This should be a Fanshot.

thanks so much for posting this. I think this is one of the most fascinating sports stories in a long time. Just trying to grasp as much as I can about this and follow it as close as possible. Its all so surreal

Watched Sugar the other night at the suggestion of the other members of MCC. Great flick and it definitely was a wake up call about what these kids go through in the DR. Only hope that it ends well for Angel, whether he ever plays again or not

I hope he is innocent. That said, if he shot a man in the back, enjoy your prison sentence.

were a welcome feature of this piece, as it was the first actual glimpse of the city any of us have seen. That bar looks like somebody would be shot there on a weekly basis if they didn’t frisk people.

The interesting thing to me is how different the two sides portrayal of Villalona and the events of that day are, as well as how both using his wealth and fame to prove their point.

His accusers say he became an a-hole after he went big time and his think his celebrity might get him off. His defenders say he’s the one their going after because of his deep pockets. They portray him as some sort of guadian Angel, so to speak.

It really struck me that, at 16, he accepted $2.1 million, but along with it came the weight of the world.

Ghettos are all around the world, and I’ve seen a lot of them in my travels, especially around where my family is from. In the DR specifically, you can see why baseball is such a religion there. It really does give people hope that there is better life out there. It’s sad when reality sets in for a lot of these hopefuls. I think I can understand why they hold Angel with such regard.

I really hope you didn’t throw your life away Angel for some stupid shit, and let everyone down.

I can’t imagine growing up in this:

Israel Joseph Rouling stands in front of the house where Angel Villalona was raised as a child in one of the poorest neighborhoods in La Romana.

Great article, I suggest reading the whole thing. It makes me so sad, hearing about all the good he’s doing and what an idol he is for all those kids, and how he bought his mom a new house as soon as he got the money, and then…yikes. I really really hope he didn’t do it.

I’m glad the Chronicle finally did a worthwhile article on this and sent a reporter to the DR, since the first article they wrote was, well, not worth reading. In contrast, I actually missed the 49ers touchdown drive since I was reading this one so thoroughly. Heh.

Few things that have come out in it that are very different than the initial accounts.

1. Velete’s family continues to state he was shot in the back. There is a report he was shot twice, but the coroner reported he was shot in the chest and had an exit wound through the neck. This still hasn’t been explained.

2. Velete’s family’s comments on this were all secondhand, which we didn’t know before. More interestingly, his story has changed from being shot while trying to break up the fight to being shot while fleeing out the bar.

3. Nothing in here discusses why the groups got in an argument initially (over who got to sit where), which is a very interesting omission.

The most notable bit in the article is that the bar’s owner claims to have been sitting on the sidewalk with Villalona when Velete was shot. Alibi witnesses tend to be a very good thing.

This article confirms my first suspicions on what this situation could be. I thought about something exactly like this, and now this story… It sucks, but it’s actually best case scenario for Angel. Let’s just hope that justice is served and truth comes out.

Sounds like he could just as easily be an accessory and not actually have pulled a trigger, but the chances that he wasn’t involved at all seem pretty slim.

/baseless speculation

you found this article “hopeful”?

I didn’t see much to be hopeful about in it

Angel is innocent, someone killed Mr. Velete and I hope the guilty party is brought to justice. I’m not an “eye for an eye” type, but I can’t imagine losing a child to a violent death. For the family of Mario de Jesus Velete, I hope the truth comes out and they find some peace.