challenge is to buy one and rep yo hood the same way #88 does. Any and all BBBBAAAAALLLLLIIIINNN pictures you send of yourselves (or your children) rocking the double-ocho will definitely get posted. Like, immediately.

Things Just Got Real(er)

According to the ICPC, Kirk Ferentz has suspended Douglas and Bowman indefinitely. I think it's the only thing he could do at this point. One quote of note was cryptic and mysterious -

“As is often the case in matters of this nature, I am aware of inconsistencies in what may or may not have taken place. We need to let the legal process run its course.”

Does this mean we don't know the whole story? Time will tell. We're tracking this like a dog after a bone and we'll let you know whenever we hear more.

Things Just Got Real

The rumors have been confirmed and it isn't good (it never is). According to the ICPC, Iowa WR's Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman were arrested Sunday Morning for unauthorized use of credit cards. That's a felony, lawya. They've been charged with using those credit cards to make $2,016.76 in purchases at area businesses. The credit cards belonged to two separate victims. Although their "plan" didn't show a lot of cunning, at least they went all out and robbed two separate people. Way to get yours, guys.

I'm not going to call them kids and apologize for them. This isn't that kind of story. If everything I've read is true and they did this, I don't want them wearing an Iowa jersey anytime soon. This isn't getting drunk and relieving yourself in an alley (which I've done on occasion). This isn't having a few pops and getting into a scrap. This is theft and that's got nothing to do with piss, vinegar, or bourbon. It's got to do with being a thief, and a bad one at that. These two wiseguys stole credit cards, went to an Athletic Department computer (which I can assume required them to sign in with their own ID), and ordered hats. Yes, hats. I could see using them to order jet skis and rims for the whip but they went to Hatworld and Sneakerhead. The youth of America worries me. The whole thing is embarrassing, ignorant, and shameful.

How does this affect the team? Douglas was the top Freshman WR in the nation last year and was expected to start. Bowman played special teams and was expected to get some offensive snaps this year. We have Andy Brodell and Trey Stross, among others, to throw to, but we don't have anyone that can replace DD. As much as this whole thing makes me sick, how'd you like to be Jake Christensen this morning?
Sadly, this won't be the last you'll hear about this. We'll keep you posted as things develop.

Two WR's are reportedly in huge trouble

We started hearing some rumors last night about a couple guys on the team being busted for felonious behavior. It's all been about Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman, and it's all been really bad. Felony bad.

There hasn't been any solid information from newspapers or similarly reputable sources yet. As such, we don't have any news, good or bad, for you; just the faint reassurance that neither player shows up in the State of Iowa courts database yet. [UPDATE: Two papers are reporting the players were arrested Sunday.] An admin at one big site is saying there is a court date set for September 5. If that's the case, they need to be suspended; there's nothing that can help them on a football field anymore.

We're desperate for information, so if any readers have any updates, please send them off our way at the address listed to the right. What we will not do, however, is publish unverified rumors. There's plenty of those on the message board, where only fools dare tread.

We'll be keeping our eyes and ears open throughout the day, and if there's any silver lining to a situation like this one, it's that these sorts of rumors are going to be either verified or disproved very quickly. When that happens, we'll move on.

Goddammit.

Talk Me Out of the Insanity

From time to time, I'll start thinking crazy, folks, and I'll need someone to talk me out of it.

Topic 1: I don't think Dominique Douglas should start.

Now. He's the best route-runner on the team, and he's got the most starting experience of any of the receivers we've got (read that again and think about it). He rewrote the freshman record books last year, leading the team with 49 catches and coming in second with 654 yards. Both numbers were also the best for any freshman last year.

All that said, he was passed over by Michigan and Michigan State for a reason, and that's because he lacks top-end speed. While there's clearly more to being a receiver than 40 times, the fact is that he only averaged about 13 yards per catch. His longest reception was 37 yards, on a pass that a burner could have run under and taken to the house. Don't believe me? Observe:

Was it a great play by Douglas? Absolutely. No doubt about it. But if he had one more step on the play (a step that sprint champs Trey Stross and Andy Brodell would have), that's a 91-yard touchdown.

Further, let's talk about why it'd be a 91-yard score: There was no deep safety help. Safeties don't have to fear him, and as a result they can cheat toward the line of scrimmage most of the time. You think Young and Sims are happy whenever there's 8 guys in the box?

I'd like to see Douglas used primarily as a slot receiver in 3-WR sets. As long as there's two guys pushing the safeties deep (or at the very least more than 10 yards off the line), he'd be great to wreak havoc underneath. Like I said, he's easily the best route-runner on the team.

It seems, on its face, to be utterly insane to suggest demoting a 3rd string Freshman All-American who is arguably your most experienced and productive returning receiver. But he seems to be at his limit physically, and I don't see room for a ton of improvement. Thus: could anyone please talk me out of thinking this way?