11/05/24
April 26, 2004
Jenna Cooper, an all-Big 12 women's soccer player at the University of Nebraska, was fatally wounded Saturday night by a gun fired during a party at her house.
One of the sports radio hosts in Dallas has a saying for situations like this, which he uses whenever an athete gets in trouble in the middle of the night: "Nothing good can happen when you're out at 3 a.m."
posted by rcade at 09:45 AM on April 26, 2004
Lucky Iromuanya, 22, pulled a gun from his waistband and shot UNL student Nolan Jenkins, 22, in the head, Beggs said. The bullet grazed Jenkins' head and struck Cooper in the neck.Holy crap. That's horrible. On preview: rcade, she was at her own house -- say what you will, it's not like she was out looking for trouble.
posted by Jugwine at 09:48 AM on April 26, 2004
that's a shame. my thoughts are with the families of Cooper and the injured Jenkins.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:01 AM on April 26, 2004
A 2 a.m. Sunday morning barbeque? They can make late night partying sound so innocuous.
posted by garfield at 10:03 AM on April 26, 2004
The shooting happened at 2 or 3 a.m. at a party attended by two dozen people. Without blaming Cooper at all, I think the "nothing good can happen" rule definitely applies to having large parties that stretch into the middle of the night with some dumbass who brings a gun. Though I'm sure there were 1,000 large parties at colleges around the country this weekend and I attended some myself in the Pleistocene Epoch. It's just a shame. This weekend I was heading home and saw a group of college-aged people speeding out of a gas station and screaming like drunks. It's funny how your perception shifts overnight from "where's the party?" to "I hope they've got a designated driver."
posted by rcade at 10:30 AM on April 26, 2004
Plenty of good things have happened to me when I was out at 3 a.m. And plenty of people have thrown parties and not gotten shot.
posted by jeffmshaw at 10:31 AM on April 26, 2004
Such as? I'm guessing at least one of them involves the phrases "so drunk," "and the barf shot out his nose like a cannon" and "fuckin' awesome." You should have been there the time we went to see Devo play in Dallas' Deep Ellum section, Jeff. It was fuckin' awesome. We were so drunk. In defense of the rule, it was directed at high-profile athletes during the Jimmy Johnson era in Dallas, when Michael Irvin, Erik Williams, and others helped popularize it.
posted by rcade at 10:42 AM on April 26, 2004
Rcade, I'm glad you feel comfortable judging a 21-year-old college kid for having a party at her own house that stretched into the wee hours of the morning. I regret that I don't have your strength of conviction. Yes, many of the good things that have happened to me while hanging out at parties until 3 a.m. involve booze, but I can't think of any that involve puking. Sorry to disappoint you. Even sorrier that you evidently have never been at a party where you're having so much fun you don't want to go home. Met my wife that way. I think the rule "nothing good can happen when you're Michael Irvin and you're out at 3 a.m." might make sense. As it stands, though, it looks an awful lot like you're saying "College kids that throw parties and get shot should have known better than to throw parties." Classy. The fact that you apparently posted this FPP so you could follow it up with that comment is even classier.
posted by jeffmshaw at 11:14 AM on April 26, 2004
A google search of the alleged gunman reveals one find of Lucky here on the Nebraska Volunteer Service Commission's web site. And here is the picture: Middle Row Left to Right: Joan Barnes, Tarah Root, Marla Root, Jodi Williams, Governor Mike Johanns, First Lady Stephanie Johanns, Lucky Iromuanya, and Willamae Collier. I find it a little disturbing that someone who wears a crucifix around their neck, also carries a gun in their wasteband. Please note that given the distinct sounding name of the individual mentioned, I am assuming they are the same person unless told otherwise.
posted by usfbull at 11:31 AM on April 26, 2004
I find it a little disturbing that someone who wears a crucifix around their neck, also carries a gun in their wasteband. Maybe a member of the Knights Templar?
posted by yerfatma at 11:41 AM on April 26, 2004
I'm not judging; I'm lamenting. It's a terrible shame that some dumbass showed up with a gun in his pants and then shot somebody with it, killing this girl. If you want to view my post as a nefarious scheme to pass judgment on the newly dead, be my guest. I'm not going to stop you from making a fool of yourself. (Which brings us back to the good that can happen at 3 a.m.)
