AJ Barker tweets 5 page letter, states liberation, no longer has suicidal thoughts

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sonnygarcia said:
A beat-off Badger fan that trolls Gopher message boards pretending to be Gopher fan was a clinical nut-case at one point in his life? I'm shocked...... Re-up the meds you tool
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What's does 'beat-off Badger fan' mean? There are three dots in an ellipsis. You have issues.
 

BBQ Platypus said:
The overwhelming secular historical consensus is that a messianic claimant named Yeshua ben Yosef did indeed exist and was crucified in the first century CE. Obviously, one doesn't need to believe he was the Son of God in order to think that. Claiming that no such person existed is largely the domain of internet cranks and the dumber/more blinkered members of the New Atheist movement. [

I could go into detail on this, but that's as much as I'll say.
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Oh, please, say more. Please!!!!!!!!!!!
 





dpodoll68 said:
As if there were ever any doubt that this guy is certifiable.

I am not a professional psychologist, but my amateur diagnosis is narcissistic personality disorder with a side of martyr complex thrown in for good measure.
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I'm no psychologist either, but this looks like a textbook case of histrionic personality disorder.
 

sonnygarcia said:
A beat-off Badger fan that trolls Gopher message boards pretending to be Gopher fan was a clinical nut-case at one point in his life? I'm shocked...... Re-up the meds you tool
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Nice compassion.
 


AJ Barker tweets 5 page letter, states liberation, no longer has suicidal tho...

I only minored in psychology but... he has some issues.
 




afurry91 said:
I'm gonna need this translated into English. I don't speak shrink.

I did catch two things:

1. He is not remorseful for how he left the team. He said the way he expressed himself was a valid option.

2. Pretty sure he is an atheist. Why is he mentioning Jesus? Don't atheists reject the idea that Jesus walked the earth?[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily. They don't accord him status as the Son of God because they don't believe in God. My guess is some believe in the existence of the historical Jesus and some don't.
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TrapperDoo said:
It is clear to me that A.J. has some serous mental health issues. His meltdown last year was probably a real symptom of his condition. Its easy to make fun of the guy, but people should reel it in a bit - this guy has a real problem and is genuinely hurting. Good luck and get well, A.J.
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As critical as I was of Barker at the time, and for quite some time after said incident, I have no interest in making fun of him now. I wish him the best and hope he takes care of whatever it is he needs to address.

Who I would REALLY like to hear from now are the f'n clowns who were steadfastly backing him at the time, Kill really IS two-faced, there's SOOOO much more to Kill than any of us know, etc. Mr. Royston is the first one that comes to mind....

Where are those folks now?
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
As critical as I was of Barker at the time, and for quite some time after said incident, I have no interest in making fun of him now. I wish him the best and hope he takes care of whatever it is he needs to address.

Who I would REALLY like to hear from now are the f'n clowns who were steadfastly backing him at the time, Kill really IS two-faced, there's SOOOO much more to Kill than any of us know, etc. Mr. Royston is the first one that comes to mind....

Where are those folks now?
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The guy is a mess, but there's no reason to bash him at this point.

Good luck on getting those responses. You'll be waiting for a while.
 



Ogee Oglethorpe said:
As critical as I was of Barker at the time, and for quite some time after said incident, I have no interest in making fun of him now. I wish him the best and hope he takes care of whatever it is he needs to address.

Who I would REALLY like to hear from now are the f'n clowns who were steadfastly backing him at the time, Kill really IS two-faced, there's SOOOO much more to Kill than any of us know, etc. Mr. Royston is the first one that comes to mind....

Where are those folks now?
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Well, given the way you approach difficult issues, and the way you speak, I'd say you are the clown. If indeed Kill said to AJ " I don't know what the f*** happened to you growing up...", then Kill was way out of line and handled the matter with AJ poorly. Jerry Kill is human and makes mistakes. Assuming our beloved Coach has compassion, I'm quite certain he regrets how this went down and wishes he handled it differently. Instead of a screaming match in front of the team and
trainers, Kill could have calmly taken AJ aside and said "look, I don't accept your behavior. Either you go apologize to the staff and your teammates now and immediately change your attitude going forward or you're done playing football for this school". I think Jerry Kill wishes he could go back and dk this one over. AJ was and is messed up and you and others were accurate in pointing that out. You were 100% right to say he didn't belong on the team. But don't for a minute think that your accuracy on that means that Jerry Kill is some kind of saint. Jerry Kill has his own personality issues as well, just like most people. He could be a hot-headed ego maniac prick on a moments notice, though I think he's been working on things to better himself. AJ is very ill. You don't tell an ill boy "what the **** happened to you" to make you tbis way. Would you talk to your kid this way? You probably would.
 

