As a member of the Utah community in which Ben Moa grew up, I feel it is my duty and obligation to provide my own insight and some correction to what I feel is a major misinterpretation concerning Ben Moa's character and past. Please forgive me, as this will probably be a rather lengthy message.
First off... thank you Muck for giving him the benefit of the doubt.
PhinsmissedFG said:
Correct me if I'm wrong Muck, but this has had wayyyyyy more than one mistake to own up to.
If I have this timeline wrong, please someone tell me.
I will be happy to correct you, since you seem to be very wrong.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He grows up in a rough neighborhood, joins a gang because that's what he sees and knows. He is a young kid who steals cars, deals drugs, and is generally just a bad person. Gets out of his juve term and then participates in a drive by shooting and kills a rival gang member. (notice he has taken a human life) Gets out of jail after three years. (this is chance number two)
While I do agree with you on the fact that Ben Moa had an incredibly difficult and trying beginning to his life and he participated in criminal activities which are appalling to say the least during that time, you have completely screwed up the timeline already at the beginning.
Ben Moa, formerly known as Ben Allison (he didn't change his name until after the wallet stealing incident) grew up from a broken home without a father in a bad neighborhood. The youth of his family had always been entrenched within the gang lifestyle which is very difficult to escape from. This cycle originally began where he grew up in San Bernardino, CA.
At the age of 12 years old, Ben was in a freshly stolen car with some fellow gang members when a rival gang drove up next to them and opened fire. Ben returned fire hitting one of the rival gang members in the groin. He does not kill the rival gang member which he shot.
Following this incident, he is shuffled off through the juvenile delinquent beauracracy in an effort by the State of Utah to correct his behavoir. The shooting incident took place before corrective action... not after. He did not go to jail.
During his time spent within the various juvenile delinquent facilities, Ben makes the acquaintance of a special and caring man who personally takes him in and cares for him as one of his own children. He starts to turn his life around.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He finds that he is a big kid with some athletic ability and a coach gets him to play ball and try to move away from of his bad habits of the past. (This is chance number three btw)
No... he is still on his second chance after juvenile dentention and the previous gang lifestyle which he has been removed from.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He goes to college on an athletic scholarship and plays football. While alone in the lockerroom he falls to temptation and steals a wallet. Gets caught and is kicked off the team. He continues to try football and attends a junior college (chance number four) where he meets a young lady he loves and has a child. This young lady tries to leave him a few times due to him not giving up gang activities and the like.
I'll cover the wallet part in a moment, per the actual chronological order that you seem to want.
Ben improves his grades and continues to be a force on the football field. He meets a young lady at the University of Utah whom he has a great deal of interest in. They get married.
In August of 2000, Ben and his wife are attenting a party which is a combination of a wedding reception and a family reunion. He is inside dancing with his wife and enjoying the festivities. His cousins enter and inform him that a rival gang is outside and that violence might shortly ensue. I would think his cousins have a minor right to attend their own family reunion, although due to their gang affilitation it ends up resulting in some rather negative consequences.
Ben goes outside and simply tries to break things up, ready to fight to defend his family or wife if necessary. He tries to talk things out and get the other gang to leave. He gets shot without doing anything other than trying to talk, and is taken via helicopter to a local hospital.
In no way is this his fault.
To recap, he was shot in August of 2000 through no fault of his own. Right before the beginning of the football season. He is unable to practice with the team, and almost kills himself by trying to play catch a week or two after the accident. He breaks open the wound and has to be rushed back to the hospital again.
He is unable to practice or play football, which at this point has become a major force in his motivation to keep his life straight. He sinks into depression.
3 months after getting shot through no fault of his own, he is hanging out in the team locker room. He sees a wallet lying around filled with money, and he takes it.
I do not condone his actions here, and this is where I feel he has blown his second chance. Coach McBride suspends him from football for a year.
Ben and his now wife Christina move to Modesto, CA. where Christina grew up. He enrolls in a local junior college there. He also legally changes his last name from Allison (the name of his nonexistant father) to Moa, the last name of his grandfather who is part of his inspiration. He and his wife have their first child.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He keeps his nose clean for a period and convinces his coaches there to take him back. His wife comes back from home where she had once left him. (chance number five) While back at Utah, or perhaps this is still at the junior college.
His wife never left him.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He has a friend tell him that there is trouble with a rival gang. I ask this question, if he has given up gang activities why is another gang a rival? He should have no rival or interest in such activities by now right? While going to this altercation he is shot and almost killed.
I covered this above, but I want to reiterate a point here. He didn't go to the altercation. The altercation came to him, and he was thrust in the middle of it. He attempted to defend his family and wife by peacefully trying to divert the conflict through negotiation. He is shot. This incident should have absolutely no negative affect upon your opinion. It is not his fault.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He is once again allowed back to the football field. (chance number six)
Chance number three. Not six... three.
PhinsmissedFG said:
He now has another chance to make a nice living in teh NFL.(chance number seven)
When did he blow chance number three? Why is his chance at the NFL a new chance rather than a continuation of the effort that he has put into turning his life around?
PhinsmissedFG said:
If any of this is incorrect please let me know. It seems to me we're not talking of a guy getting a second chance like Will Poole who had one incident.
We're talking about a guy who has about a zillion chances to get and he just hasn't.
The count is at three. Not a zillion.
PhinsmissedFG said:
Will Poole nor Boston have taken someone's life either.
Neither has Ben Moa.
PhinsmissedFG said:
I will not judge due to it not being my place, but I do take umberage that someone would incinuate he hasn't had second chances.
While I agree that Ben Moa has had more than one chance to turn his life around, I also find myself amazed at the adversity and hardship that he has overcome. Yes... he made mistakes. He has also atoned for those mistakes and is considered a model citizen who is an assett to his community.
I did not see the ESPN interview that many here have referred to. From what I've read, he sounded about as sharp as a sack of wet mice. Let me pose a question. What does his intelligence have to do with his actions?
Absolutely nothing.
While he may not be incredibly smart, and he may have made some wrong decisions in the past, he has paid his dues. That is over and done with. His criminal activities ceased prior to his releast from the juvenile detention facilities here.
I admire Ben Moa for his determination and committment to overcome the life that was placed before him. I doubt I could have done it had life thrust me into the same circumstances.
Good luck Ben. If you honestly deserve it, I hope you make the team. I have no doubt concerning your character.
