"I don't think we've heard the last of him."

March 9, 2013 2:31 PM

"I hope you guys will forgive me but after I am done talking to you guys you guys will probably trespass me like 98% of schools and school districts did in Washington, Oregon, and Montana." Previously. A year later, he's still at it, and, as is usually the case, his backstory is sadder and more complicated than just a News Of The Weird guffaw.
posted by availablelight (55 comments total)

I read the whole thing and it made me sad.
posted by 41swans at 2:45 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

That is so sad. He doesn't seem to want to hurt anyone, but the way he's behaving is out of bounds. We really don't handle mental health issues well. Hope he finds an understanding environment.
posted by arcticseal at 2:50 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

He's nowhere near as disabled, but it did remind me of the title of the book about "Sylvia Frumkin": "Is There No Place on Earth For Me?" As his workplace manager during high school puts it,

"Put it this way," Sherwin's boss continues. "You know Of Mice and Men? He's your Lennie. He doesn't want to hurt the mouse, but he doesn't know any better." The problem is further complicated in that, as the article explains, he's too high functioning for traditional residential support options, but not functional enough to really do well on his own. High schools (and even high schoolers) seem to be getting better at supporting students like this--and he's clearly trying to get back to that environment--but I do wonder if we have any real structure for what comes afterwards. The really great programs in my own area (residential, community, and employment support) are for people with more serious intellectual disabilities (employable people with Down Syndrome, etc).
posted by availablelight at 2:51 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

I wish someone could help him understand that what he is doing is absolutely not okay, and why, and work with him to find things that can make him happy without behaving inappropriately toward teens.

Just statistically, it's likely that at least a couple of the teens onto whose backs he leapt had experienced some kind of sexual abuse. I know that if something like that had happened to me at that age, I would have been triggered like mad.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:53 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

And I found the teens' perspective to be oddly missing from that story. I know it's not simple to get interviews from legal minors, but still.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:55 PM on March 9 [7 favorites]

a weird mixture of sad and awesome for me. obviously he is facing huge problems, but there's something inspiring about a person who actually does something to achieve their dreams - most people with the same desires would just quietly go back to watching tv
posted by facetious at 2:55 PM on March 9

Can't we as a society work together to get Sherwin some kind of job at sporting events (or sports facilities) that will meet his need for face time with athletes? He seems clearly motivated to avoid official punishment--once he's trespassed in a state, he moves on. There's got to be a way to use rewards similarly to meet everyone's needs here.
posted by epj at 2:56 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

I think the fewer people who realize their dreams of nonconsensual physical interactions with teenagers there are in a society, the better off we are. Violating the boundaries of minors isn't like running a marathon---it's not a goal to be worked toward.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:57 PM on March 9 [23 favorites]

I've actually met people like Sherwin before. Barely-functioning autistics and aspergers sufferers. They tend to behave in wildly inappropriate ways in an attempt to integrate themselves into wider society. They are like aliens who have no point of reference for human behavior -- so they try anything in an attempt to make some kind of connection with other humans.

I've found that, generally, there is very little you can say to them that will convince them of the inappropriateness of their actions. To them, concepts like "appropriate" and "inappropriate" are wholly alien, arbitrary constructs with no internal logic or reason. The funny thing is, they are mostly correct. Social mores are almost utterly arbitrary. They merely lack the instinctual understanding of such mores (or perhaps more likely, the instinctual ability to unconsciously learn such mores), making them highly socially awkward.
posted by Avenger at 2:58 PM on March 9 [5 favorites]

"Don't leap onto the backs of people you've never met before, particularly not minors" is not an arbitrary social more.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:01 PM on March 9 [11 favorites]

It's a well-researched story that's studded with bits of mawkish, TV-grade psychoanalysis:

Two forces seem to be warring within Sherwin: a need to be liked by athletes and a fear of being punished by adults. It's as if Sherwin is searching for his missing friends and his missing father.

Clearly, we are less concerned about the sad poor fuck himself than we are taken by the idea of Sherwin: the bogeyman, the sick freak, the ambush predator, the lunatic, whatever.

There are lots of people who slip through cracks and desperately need help. Let's stop using their existence as a chance to suck on Dr. Freud's cigar.
posted by Nomyte at 3:02 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]

"Don't leap onto the backs of people you've never met before, particularly not minors" is not an arbitrary social more.

It is to people to have no frame of reference for "proper" cultural interaction. I mean, we aren't in-born with these ideas. They are taught to us, and some people are incapable of learning.
posted by Avenger at 3:05 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]

"Don't leap onto the backs of people you've never met before, particularly not minors" is not an arbitrary social more.