BreakTheGopherCurse said:
Well, given the way you approach difficult issues, and the way you speak, I'd say you are the clown. If indeed Kill said to AJ " I don't know what the f*** happened to you growing up...", then Kill was way out of line and handled the matter with AJ poorly. Jerry Kill is human and makes mistakes. Assuming our beloved Coach has compassion, I'm quite certain he regrets how this went down and wishes he handled it differently. Instead of a screaming match in front of the team and
trainers, Kill could have calmly taken AJ aside and said "look, I don't accept your behavior. Either you go apologize to the staff and your teammates now and immediately change your attitude going forward or you're done playing football for this school". I think Jerry Kill wishes he could go back and dk this one over. AJ was and is messed up and you and others were accurate in pointing that out. You were 100% right to say he didn't belong on the team. But don't for a minute think that your accuracy on that means that Jerry Kill is some kind of saint. Jerry Kill has his own personality issues as well, just like most people. He could be a hot-headed ego maniac prick on a moments notice, though I think he's been working on things to better hiimself. AJ is very ill. You don't tell an ill boy "what the **** happened to you" to make you tbis way. Would you talk to your kid this way? You probably would.
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Without a doubt this is the best post ever on this subject. I am in complete agreement with it. The fact that AJ is obviously suffering from mental health issues has not altered my opinion about Jerry Kill's pathetic handling of this situation. It was a total fail on Kill's part. I too believe Kill regrets his behavior toward AJ. I think he has admitted that he would do things differently if he could do it all over again. As a human being, Kill must think about his failure all the time. Especially now that AJ is back in the news.

Most other coaches would have found a way to deal with AJ without humiliating him in front of his teammates and pushing him over the edge emotionally. It should be obvious to everyone by now that Kill's over-the-top temper tantrums were detrimental even to his own health. We all know that he has had to dial it way back in order to remain the Gopher's coach. I am guessing that everyone who knows Kill (including his wife) are a lot happier being around him now. Too bad AJ had to be his last victim.
 


UpnorthGo4 said:
Without a doubt this is the best post ever on this subject. I am in complete agreement with it. The fact that AJ is obviously suffering from mental health issues has not altered my opinion about Jerry Kill's pathetic handling of this situation. It was a total fail on Kill's part. I too believe Kill regrets his behavior toward AJ. As a human being he must think about his failure all the time. Especially now that AJ is back in the news.

Most other coaches would have found a way to deal with AJ without humiliating him in front of his teammates and pushing him over the edge emotionally. It should be obvious to everyone by now that Kill's over-the-top temper tantrums were detrimental even to his own health. We all know that he has had to dial it way back in order to remain the Gopher's coach. I am guessing that everyone who knows Kill (including his wife) are a lot happier being around him now. Too bad AJ had to be his last victim.
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You two are priceless.
 


In Mr. Royston's own words....

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
As critical as I was of Barker at the time, and for quite some time after said incident, I have no interest in making fun of him now. I wish him the best and hope he takes care of whatever it is he needs to address.

Who I would REALLY like to hear from now are the f'n clowns who were steadfastly backing him at the time, Kill really IS two-faced, there's SOOOO much more to Kill than any of us know, etc. Mr. Royston is the first one that comes to mind....

Where are those folks now?
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11-18-2012, 05:33 PM #92
Sportsfan24
Sportsfan24 is offline Senior Member
Join Date:Jan 2009Posts:1,132

The kid isn't nuts; he is 100 percent on point. There is a reason why I have been very open with the fact I don't like the man.....and it runs along these lines.

Mr. Barker is courageous young man whom I would be proud to call son.


My comments: I agree Ogee, I'm done slamming AJ as well. He needs help.
 

