Not Worth A Stupid Argument at at Party

Condolences, of course, go to the families of the victims in the shooting that left 2 former Auburn football players dead, along with another man, and several others seriously wounded - after a pool party gone wrong - very, very wrong.

By initial accounts, this was not a "football player party gone bad" but more of a case of "football players in the wrong place at the wrong time"

The story is sad. And cliched.

Guys get into argument over a woman. Larger guys decide they can beat the crap out of other guys they don't really know.

Guys decide punching isn't quite doing the job and decide to start smashing bottles on heads.

Then somebody pulls a gun and starts shooting.

Police emphasized that the shootings didn't appear to have anything to do with some of the victims being former or current players on the university's powerhouse football team, which won the national championship in 2010. 

"The only connection that the Auburn football team has to this is they are victims of a brutal shooting. Sometimes the young men get a bad rap, I feel like, but they are the victims today," Dawson said. 

Police urged the suspect to turn himself in. Authorities are also searching for two other persons of interest.

Dawson said he did not know why the party was being held or what sparked the fight.
"Them being football players really has nothing to do with this. They're victims of a shooting," Dawson said. 

Turquorius Vines, 23, said he was at the pool party Saturday evening at the University Heights apartments with one of his friend, Pitts. He said he and his friend were approached by two other men who started arguing with them over a woman. 

Vines said he punched one of the men, while Pitts hit both of the men over the head with a bottle. Either one or both of the two men then started shooting, he said. He said Pitts was shot and killed, while two others also were hit by gunfire. Vines said he had never met the men he was arguing with. 

"It's like I lost a lung," Vines said of losing his friend. "I don't know how I'm going to survive this."

Well, the time to think about THAT, was unfortunately, before things escalated. Look, I am a middle aged white guy who doesn't go to many parties of the genteel set, much less these kind of parties.

But at the same time, you would hope that high profile athletes - and remember, football players are ROCK STARS in their college towns - would stop to think: "Could this idiot I am arguing with possibly go get a gun and start shooting?"

If there is any doubt, just let it go.

All that said, it must be repeated for the 10,000th time. "When the football team shows up... the party is over."

Period. 

Go home.