ROBINSON READY TO CLEAR NAME.Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer The first thing Frank Robinson This article is about the baseball player and manager. For the Nottingham busker, see Frank Robinson (Xylophone Man). Frank Robinson (born August 31, 1935 in Beaumont, Texas), is a Hall of Fame former Major League Baseball player. wants people to know is that he's not a violent person. He's smiling nervously as he says this, not because he finds any humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was in the words spilling out, just that he's fairly certain the audience he's trying to reach likely isn't in the listening mood. It's hard to convince people you aren't what you seem to be when what you've just done is put another kid in the hospital with a broken jaw. That's why Robinson was in Sylmar on Wednesday rather than Chatsworth, and why his 2001-2002 varsity basketball debut was in a blue-and-white Sylmar uniform instead of the orange-and-white of Chatsworth. Robinson had 14 points as the Spartans beat Canoga Park 75-72. A few months ago, Robinson was expected to do his scoring for the Chancellors. Robinson left Chatsworth in September after breaking a teammate's jaw in a fight. It was a brief, devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. altercation, and it sent Robinson on a two-month journey to re-establish his reputation and regain his basketball eligibility in time to play his senior year. Robinson, it should be noted, is the premier player in the area, a gifted 6-foot-5 forward who can slash to the basket, dunk in traffic and hit the long-range jumper The simplest form of an on/off switch. It is just a tiny, plastic-covered metal block, which is pushed onto two pins to close that circuit. It is used to select a myriad of functions on a printed circuit board or on a peripheral device. . He's also the kid who delivered the punch that landed another in the hospital, and whose safe landing in Sylmar occurred only because of a fortunate, if fateful fate·ful adj. 1. Vitally affecting subsequent events; being of great consequence; momentous: a fateful decision to counterattack. 2. Controlled by or as if by fate; predetermined. 3. , quirk quirk n. 1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" Harriet Beecher Stowe. 2. in the City Section rule book. With all that baggage, Robinson understands why some people probably couldn't care less about what he has to say right now. He accepts that because he is responsible for that. He also knows it's up to him to change the way he's perceived. ``I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't want to hear what I have to say and that they're probably not really happy I'm getting the chance to play basketball,'' Robinson said. ``All I can do is say I'm sorry. I made a mistake and I'm sorry for that. Right now I want to go to school and play basketball, and I hope people understand.'' Robinson left Chatsworth after the fight and moved to Littlerock, where he previously lived and played varsity basketball as a sophomore at Littlerock High. But the Southern Section denied him eligibility at Littlerock under its transfer rules. A week later he and his grandmother moved to Sylmar, where he enrolled at the local high school. The move caused a negative reaction from area coaches, many of whom felt it sent the wrong message. Perhaps it did, but it was perfectly legal as far as the L.A. Unified School district A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. was concerned. That's because Chatsworth suspended sus·pend v. sus·pend·ed, sus·pend·ing, sus·pends v.tr. 1. To bar for a period from a privilege, office, or position, usually as a punishment: suspend a student from school. Robinson a day after the fight, which triggered a 40-day period in which the school had to prove sufficient reason to expel ex·pel tr.v. ex·pelled, ex·pel·ling, ex·pels 1. To force or drive out: expel an invader. 2. him. But Chatsworth dropped the matter after Robinson moved to Littlerock. ``At that point he was no longer our student,'' Chatsworth athletic director Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic Fluke fluke, parasitic flatworm of the trematoda class, related to the tapeworm. Instead of the cilia, external sense organs, and epidermis of the free-living flatworms, adult flukes have sucking disks with which they cling to their hosts and an external cuticle that Fluker said. Chatsworth's decision not to pursue the matter was the loophole An omission or Ambiguity in a legal document that allows the intent of the document to be evaded. Loopholes come into being through the passage of statutes, the enactment of regulations, the drafting of contracts or the decisions of courts. Robinson used to get into Sylmar. Once that 40-day period ended, it closed the book on the case, thus allowing him to enroll at any LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) school provided he move into the school's boundaries with his legal guardian. ``I'm not happy the way I ended up here, but the way things worked out for me with the rules, I have to think my getting another chance was meant to be,'' Robinson said. ``Like I said, I am sorry for what I did, I was wrong in how I reacted and I don't ever want to go through that again. Something I care a great deal about was almost taken away, and I was responsible for that. Trust me, I've learned my lesson.'' Sylmar coach Bort Escoto was satisfied with the LAUSD rules. He called Fluker and the former teammate's family before allowing Robinson on the team. He didn't have to do that, but he felt it was necessary to talk with those Robinson hurt most. ``Had I not heard what I wanted to hear from them, Frank would not be playing with us,'' Escoto said. ``But once they said they were OK with it, then I was OK with it.'' But not before sitting Robinson down for a talk. ``I wanted to hear his side of the story once and for all,'' Escoto said. ``What I found out was he got involved in a situation he's extremely sorry for. He made a mistake, as we all have at one time or another. I did some bad things when I was young, and if somebody didn't give me a second chance, then I'm not getting ready to coach a basketball game.'' Escoto is prepared to deal with opposing coaches who think he's sending the wrong message. ``That's OK because I can look myself in the mirror,'' Escoto said. ``This is the right thing to do.'' At halftime Wednesday, Robinson's ex-teammate and his mother met with Robinson in a hallway outside the Spartans locker Things commonly known as lockers include:
His public perception still teetering, Robinson made sure the one opinion that matters most got the whole truth, directly from the source. A good start. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Frank Robinson, right, had 14 points in his debut with Sylmar on Wednesday. He left Chatsworth after fighting with, and breaking the jaw, of a teammate. Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer |
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