posted by rcade at 11:42 AM on April 26, 2004
Things like this are always sad. I send my thoughts to the family and team too. You know, sometimes things like this just happen. It didn't sound like she was looking for trouble. Sometimes, trouble is just there, and you can only avoid so much of it without cutting yourself off completely from the world around you. You can choose to live your whole life in fear of what's around the corner, or you can go to (or host) the occasional party, where the occasional crazy person might show up. Shootings are still pretty rare, all things considered, as long as you're not cruising for crack in a bad part of town at 3 in the morning, even among college athletes. On the face of it, she wasn't asking or looking to get shot. Trouble is just sometimes out there, at 3 a.m. or 3 p.m., and it sucks.
posted by chicobangs at 11:47 AM on April 26, 2004
Hey, at least I wait until 3 a.m. before making a fool of myself. This 3 a.m. rule: is there a way to interpret your invocation of it that that does not constitute blaming the victim? She was an adult who had a party at her own home. There's no way she could have foreseen two people getting into a violent dispute that she wasn't party to and killing her accidentally. A college student over 21 should be able to throw a party and indulge in a little legal drinking without having to frisk everybody who shows up -- and without facing tongue-clicking from second-guessers who say she shouldn't have stayed up late.
posted by jeffmshaw at 12:13 PM on April 26, 2004
What part of the words "without blaming Cooper at all" and "it's just a shame" and "I attended some myself" are you having trouble with, Jeff? I invoked the rule because you never hear about good things happening to athletes at 3 in the morning. It seems weird to me that you're so invested in the idea that partying 'til 3 a.m. should never be described as questionable behavior. While acknowledging that you gotta fight for your right to party, and all that, I know I was lucky to survive a lot of bad decisions I made during my college years. Pretending it was a glorious consequence-free time is just stupid.
posted by rcade at 12:33 PM on April 26, 2004
So, here's how I read your comments: "Without blaming Cooper at all," you want to point out that she engaged in "questionable behavior" and that "nothing good can happen" to people engaged in that behavior. I'm willing to let that speak for itself.
posted by jeffmshaw at 12:44 PM on April 26, 2004
While this is sad, even tragic, I wonder what the point of posting it to SportsFilter is. Yes, she was a soccer player, albeit one I doubt any of us heard of prior to this time, but what are we supposed to discuss? Pat Tillman, being so high profile, barely made my criteria for appropriateness. And the exchange over partying at 3 am only strengthens my belief that we should minimize these posts.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:38 PM on April 26, 2004
Thanks for letting me know how you are reading my comments, Jeff. See if you can use those amazing interpretive powers to guess which finger I'm holding up.
posted by rcade at 01:53 PM on April 26, 2004
I for one don't think the problem is 3 AM parties. Its the fucking guns. I am very appreciative of the fact that no one got shot in my 4+ years of heavy partying at University, not one stupid moron brought a loaded 9 to wash down a few beers with. Please throw the book at this guy. God bless Canada - where 3am party fatalities usually involve a snowmobile, a semi-frozen lake and natural selection.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:09 PM on April 26, 2004
Oh and rcade - I may not agree with you entirely, but thats a helluva ZING! on shaw. In my evil heart I am applauding.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:10 PM on April 26, 2004
Couldn't resist. If given the choice between making a thoughtful comment that would ameliorate a tense disagreement or dropping the verbal equivalent of the Daisy Cutter, I think it's pretty clear which way I'm going. Open the bomb bay doors!
posted by rcade at 02:19 PM on April 26, 2004
See if you can use those amazing interpretive powers to guess which finger I'm holding up. 0 to 60 in just three posts! Why take it like that? Going back and re-reading your comments, I see all the not blaming the victim stuff, but it all sounded like she made a mistake in you r early comments (specifically #2) and I think there's a difference between Michael Irvin's parties and women's soccer parties in Nebraska that you're understating. If I had asked you two days ago what you thought the likelihood of being shot at a party at a woman's house involving the women's soccer team in the state of Nebraska were, I'm guessing it would have been a low number. See if you can use your amazingly think skin to get irritated.