Agreed. I wonder if there was a point when he was a boy himself--and not a 200+ pound, sexually mature man capable of injuring someone for life with SURPRISE PIGGYBACK--when this behavior began and was encouraged or at least tolerated as harmless. (Prior to his high school years, when it would have already started becoming inappropriate.) I went to a mainstreamed middle school where it was clear that some of the boys didn't get that what was merely annoying behavior in elementary school (towards female classmates, in this case) was now inappropriate and distressing when directed from a 15 or 16 year old boy to a 13 or 14 year old girl.
posted by availablelight at 3:15 PM on March 9 [5 favorites]

Can't we as a society work together to get Sherwin some kind of job at sporting events (or sports facilities) that will meet his need for face time with athletes?

I'd say let him be a costume mascot for some professional sports team, but even assuming that interaction with adult athletes meets his unique needs as well as the underage ones, the notoriety that precedes him would probably just be inviting trouble. Some player says "no, I don't want that freak jumping on my back, I don't care if he's our mascot" and he does at some point anyway...
posted by radwolf76 at 3:19 PM on March 9

Huh. It sounds like he could be headed right for my city; I bet we hear about him in Peoria or Springfield next, then St. Louis...

Also, I learned something today: I didn't know there was a Schnucks in Iowa! Or Indiana, for that matter.
posted by limeonaire at 3:23 PM on March 9

So very sad.
posted by ericb at 3:27 PM on March 9

"When I ask Haussler why someone would give a ride to a stranger who was central casting's ideal of a suspicious character, Haussler says, 'We're North Dakotans.'"

Huh?
posted by ericb at 3:28 PM on March 9

Nomyte: “It's a well-researched story that's studded with bits of mawkish, TV-grade psychoanalysis...”

Indeed. That showed through quite clearly when I got to this bit:

The general manager of the roller derby couldn't confirm Jenson's account. But it's important to know the general manager's name is Red Malicious.

Note that this "Red Malicious" person isn't mentioned, even obliquely, before or after this passage. So apparently "it's important to know" here just means "hey, check out this person's weird-ass name, huh?" Probably an unfortunate tone to set, I have to say.
posted by koeselitz at 3:29 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]

He has been told a number of times, and he has been actively disciplined, and he still does this. People's kindness might have confused him slightly, but this is socially inapporite behaviour, and he should actively be discouraged, perhaps by law, to stop doing this. He is using his disability as an excuse, when it is no longer valid as one.
posted by PinkMoose at 3:31 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

epj: “Can't we as a society work together to get Sherwin some kind of job at sporting events (or sports facilities) that will meet his need for face time with athletes? He seems clearly motivated to avoid official punishment--once he's trespassed in a state, he moves on. There's got to be a way to use rewards similarly to meet everyone's needs here.”

There are a lot of different people in this world with a lot of different kinds of needs, but Sherwin's needs don't seem to include having face time with athletes. At least: he doesn't seem to feel his needs are met by simply meeting people. And what he seems to perceive his need to be – actually jumping on stranger's backs randomly – is not something we can feasibly give him. Nor am I sure we should want to.

I mean – I appreciate the desire to help, but the way to help here is not to get this fellow a chance to hang out at sporting events. If we're going to work together as a society, I have a feeling the first thing we should be doing is providing a safety net for people like Sherwin Shayegan by giving them access to the psychiatric help they clearly need most.

Sherwin's need is not contact with athletes; and it certainly isn't unsolicited physical contact with athletes who don't know him. I am not his psychiatrist, nor am I any psychiatrist at all, but it's pretty clear (I think) that whatever needs he has probably have to do with his own validation and sense of worth. He needs to sit down with somebody who knows what they're doing in order to figure out how to go about getting those needs met.

I wonder if it would be possible to fund a program where judges might have the opportunity to refer cases like Sherwin's to a psychiatrist. I mean – the first judge, seeing that Sherwin had done a pretty weird thing, just instructed him to "go back to Seattle and behave yourself." If that instruction had been "go back to Seattle and behave yourself, but before you do, I'd like you to have a session or two with a good psychiatrist to talk a bit about why you probably shouldn't do this again," then Sherwin would have a much better chance of working this out. It would be even better if the judge could say, "go back to Seattle and behave yourself, and I've talked to the court there and you've been appointed a psychiatrist; I want you to see him once a week for the next month."
posted by koeselitz at 3:39 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]