We need to spend our energies talking about important people. People like Royce White!!! :banghead:
 

Rescooter said:
11-18-2012, 05:33 PM #92
Sportsfan24
Sportsfan24 is offline Senior Member
Join Date:Jan 2009Posts:1,132

The kid isn't nuts; he is 100 percent on point. There is a reason why I have been very open with the fact I don't like the man.....and it runs along these lines.

Mr. Barker is courageous young man whom I would be proud to call son.


My comments: I agree Ogee, I'm done slamming AJ as well. He needs help.
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It is worthwhile noting that Mr. Royston presumably knows both Kill and Barker while the people slamming him have likely never said a word to either of them. Kind of makes the all-knowing tone of this being a black-white situation a little suspect.

A year and a half later, the AJ Barker situation seems like a lose-lose to me. There were no winners.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Without a doubt this is the best post ever on this subject. I am in complete agreement with it. The fact that AJ is obviously suffering from mental health issues has not altered my opinion about Jerry Kill's pathetic handling of this situation. It was a total fail on Kill's part. I too believe Kill regrets his behavior toward AJ. I think he has admitted that he would do things differently if he could do it all over again. As a human being, Kill must think about his failure all the time. Especially now that AJ is back in the news.

Most other coaches would have found a way to deal with AJ without humiliating him in front of his teammates and pushing him over the edge emotionally. It should be obvious to everyone by now that Kill's over-the-top temper tantrums were detrimental even to his own health. We all know that he has had to dial it way back in order to remain the Gopher's coach. I am guessing that everyone who knows Kill (including his wife) are a lot happier being around him now. Too bad AJ had to be his last victim.
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I had no idea you were inside the program, deep, and had witnessed all of the incidents and conversations first hand. My bad. I hereby retract everything I said on the issue.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Without a doubt this is the best post ever on this subject. I am in complete agreement with it. The fact that AJ is obviously suffering from mental health issues has not altered my opinion about Jerry Kill's pathetic handling of this situation. It was a total fail on Kill's part. I too believe Kill regrets his behavior toward AJ. I think he has admitted that he would do things differently if he could do it all over again. As a human being, Kill must think about his failure all the time. Especially now that AJ is back in the news.

Most other coaches would have found a way to deal with AJ without humiliating him in front of his teammates and pushing him over the edge emotionally. It should be obvious to everyone by now that Kill's over-the-top temper tantrums were detrimental even to his own health. We all know that he has had to dial it way back in order to remain the Gopher's coach. I am guessing that everyone who knows Kill (including his wife) are a lot happier being around him now. Too bad AJ had to be his last victim.
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AJ was AJ's victim.
 

I'm sure Kill wishes he had handled it differently too.

But there's no way of knowing one of your athletes has gone on the fritz. He can't give that kind of attention and care. This is a football team.

I wonder if people understand how little interaction a football player has with coaches other than their position coach. If the head coach runs the offense and you play defense, you may well play for 5 years and have the same number of conversations with your head coach.
 

From a mental health perspective

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
AJ was AJ's victim.
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Good communication demands that we listen to each other. When AJ was having difficulty with Coach Kill, there must not have been a good understanding by the staff that AJ was suffering. Instead, it became a issue of control, football, and discipline, which are not at all helpful to a suffering mind. In fact, they can be counter productive.

Stress challenges the body both physically and emotionally. Often the body's store of energy and chemical resources are spent in handling stress. Football is one of the perfect stress factors that mankind can come up with. The nature of the game puts the body and the mind under duress unimaginable to many. Just the inflammation alone in the body is cause for concern, but the impact on the gut (the body's largest emotive center with the largest consumption of serotonin and other feel good chemicals by a factor of 30 over the brain) can cause immediate depression and anxiety in the body. Any damage to the gut can release an overload of chemicals causing mental confusion, cause depression, and cause inflammation around the Enteric system, adding internal communication problems back to the brain.

Broadly speaking, the coaching staff need to be aware of the mental health of their players and minimize stress so players can better cope with stress.

And, when a player reacts like AJ, it is a clear signal they need help and don't need additional 'stressers'.

What led up to AJ leaving the team is water under the bridge. But, how the team moves forward and learns from the experience matters. I think Coach Kill should take a page out of his own mental health playbook and practice it in the team. There is no need for the sport to be a plague of mental health issues or even miscommunication.