posted by yerfatma at 02:23 PM on April 26, 2004
It's been personal since this comment, yerfatma:
The fact that you apparently posted this FPP so you could follow it up with that comment is even classier.If the subject of partying at 3 a.m. had come up two days ago, I would've said the same thing I did here. It's simply a good life rule for those of us with an exaggerated sense of caution, and a word of advice I'll be passing along to my children, who will undoubtedly ignore it.
posted by rcade at 02:41 PM on April 26, 2004
That's what I get for doing the ADD skim thing: never saw that.
posted by yerfatma at 03:08 PM on April 26, 2004
Not only do I know what finger you've got up, I know what orifice it currently inhabits. Look, rcade, you posted this FPP about a tragic death. What did you think the first comment was going to be? Probably something like "How tragic, senseless and sad." Right? I don't know what about "how tragic, senseless and sad" provoked you to lecture a dead college kid for having a party at her house, but something did. In the second comment in this thread, you dropped your derisive comment. The "subject of partying at 3 a.m." didn't "come up." You brought it up out of the blue as a way to get your take on this issue across. Your point, as I understand it, is that you think this girl made a bad choice that got her killed. We disagree. I think that's a terrible way to look at this, a way that blames an innocent bystander who paid the ultimate price for someone else's awful decision. I also stand by my "you apparently posted this FPP so you could follow it up with that comment," er, comment, and frankly don't see why it's at all controversial. You began the thread. You were the second person to comment in it. Clearly that's something you wanted to say, right? So isn't it strictly accurate to say that you posted this FPP so you could follow it up with that comment? You had a vocal take that was different than mine. We argued. Isn't that, you know, the point? [BTW, if this is "personal" to you, then you really do need to get a thicker skin. Or maybe relax a little. Go to a few parties, you know.]
posted by jeffmshaw at 03:44 PM on April 26, 2004
Hmn, our paper just covered preventing problem parties yesterday. Sadly, I don't think there was anything she could have done to prepare for this, assuming that she knew the folks who had the fight. This did not sound like one of those 300 person parties that get out of control.
posted by eckeric at 04:06 PM on April 26, 2004
My thought process went like this: 1. Man, that's a sad story on ABC News about the girl in Nebraska. I wonder what happened. 2. Hey, here's a story about her on the Nebraska paper site. And look, a picture of her playing this season. What a tragedy. 3. I think I'll post it on SportsFilter. Nothing else has been posted today, so why not make it my 274th post? 4. Now that's done. Wonder what's up on Yahoo! Most Mailed ... hey, that protester from the March on Women is hot. 5. Is she a lesbian? 6. Doesn't she kinda look like Cindy Crawford? I should post that a couple of other places. 7. Those stickers are going to cause painful abrasions. 8. Mmm, Twizzlers. 9. I think I'll check SportsFilter. 10. Look, a comment on my post ... yeah, it is tragic and senseless. 11. You know, that reminds me of what Gregg "the Hammer" Williams on KTCK says every time an athlete is involved in some middle-of-the-night trouble. 12. He's right. Nothing good can happen to you at 3 a.m. Poor kid. Stupid gun-toting dumbass. I realize at this point that I should defer to your authority on what I was thinking and what my posts mean, but this list is pretty much my entire thought process up to my first comment. The remark that you continue to see as a pointed insult towards Jenna Cooper was simply a lament -- a regretful observation. I've clarified it several different ways, but you continue to view every comment I make in the least charitable manner you can. You may commence looking for another reason to crawl up my ass. Knock yourself out, Jeff. Let me know if you find any corn.
posted by rcade at 04:31 PM on April 26, 2004
This thread has entertained me all day.
posted by vito90 at 05:05 PM on April 26, 2004
Last post. Thought about trying to "crawl up your ass," but I couldn't get around the stick. On the substance: Like I said, I'm happy to let your comments speak for themselves. On the sniping: who is crawling up whose ass here? On preview: it's all been worth it if vito has been amused. Enjoy the Twizzlers.
posted by jeffmshaw at 05:18 PM on April 26, 2004
Don't stop now. I've just got the popcorn.
