Julio Jones: Man of Many Suits
When I was in college, I had one suit. It was crappy, ill-fitting, and I wore it rarely. No one I knew in college had more than two suits. Post-graduation that didn't change much. Nor did it change much after I began practicing law. I had one suit hanging on the back of the door and another at home. I just checked my closet and saw that I have two suits today. How many suits do you have? Probably not as many as Julio Jones did when he was a wide receiver at Alabama. As the T-Town Menswear story continues to grow, one of the most interesting aspects of the story has been the degree to which a middle-aged suit store owner ingratiated himself with the Alabama football program. As you've seen from our previous story hundreds of Alabama players have been pictured hanging out at his store.
Including Julio Jones at the above picture, trying on a suit coat inside the store.
Why are so many players hanging out here?
How many mall stores did you regularly hang out at while you were in college?
The only real reason why so many Alabama players would be hanging out at this store is simple -- because they were getting hooked up in some way. Ohio State's tattoo parlor meet Alabama's suit parlor.
But what evidence is there that hookups took place? Well, it's still circumstantial at this point. All we've determined so far is that Alabama confirmed the suit store owner was selling items autographed by the players. We haven't proven that he provided impermissible benefits to those players or that the players knew their autographs were being sold. Although, it's worth considering how the Alabama players couldn't know their autographed material was being sold considering that the merchandise they signed was being sold at a mall kiosk in the same mall where T-Town Menswear was located.
Indeed, a company called Vice Authentics actually advertised in the past few days the very jerseys signed in T-Town Menswear for sale online. That same company also deals in Alabama football tickets. Vice has since pulled the Trent Richardson and AJ McCarron jerseys that were advertised as being signed on September 3, 2010, the very same day that star running back Trent Richardson was photographed signing jerseys in the menswear store.
This afternoon OKTC received a telephone call from Marty Vice, head of Vice Authentics. All he would tell us is this, "I've never met that man (Tom Albetar) in my life. I don't know him." Asked where he received his Alabama material autographed by current players, why he'd suddenly pulled all autographed materials featuring those players, and whether he had spoken with either Alabama or the NCAA, Vice would not comment on any of these questions. Indeed, he would not answer any questions other than to reiterate that he didn't know Albetar.
Our coverage of this story has the individuals involved scrambling. Early this morning the Facebook page for T-Town Menswear disappeared. So too have the autographs for sale on Vice's website. Meanwhile we're still waiting for Tom Albetar's official connection to the Alabama football program to be explicated.
But each day the connections between Alabama and a suit store become more and troubling.
And we're about to provide a lot more smoke.
Here is Julio Jones, Alabama wide receiver who has no job and isn't independently wealthy. Raised by a single parent, Jones recently described his mother's work history in an interview before the NFL Draft: "She works at KFC. Before that, she worked at Church's Chicken for a long time. It's time for her to take a break." Alabama listed Jones at 6'4" 220 pounds. That's a mountain of a man who would need a special work from a tailor to have suits fit perfectly.
How many suits would you expect for a guy like Julio Jones to own while he was in college?
Two or three at the most?
Well, Outkickthecoverage.com has found pictures of Julio wearing ten different suits into Alabama football games.
Ten!
Ten suits that are perfectly tailored to fit his build and ten suits that have been matched with ties and shoes. How much do you think that cost? How much do you think Julio paid?
Here we go with the photo gallery:
Suit 1
Suit 2
Suit 3
Suit 4
Suit 5
Suit 6
Suit 7
Suit 8
Suit 9
Suit 10
Wow.
After this was posted, Busted Coverage found six more suits.
That's sixteen suits. For a college kid with no job and a cushy relationship with a suit provider. So cushy, in fact, that the store owner allows him to hang out in the back and use the computer.
Now this doesn't mean that Julio Jones only has only sixteen suits, just that we've only got photos of him walking in to football games in sixteen different suits. He could have another sixteen for all we know. Which would have to make him the suit-owningest college kid on Earth. It also doesn't mean that Julio Jones didn't pay full price for all of his suits. But if he bought all of these suits where did the money come from? And what did he pay?
Throw in the fact that Alabama listed Julio Jones at 6'4" 220 and we're not talking about a guy who can walk in and buy suits off the rack. All of these suits fit him well, which means he's been sized, measured, and fitted. Given his close relationship with the owner of T-Town Menswear it definitely raises some interesting questions about how exactly Julio afforded so many hand-tailored suits despite having no job and a mother who isn't wealthy.
Your move, Alabama.
...
If you've missed Outkickthecoverage.com's stories on the building trouble at Alabama here they are in succession.
Our initial report on the player jerseys in the window at T-Town Menswear.
Trent Richardson signing jerseys inside the store.
Owner of T-Town Menswear had sideline passes for Bama games, may be a booster.
Alabama acknowledges that current player autographs were being sold by T-Town Menswear owner.