While the Oregon State wrestling team is preparing for the NCAA tournament, one of the qualifiers had some legal woes to deal with.
Here’s a link a story GT crime reporter Rachel Beck did on 141-pounder Mike Mangrum.
He had his sentence hearing Wednesday about the drunken fight he and teammate Tim Patrick got into last spring. Mangrum got probation, even though he didn’t complete the diversion program he was supposed to.
According to Beck, Mangrum thought studying hall and training for wrestling was more important than diversion, and missed a court date to wrestle a match. The vibe was the judge had mercy on Mangrum even though the prosecutor was outraged.
The worst part of all this, Mangrum apparently lost this scuffle with a cyclist.
Comment here if you like. The Beavers took a wait-and-see stance. So should Mangrum be allowed to wrestle at the NCAA tournament with this verdict?
UPDATE: I caught up with coach Jim Zalesky and asked him the status of Mangrum going into the NCAAs and if he followed OSU’s code of conduct since Mangrum didn’t miss a meet this season.
Zalesky follows the code as a guideline, and suspended Mangrum earlier. He also expects more from his guys. For him this has already been addressed. The courts just caught up. So, Mangrum is NCAA-bound.
“The only reason it’s an issue now is he didn’t do what he is suppose to do,” Zalesky said. “It was a good learning experience for him. For me, I punished him last year. He was supposed to go to the junior world trials. That happened about two weeks before that and I pulled him out. As far as wrestling, I already punished him. His problem is he has to take individual responsibility, which he didn’t do.”
26 comments
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 11, 2010
No. Without consequences, diversion programs are meaningless. Good judgment comes from bad judgment, as they say.
JackBeav says:
Mar 11, 2010
Is the prosecutor related to the judge?
Having a sibling as a prosecutor, I've learned that everybody is guilty of everything always. And the whole story will never be told.
I'm wondering what happened to the cyclists who had to stop, turn around, get off their bikes, initiate a physical confrontation and then win that confrontation in the end.
Bench probation and community service are no light sentence, and they are a result of what I assume was a much much lighter diversion program.
And did Mangrum 'fail' to appear in court on Jan. 7, or did his lawyer postpone the date? It seems unlikely that someone who has been in the news for the last month for this issue would be allowed to walk around Corvallis while having a bench warrant for his arrest hanging over his head.
We're talking about a police force that hides in the bushes in order to arrest party-goers if they step on the sidewalk with alcohol in their possession.
*I'm not speaking as a victim of such silliness. I'm speaking as a friend of one former and one current Corvallis police officer.
JackBeav says:
Mar 11, 2010
So, to answer your question, he should be allowed to wrestle as long as the judge says he can. I'm sure he needs a chaperon if he's leaving the judge's jurisdiction.
We're talking about a kid who lost a fight someone else started… a disorderly conduct charge. There's no info about the charge for which he was sentenced, so I can't speak to that. But the original incident sounded almost like a consentual 'wrestling match'.
Since the cyclists were the ones who approached the pedestrians, they are the aggressors. When they were also arrested, were they drunk? Did they go to jail for DUI's? Or was their aggression the result of clear and sober minds?
mumblestilskin says:
Mar 12, 2010
I dont believe the other group was charged with anything, not disorderly, nothing. Perhaps the press should have investigated a little to see there was six vs two. Both partyies definitely could have avoided the situation. It seems odd that one group was cited and one was not. I highly doubt it was an outright jumping of the six by two.