But that's the thing--nobody's telling him what he *should* do in order to meet his needs. He's clearly unable to think of an appropriate substitute for his inappropriate behavior, and nobody's telling him anything except, "Knock it off!" Set the guy up with a local-to-his-hometown college or community college team (after okaying it with coaches and players first), tell him he can be honorary manager as long as he does not touch any players, nor they him, other than high-fives at the beginning and end of practice. Give the guy a way to get the attention he wants in a healthy, socially acceptable way.
posted by epj at 3:41 PM on March 9 [6 favorites]

Avenger, I mean that it's not an arbitrary more, because leaping onto someone's back without warning could injure them physically and upset them emotionally. This gentleman's inability to understand this more doesn't make it "arbitrary"---it's an entirely logical more, not a mere shibboleth like "don't wear a hat indoors".
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:43 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

He's lied and claimed to be a participant in the Special Olympics--maybe this kind of heavily mentored and coached activity is exactly what he needs. Though--does he qualify?
posted by availablelight at 3:44 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

The general manager of the roller derby couldn't confirm Jenson's account. But it's important to know the general manager's name is Red Malicious.
Note that this "Red Malicious" person isn't mentioned, even obliquely, before or after this passage. So apparently "it's important to know" here just means "hey, check out this person's weird-ass name, huh?" Probably an unfortunate tone to set, I have to say.

I have to say, this didn't bother me -- I thought it was more "Roller Derby players have awesome pseudonyms, and here is a pretty clever one."

Also, whenever i read an article in Grantland, it makes me wish I cared more about sports, because the writing is typically really good and engaging. I just... y'know, know nothing about sports, so I only get to read (well, understand) their coverage like this where it's related to but not about sports.


I know, it's an odd boy who doesn't like sport.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 3:52 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

Koeselitz, I think we're on the same page with assigning mental health help. I'm wondering if you specifically mean "psychiatry", which these days tends to mostly mean medication prescription and management, or if you mean a more general "therapy", which would be more focused on behaviors and outcomes and less on meds?

Also, confession, I'm a social worker, so I just dove right in and started case managing Sherwin (I am not his therapist, this is not therapeutic advice), which is why the suggestion-fest.
posted by epj at 3:53 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

The general manager of the roller derby couldn't confirm Jenson's account. But it's important to know the general manager's name is Red Malicious.

Note that this "Red Malicious" person isn't mentioned, even obliquely, before or after this passage. So apparently "it's important to know" here just means "hey, check out this person's weird-ass name, huh?" Probably an unfortunate tone to set, I have to say.

I have to say, this didn't bother me -- I thought it was more "Roller Derby players have awesome pseudonyms, and here is a pretty clever one."

It seems to be a precept of Grantland to assume the readership has a greater familiarity with each and every sport than the casual fan. So you don't have to wade through a paragraph of "Here's what 'amnesty' means" in every basketball salary story, but you also don't get even the seven extra words that would make that sentence "But it's important to know the general manager's pseudonym, which is a thing in roller derby, is Red Malicious."
posted by Etrigan at 4:29 PM on March 9

He shows a great deal of initiative and ability to plan. He has a method of seeking out targets that, if he were not disabled, we would consider him a proficient stalker. He knows to avoid states where he is banned. I don't buy that he is incapable of changing or controlling his behavior.

Yes, he needs help, and I would be thrilled to hear he got it. But sooner or later he is going to hurt someone, or be hurt in turn when they lash out at him. He needs to be in a program under supervision. But since we don't give a fuck about treating mental illness in this country, he won't get that but will eventually end up in jail.
posted by emjaybee at 4:33 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

"I bet we hear about him in Peoria or Springfield next"

Bite your damn tongue!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:42 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Can't we as a society work together to get Sherwin some kind of job at sporting events (or sports facilities) that will meet his need for face time with athletes?

Give the guy a way to get the attention he wants in a healthy, socially acceptable way.

This, exactly. My first thought. He needs validation--heck, let him mow the field or something (assuming there are still grass fields) Let him high five, fetch the water and oranges (or whatever they do when they play ball) and generally be helpful. Best of all if he could do something physically active--like mowing, or footwork, orpace them when they run--couldn't hurt to get him tired. If he knows he'll be tossed if he doesn't comply, then he may be willing to alter his behavior.
posted by BlueHorse at 5:02 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I mean that it's not an arbitrary more, because leaping onto someone's back without warning could injure them physically and upset them emotionally. This gentleman's inability to understand this more doesn't make it "arbitrary"---it's an entirely logical more, not a mere shibboleth like "don't wear a hat indoors".