All you need to do is listen and observe.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
As critical as I was of Barker at the time, and for quite some time after said incident, I have no interest in making fun of him now. I wish him the best and hope he takes care of whatever it is he needs to address.

Who I would REALLY like to hear from now are the f'n clowns who were steadfastly backing him at the time, Kill really IS two-faced, there's SOOOO much more to Kill than any of us know, etc. Mr. Royston is the first one that comes to mind....

Where are those folks now?
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Present and accounted for, Sir!
 

Dean S said:
Good communication demands that we listen to each other. When AJ was having difficulty with Coach Kill, there must not have been a good understanding by the staff that AJ was suffering. Instead, it became a issue of control, football, and discipline, which are not at all helpful to a suffering mind. In fact, they can be counter productive.

Stress challenges the body both physically and emotionally. Often the body's store of energy and chemical resources are spent in handling stress. Football is one of the perfect stress factors that mankind can come up with. The nature of the game puts the body and the mind under duress unimaginable to many. Just the inflammation alone in the body is cause for concern, but the impact on the gut (the body's largest emotive center with the largest consumption of serotonin and other feel good chemicals by a factor of 30 over the brain) can cause immediate depression and anxiety in the body. Any damage to the gut can release an overload of chemicals causing mental confusion, cause depression, and cause inflammation around the Enteric system, adding internal communication problems back to the brain.

Broadly speaking, the coaching staff need to be aware of the mental health of their players and minimize stress so players can better cope with stress.

And, when a player reacts like AJ, it is a clear signal they need help and don't need additional 'stressers'.

What led up to AJ leaving the team is water under the bridge. But, how the team moves forward and learns from the experience matters. I think Coach Kill should take a page out of his own mental health playbook and practice it in the team. There is no need for the sport to be a plague of mental health issues or even miscommunication.

All you need to do is listen and observe.
Click to expand...

My gut feeling is that I'm pretty sure he nuked that bridge. Furthermore, the size of the nuke was such that everything including the water is gone. After seeing the damage done by one individual, I think the lesson here is don't let the inmates run the asylum.
 


Dean S said:
Broadly speaking, the coaching staff need to be aware of the mental health of their players and minimize stress so players can better cope with stress.

And, when a player reacts like AJ, it is a clear signal they need help and don't need additional 'stressers'.
Click to expand...

No, it means he has a mental illness and needs help. There is nothing unusually stressful about being a student athlete. There are well-defined limits of human stress leading to mental and physical repurcussions but under ordinary circumstances playing football will not test those limits. Playing a sport is generally not considered one of the great life stressors. Surely you can't be serious?

He needs to learn to cope with stress, not the other way around. He cannot expect the world to bend around his mental illness.
 

Dean S said:
Good communication demands that we listen to each other. When AJ was having difficulty with Coach Kill, there must not have been a good understanding by the staff that AJ was suffering. Instead, it became a issue of control, football, and discipline, which are not at all helpful to a suffering mind. In fact, they can be counter productive.

Stress challenges the body both physically and emotionally. Often the body's store of energy and chemical resources are spent in handling stress. Football is one of the perfect stress factors that mankind can come up with. The nature of the game puts the body and the mind under duress unimaginable to many. Just the inflammation alone in the body is cause for concern, but the impact on the gut (the body's largest emotive center with the largest consumption of serotonin and other feel good chemicals by a factor of 30 over the brain) can cause immediate depression and anxiety in the body. Any damage to the gut can release an overload of chemicals causing mental confusion, cause depression, and cause inflammation around the Enteric system, adding internal communication problems back to the brain.

Broadly speaking, the coaching staff need to be aware of the mental health of their players and minimize stress so players can better cope with stress.

And, when a player reacts like AJ, it is a clear signal they need help and don't need additional 'stressers'.

What led up to AJ leaving the team is water under the bridge. But, how the team moves forward and learns from the experience matters. I think Coach Kill should take a page out of his own mental health playbook and practice it in the team. There is no need for the sport to be a plague of mental health issues or even miscommunication.

All you need to do is listen and observe.
Click to expand...

Or maybe the kid was just an asshole.
 

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