I am sure the crime reporter told half the story and left out the part about the larger group coming upon the two and calling them slurs that if true, would likley have the press reporting an alleged "hate crime". But since it wasn't the case, it was easier to demonize the athletes for being more able to fefend themselves and turn the group of six into " the victims". Six on two, pretty good odss most of the time. A 145 lb guy and another with a broken and fused neck charged as the pers.
ckirkpatrick says:
Mar 11, 2010
Here's story from a while back for info, if you want:
http://gazettetimes.com/news/local/crime-and-cour…
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 11, 2010
Even if all these sinister railroad -job type accusations are true, the fact is he agreed to certain conditions and then took it upon himself to not participate. I doubt that his wrestling coach would have said it's OK to do so if asked beforehand, and it's reasonable to suggest the school's athletic department has an interest in all this. Student athletes, especially those on scholarship (and I don't know if this applies to Mangrum) represent the university and are rightfully held to a higher standard. Unfair? It doesn't matter, it is what it is. It takes more strength of character to avoid involvement in such things. The consequences are extreme and sometimes seemingly unfair. This is not news. Not by a long shot. Personally I'd like to see OSU hold their athletes to a higher standard than what I usually see out of UO or UW. Just my opinion. I knew some Corvallis police officers during my time there, I also knew a number of OSU athletes who were Grade-A a-holes.
beavfan05 says:
Mar 11, 2010
Cliff,
What was the policy that was implemented around the 04/05 season when things got crazy? I recall Bob D announcing a policy for student athletes and they would be suspended/dismissed if they reached certain criteria.
Is that still in effect?
ckirkpatrick says:
Mar 11, 2010
It's sort of still in use. The football team uses it, and a harsher code at times.
At the time De Carolis wanted to get things under control and it was followed by everyone. Non-football coaches didn't like it because their players didn't in trouble that much.
So, it became a guideline. Technically, coaches don't have to follow it, or follow it totally.
And in this case, these are minor in the legal pecking order. Meaning there was no felony. Felonies, OSU comes down hard on players.
WebTraveler says:
Mar 12, 2010
Sort of is right,. It's DeCarolis playing games. We found out that the only coach that seemed to follow the policy was Riley. Casey sure as heck has no respect for the policy, ala his players shooting guns in city limits. I lost all respect for Casey when he failed to follow the policy because he thought it was bad for the team. Same goes now for wresting coach Zalesky. No respect dude….yes, you punished him early on, but he failed to follow through with the program and found himself back in court because of it, so doesn't that merit something else?
I guess not….Riley is a stand up guy….baseball and wrestling coaches apparently have little ethical principals.
mumblestilskin says:
Mar 12, 2010
it seems some of the details of the incident have escaped the court and the local press. Why has it not been brought up that a group of 5-6 people started the altercation with the two wrestlers? As someone mentioned, the people on bikes must have stopped or come back to the two wrestlers. Mr. Mangrum was not charged with assault, he was charged with disorderly conduct. That is after police were on the scene and interviews with the other party. Police pulled up to on the scene after being called by way of cell phone by 1 of the 5 or 6 individuals that were getting the worst of it from 1 guy (not Mangrum by the way).
The larger group in stature and numbers got into an argument/altercation with a 5"3", 145 lb guy and another guy with a broken neck, then the other former wrestler (again not Mangrum) got into trouble because he finished the fight. Perhaps he should not have defended himself and his well being.
mumblestilskin says:
Mar 12, 2010
Cliff's post said the matter was dealt and continues to be dealt with internally. Just because Ms. Beck or the athletic dept. does not lay it all out for everyone does not mean nothing was done, etc. The altercation happened almost a year ago? It is not uncommon for courts to drag out and now we are reading about it. It seems Mr. Mangrum's biggest issue was being irresponsible and not making a court date. Not ideal obviously, but generally not punishable by jail for an individual with no criminal background. Being familiar with the judicial system, it is not unusual for a first time offender with a misdemeanor to get probation, fines and community service.
Cyclists were drunk,approached the pedestrians and then trouble followed. Group of 6 witnesses vs. group of 2 witnesses, nuff said.
