Lakeland Fla- -Chris Rainey Affair

P

Plaindriver

Member
Whatever became of the Chris Rainey affair? I heard that he was cleared to play in the champ game, but that the investigation would continue well after that, and that if he was found to be dirty, then Lakeland would have to forfeit some games. I never heard of the final results.
 
 
The state association only could find evidence of one very stupid student athlete with a big mouth. They dropped it in early January.
 
Chris Rainey recanted what he said. He said he was "just kidding". They also couldn't find any of the Lakeland boosters to admit that they gave Rainey any "free stuff". Why are we not surprised?

I think Rainey was telling the truth the first time (but it's not a big deal either way).
 
He will be playing at Florida this year. He was cleared. The investigation docuements to me were pretty sick.

Here is some info from that:

Things we are expected to believe here.

*Rainey did not know he was being recorded(perhaps the reason he initially denied that he said anything?)
*In July the vendor gave, whom she thought was Rainey some gifts. She was told by her husband at the time that it was not him. Five months later she did say that she gave Rainey those gifts. When interviewed by the FHSSA, she said she was mistaken and did not know why she said that several days later? Confused? Me to

July-vendor-"Are you Rainey(to his cousin apaprently), here you go we are proud of you"
vendor to her husband-"I just gave some stuff to Chris Rainey"
husband to vendor-"That's not Rainey"

In December as story breaks, "Yes I gave some stuff to Chris Rainey"

During the investigation, "It was not given to Rainey, and I knew that at the time. Not certain why I said that to the reporters."

*Rainey's grandmother's cousin gave him $11 in cash at Dennys. Everyone says this was his grandmother's cousin, although Rainey nor anyone else knew her and her grandmother would not participate in the investigation. I understand some families are big, but huh????
*An attorney was present during the investigation. He has no ties to FL/Lakeland or anyone else, but Rainey has never met him, does not know who he is, or how he is getting paid. I know lots of attorneys hanging around HS, waiting to do some pro bono work....

Other than these things, everything seems normal, right????

If you're curious, I got all of the above info from the investigation write up.

http://lledit.us.publicus.com/graphics/articles/2007/01/rainey.pdf

Here is some more info regardin the leading questions by the reporter:

from Coach Castle:

-CR told him that the reporter was joking around with him and he was joking back. The reporter was leading him on with questions. CR did not know the conversation was being taped.
Click to expand...

from another player:

fb player and son of Mark Wilson

-Reporter never wrote anything down/was asking leading questions about anyone giving gifts to players.....I told him no.
Click to expand...

and what Rainey had to say about the grilling from the reporter:

CR
-Reporter was asking what kind of stuff he was receiving this year
Click to expand...

The only problem is that it was taped. What exactly was the leading question that the reporter kept harping on,while CR was under the spotlight?

Question: How much is the atmosphere around this program, as far as the attention from people around Lakeland, different from when you were a freshman?
Click to expand...

Wow, how is it not obvious that the reporter was leading him and "knew what he wanted to hear CR say."

For the record here was his response to that crazy question:

Rainey: Different? Everybody knows me now. I'm getting free stuff. And, they're real nice
Click to expand...

(FYI-I copied most of this from a post of mine on another board.)

http://prepstexas.com/board/index.php?showtopic=32606&st=40
 
Thanks, Pied

pied said:
He will be playing at Florida this year. He was cleared. The investigation docuements to me were pretty sick.

Here is some info from that:

Things we are expected to believe here.

*Rainey did not know he was being recorded(perhaps the reason he initially denied that he said anything?)
*In July the vendor gave, whom she thought was Rainey some gifts. She was told by her husband at the time that it was not him. Five months later she did say that she gave Rainey those gifts. When interviewed by the FHSSA, she said she was mistaken and did not know why she said that several days later? Confused? Me to

July-vendor-"Are you Rainey(to his cousin apaprently), here you go we are proud of you"
vendor to her husband-"I just gave some stuff to Chris Rainey"
husband to vendor-"That's not Rainey"

In December as story breaks, "Yes I gave some stuff to Chris Rainey"

During the investigation, "It was not given to Rainey, and I knew that at the time. Not certain why I said that to the reporters."

*Rainey's grandmother's cousin gave him $11 in cash at Dennys. Everyone says this was his grandmother's cousin, although Rainey nor anyone else knew her and her grandmother would not participate in the investigation. I understand some families are big, but huh????
*An attorney was present during the investigation. He has no ties to FL/Lakeland or anyone else, but Rainey has never met him, does not know who he is, or how he is getting paid. I know lots of attorneys hanging around HS, waiting to do some pro bono work....

Other than these things, everything seems normal, right????

If you're curious, I got all of the above info from the investigation write up.

http://lledit.us.publicus.com/graphics/articles/2007/01/rainey.pdf

Here is some more info regardin the leading questions by the reporter:



from another player:



and what Rainey had to say about the grilling from the reporter:



The only problem is that it was taped. What exactly was the leading question that the reporter kept harping on,while CR was under the spotlight?



Wow, how is it not obvious that the reporter was leading him and "knew what he wanted to hear CR say."

For the record here was his response to that crazy question:



(FYI-I copied most of this from a post of mine on another board.)

http://prepstexas.com/board/index.php?showtopic=32606&st=40
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. Heck, you shoulda been a reporter! Youre far more thorough than about 95% or the 'pros' in todays media!
 
Plaindriver said:
Thanks for the update. Heck, you shoulda been a reporter! Youre far more thorough than about 95% or the 'pros' in todays media!
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I think I'll stick to my day job. Just got into a discussion w/a Lakeland guy.

Quite honestly I do not think CR did anything terrible. I know it's not right for these guys to accept gifts blah blah blah, but it does appear ver obvious to me that he broke the rules set forth.

The spin control done by some posters was pretty unbelievable. I also think some posters(Lakeland's rivals) went overboard the other way. They said he'll be a liar forever etc.

It was an ugly situation all around and there could be no winners, but you'd have a hard time convincing me that he did not know what was what.
 
I believe the Florida rules say that a player cannot be paid to play. Since they never ruled the Rainey case (everybody shut their mouths and changed their stories) it would be interesting to see what the ruling would have been if the FHSAA had actually ruled in this case. Obviously, in college this would have been a violation, but in high school it may have been OK. It's a violation of the "spirit" of the rules but perhaps not a violation of the letter of the law. I don't think Rainey was paid to play. The high school rules about this stuff are much more vague than the college rules.

Actually, the Antwan Easterling case was more shocking to me. He probably committed a crime. A star D1 WR in SLC's district at Haltom HS was kicked off the team for the same thing (a 19 year-old player having sex with a 15 year old girl) in 2005.

Interesting that both Florida champs (5A and 6A) had scandals involving their star running backs just before the state title games and both players were allowed to play.
 
SLCDad said:
It's the offseason. An opportunity for a little disguised smack talk.
Click to expand...

yea right. this is out in the open. lol. Nice try though. How about thise for disguised smack talk. Final Score. MNW 42 SlC 14. lol. Just kidding cant wait for the game.
 
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