posted by squealy at 05:26 PM on April 26, 2004
Great stuff... like British Parliament on CSPAN, but without the veneer of politeness. Too bad it's about a girl's death, huh?
posted by dusted at 05:31 PM on April 26, 2004
this was the only bright spot of my day!
posted by jerseygirl at 06:11 PM on April 26, 2004
I invoked the rule because you never hear about good things happening to athletes at 3 in the morning. I'm going to use my amazing deductive powers and guess that this is because, when good things happen to athletes (or anyone else) at 3 in the morning, it is a non-event...except to the participants, unless they're so tacky as to kiss and tell.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:43 PM on April 26, 2004
You may commence looking for another reason to crawl up my ass. Knock yourself out, Jeff. Let me know if you find any corn. Game, set and match to rcade. Last post. Thought about trying to "crawl up your ass," but I couldn't get around the stick. I'm sorry, sir, but the match is over. Perhaps at the next tournament?
posted by deadcowdan at 09:21 PM on April 26, 2004
I'm offended by rcade's taste in women. That's all I've got.
posted by justgary at 09:49 PM on April 26, 2004
indeed, justgary. indeed. but, dude, he saw Devo live. *heart flutters*
posted by danostuporstar at 07:12 AM on April 27, 2004
the thing is rcade is probably this older man, that didn't have fun in college, high school, or anytime in his life. he probably didn't ever get invited to parties, was rejected by the popular kids, and that girl he had a crush on for years. he probably wanted to play sports, but wasn't very good. probably on a team, but sat the bench, or was just a manager. so he wouldn't know what exactly goes on at parties or gatherings that tend to go on late in the evening. let me tell you what went on here, seeing as i was actually there. a group of friends were celebrating a great season and spending some last minute time with seniors. the party wasn't wild, not out of control as you make it sound rcade. it was merely a regular gathering. jenna happened to be in the wrong place when this happened. she wasn't looking for trouble, despite what you think. the time of day has nothing to do with happened. this could have happened at 2 in the afternoon. we're not able to control how someone reacts to what another person says, regardless of how well you know them. You seem to be forgeting that someone died. Any individual with a heart would show some sort of compassion for the loss her family and friends have encountered. How would you react if this would have been one of your children? Would you have placed blame on them. I doubt it. I think anger would have hit and you would blame and be angry at the individual that killed your child. Do you know how many gatherings/parties continue after midnight? We have plenty that occur. it doesn't mean we're drinking or doing drugs. Have you ever heard of game night or movie night? If not, maybe you should get rid of your all knowing attitude and make some friends.
posted by achusker at 12:29 PM on April 28, 2004
achusker, were you actually at Jenna's party?
posted by dusted at 01:05 PM on April 28, 2004
let me tell you what went on here, seeing as i was actually there. I'm guessing achusker is going to say yes..
posted by blarp at 01:24 PM on April 28, 2004
i'm guessing achusker never posts again.
posted by danostuporstar at 01:25 PM on April 28, 2004
Yes I was there. dano, why wouldn't i post again in response to all of this?
posted by achusker at 01:43 PM on April 28, 2004
Sorry, I missed that sentence.
posted by dusted at 01:48 PM on April 28, 2004
apologies, ac. i just got the impression that you had said your (understandable) peace and would be moving along. it didn't seem like you were interested in better of understanding of where rcade or this community is coming from. perhaps, i posted too rashly. (may i suggest further "meta" comments not directly related to the topic be posted in the lockerroom thread, though any details of that night you would be willing to provide would be very appropriate and appreciated in this thread.)
posted by danostuporstar at 02:00 PM on April 28, 2004
That's a pretty good guess, achusker, though the players in my weekly Dungeons & Dragons sessions could tell you that high school rcade knew a thing or two about parties. As for the "nothing good can happen at 3 a.m." rule, I think you've misread the intent of my comments, but I'm not going to get into an argument with someone who just buried a friend. Like everyone else here, I'm sorry for your loss.
posted by rcade at 02:36 PM on April 28, 2004
achusker - I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. It is a tragic thing indeed. Please feel comfortable staying here and being a part of this community if it suits you to do so.
posted by vito90 at 11:17 PM on April 28, 2004
How tragic, senseless and sad.