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 12, 2010
No small amount of confusion here. The molasses-like wheels of justice have confused things. Did blowing off diversion happen AFTER this first round of punishment by Coach Zalesky? If not, we're good. If so, then watching an athlete snub his nose at his responsibilities and after becoming aware of it the result is to take a position that it's simply between him and the court is disingenuous. Of course, every coach would rather have his athlete perform. No argument there. I think some folks have left a little work for themselves in the accountability department.
ckirkpatrick says:
Mar 12, 2010
Zalesky punished him. Diversion was blown off during the fall because of study hall and preseason training. That's what got Mangrum in trouble, and his coach isn't happy about that. The court made its ruling about Mangrum not following through.
Some would say that's too light because he ignored the court.
WebTraveler says:
Mar 12, 2010
Why doesn't blowing off diversion and being in trouble again with the court mean punishment?
OneManOneIdea says:
Mar 12, 2010
JoeAvezzano:
So because you knew some athletes during your time at OSU that were grade A a-holes that means that all of them are? Have you never met a regular Joe like yourself who has no particular athletic ability that is a grade A a-hole? Just because he got into a fight, which happens all the time in college towns around the nation, he deserves to have the book thrown at him? You do not know the facts or what happened at all. In the police report it shows that there were five men on bicycles who fought against the two wrestlers. It is not right. The only reason that the two guys got punished is because they won a fight. Also the fight was prompted by homosexual comments toward the two men. What if they actually were homosexuals? Then the bicyclists would be charged with hate crimes. JoeAvezzano– just because these guys are athletes does not mean that they deserve to be punished to the full extent of the law when other students would get a slap on the wrist.
ckirkpatrick: I think that it is BS that you even put this article up. This altercation happened last May! Get over it! The GT should not still be reporting on it and Rachel Beck– A JV REPORTER!, needs to go back to reporting on family pets and nonsense like that. Kirkpatrick- you need to get your facts straight as well. In collegiate wrestling, one could find from a simple Google search, has 10 weights– and none of them are 147lbs! This should not be what is focused on when the team has been doing better than any other team at OSU. The article should have been on the six wrestlers who qualified to wrestle at the NCAA National Tournament.
ckirkpatrick says:
Mar 12, 2010
I took out two spots of your comments because you were getting a little extreme.
Other than that, your arguments are fine.
And the GT brings it up now because the courts system took this long to get to a verdict. That happens in the legal system all the time.
If you look on this blog and in the GT there are several stories about what the team has done on the mat.
OneManOneIdea says:
Mar 12, 2010
After the team won the PAC 10 title, the only athletic team to do so since 1997 (besides when they won it in 2007), there was not an article on the front page. Or 2nd or 3rd, but on the 5th page!!!! Do you remember what was on the front page? It was an article about baseball losing!!!!!!!!! How does wrestling get any exposure when the articles about them doing so well are put in the back of the paper? Why does the GT report only the bad things in our community, or give the bad more publicity than the good? In Corvallis, we are a small community and i think that it would benefit more to have positive things reported with at least the same frequency as the bad.
OneManOneIdea says:
Mar 12, 2010
i agree with mublestillskin. It was 6 on 2 and the wrestlers were obviously defending themselves. The trouble is that not all the facts have been brought out bu Ms. Beck and she making the kids look bad. It is defamation of character!
JackBeav says:
Mar 12, 2010
It's not defamation. It's just poor storytelling. The link provided is to an article posted on the 24th of last month, and it would have you believe that the two wrestlers attacked two guys and sent them to the hospital. It would have us believe that one of the guys was wielding a weapon because of the seriousness.
I was upset with this most recent article because I was led to believe that older version was the story. Now I find that a half dozen other guys initiated the fight and these two got in trouble.
There should have been a bunch of arrests made for anything from DUI to menacing, assault, harassment, wasting my outrage on the wrong people, etc.
ckirkpatrick says:
Mar 12, 2010
OK people, it wasn't poor storytelling in the story. It was a follow up story. It told the latest news that Mangruam got probation instead of jail. It's significant because of who he is, and that he skipped out on his diversion program.
The judge already sorted out the incident to give the original punishment. This has nothing to do with who did what to who. That stuff was put in the story to say why Mangrum is at this stage.
OneManOneIdea says:
Mar 12, 2010
Well it our paper should not have poor story telling. . .
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 15, 2010
Debating the facts of the actual incident is meaningless. There are many more facts about the incident than the press will report. To assume the unreported facts fall on the side of the wrestlers is just wishful thinking by sports fans. I'm not even concerned with the actual incident. Here's a solid fact…an OSU wrestler agreed to punishment for a crime, then took it upon himself to ignore his responsibilities. From what I can tell there was no consequence for this act. That's not right, and disappointing from a fan standpoint.
My reference to athlete a-holes was simply to point out that athletes are not different from the rest of the student body in that they can be obnoxious people and/or behave obnoxiously. Not sure how that statement can be tortured to promote the idea I said "all of them are" but whatever. I hardly think an athlete is going to report "facts" about the incident that puts himself in a bad light. The way law enforcement works is that participants and witnesses are interviewed and prosecutors decide who they think is telling the truth and charge people on that basis. Unless someone has the prosecutor's file in his hand, debating the "fairness" of the incident is just blah blah blah.
The whole thing is really unfortunate because wrestling is a fantastic sport that should get more press coverage and fan support than it does. That's why it's important that wrestlers in particular submit to a higher standard than Joe Frosh GonnaDropout. If the coaches don't agree, well, don't act surprised if the program stumbles along in mediocrity.
mumblestilskin says:
Mar 15, 2010
Joe- i would say because you dont read about how things are handled with in the press, dosnt mean they aren't handled by sports coaches or osu. I have met the coaches and many athletes many times over the years. Not just this staff, the one before too. My experience is that you couldn't find motre stand-up individuals, who hold kids accountable. As far as mediocrity, well I think this has been one of our most succesful programs as of late.
The man who was charged with the assault had to take a plea, the laternative was a threatned 3 years in prison, huge fines and lawyer fees. Not really a chance that was worth taking. Facts will show that police never took a statement from the wrestlers, only the other 6.
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 15, 2010
I meant mediocrity as a program compared to, say, football or basketball, not as compared to other wrestling programs.
I stand behind my comment 100%. YOU don't have the entire charging document, so YOU don't have as much information about what really happened as compared to what the prosecutor knows. Courts are more than happy to entertain legal defense arguments. I'm not buying any \”it's unfair because they don't know what REALLY happened\” arguments. That's infantile.
Fistfights drawing the attention of the police are not that common. If you are involved in one, something's going on. As a minimum, not doing enough to stay away from them. It's easy to fight. Harder to not.
The coach mumbling about how the punishment was already meted works for stupid people perhaps but not me. The timing is all wrong.
This is all I'll say on the matter. I hope Mangrum gets his shit together.
From: notifications@intensedebatemail.com
To: neiljensen5@msn.com
Subject: mumblestilskin replied to your comment on Cliff: Crime, punishment and wrestling (updated)
JackBeav says:
Mar 15, 2010
I was never trying to lessen the responsibilities of the wrestlers involved. But the circumstances are important when being reported in a medium which requires unbiased storytelling. Until this update, I had no idea that six aggressors approached the two to start the incident. And if anyone wants to speak of 'slurs' or the like thrown at the cyclists, remember that the Supreme Court has never ever upheld "fightin' words" as a defense. The cyclists had the option to avoid the incident altogether.
JoeAvezzano says:
Mar 16, 2010
Okay, I'll say it in a different way: "Attention, all big-time college athletes, especially those who are on scholarships and are treated to all manner of perks not available to your poor slob fellow students who seem to go about their business, attending class, paying tuition, room & board, sweating out finals, and not getting in fights. There will be times in your college education where the combination of jerk-wads and alcohol, and sometimes just the nearby proximity of jerk-wads without the alcohol, will cause you to have to confront a sticky situation. Your job is to endeavor to avoid putting yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time in order to keep yourself out of trouble that is totally, absolutely not your fault. This is necessary because life isn't fair and stuff."
Howzat?