Well, if you refused to take off your hat in Downton Abbey in the 1920's they would probably be pretty emotionally upset at your insult. And today in the US there are several socially condoned ways to touch strangers: if he had been the 'handshake bandit' there wouldn't be any story, because you're allowed to basically demand a handshake from anyone. Similarly, there are a number of situations in which you can touch strangers on their shoulders. What types of physical contact are considered acceptable between strangers varies across cultures and time periods, and there's certainly a degree of arbitrariness to the conventions of each culture.
posted by Pyry at 5:28 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

"He waited outside our room," Shultis says. "Then he jumped on back of one of my freshman players. He proceeded to yell, 'Wheeeee!'" Then Sherwin vanished.
posted by qinn at 5:30 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Pyry, an adult man who weighs 250 pounds leaping onto the back of a teenager whom he has not met, from whom he has not obtained consent, and whom he has not warned is risking actual physical injury to that teen, as well as emotional discomfort for the teen. "Don't leap onto strangers' backs without warning" is perfectly sound advice in any culture. It's not like a handshake.

Why are people so anxious to discount the physical risk and emotional discomfiture of the teens Mr. Shayegan is leaping on to? Is it because he has an emotional and/or cognitive disability and they are presumably currently able, mentally and physically?

I think if the article had done a better job of capturing the teens' perspective, people might not be leaving that out so much in this discussion. I realize that I am hypersensitive to this issue because of my experiences of abuse as a child and teen, but even the strongest kid gets to not have 250-pound adult strangers leaping on to his back without warning.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:41 PM on March 9 [18 favorites]

How does he afford this on disability? Motels are pretty expensive, even if he sleeps on Greyhound while traveling and gets free food from continental breakfasts. I don't know why that jumps out at me so much, I always wonder the same thing during movies.
posted by skewed at 5:48 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

What types of physical contact are considered acceptable between strangers varies across cultures and time periods, and there's certainly a degree of arbitrariness to the conventions of each culture.

Which cultures or time periods have considered it acceptable for a 100-kilogram stranger to leap onto the back of an unsuspecting person? That's no more "arbitrary" than rules against killing people.
posted by Etrigan at 5:54 PM on March 9 [4 favorites]

When you're that size, it isn't called "jumping on someones back", it is called "tackling someone from behind".
posted by Drumhellz at 6:06 PM on March 9 [7 favorites]

Why are people so anxious to discount the physical risk and emotional discomfiture of the teens Mr. Shayegan is leaping on to? Is it because he has an emotional and/or cognitive disability and they are presumably currently able, mentally and physically?

Who's discounting their discomfiture? I would be very uncomfortable if, say, an uncle wanted to kiss me, but this has been a form of greeting in various times and places. I'm not discounting their feelings, but I agree with Avenger that if you aren't well socialized you could very well see them as arbitrary.

Which cultures or time periods have considered it acceptable for a 100-kilogram stranger to leap onto the back of an unsuspecting person? That's no more "arbitrary" than rules against killing people.

Are you saying that if he weighed less, it would then be ok? Let's set aside the whole weight/injury angle, because I don't think anybody seriously considers that to be the prime objection to his behavior.

I think a lot of open minded people get caught up in idea that only things that are wrong from first principles are really wrong, and that therefore violations of "mere" social norms cannot count. Then, ignoring the whole injury thing, this case is difficult because it's totally obvious on one hand that he's being completely creepy and should be stopped, but on the other it's hard to argue that his behavior makes people uncomfortable except for that it violates social norms.
posted by Pyry at 6:29 PM on March 9

Are you saying that if he weighed less, it would then be ok?

Yes, I'm saying that if he were a child, or a little person, or in some other way fairly unlikely to injure an adolescent by doing a dramatically unsafe thing, it would be way more acceptable.

Let's set aside the whole weight/injury angle, because I don't think anybody seriously considers that to be the prime objection to his behavior.

Like bloody screaming hell let's set aside the whole weight/injury angle, because I do consider that to be my prime objection to his behavior. When I first read about the Piggyback Bandit, I found it to be, as noted in the article, pretty much just a News of the Weird sort of thing -- icky, but not actionably icky, because okay, maybe he's a little developmentally challenged and just needs to be better socialized or monitored. Then I heard that he weighs 245 pounds. That is how much Barkevious Mingo weighs, and Barkevious Mingo is about to get drafted into the NFL and receive a lot of money for tackling people. No. That is dangerous, not icky. We cannot set aside the idea that a 245 pound human being leaping onto the back of another human being is pretty likely to injure at least one of them.
posted by Etrigan at 6:49 PM on March 9 [12 favorites]

This story is just starkly similar to that of the aspie guy in NYC who has the subway system so memorized that he once drove a train by schedule a few stops until they caught him (couldn't find a non-paywall link to the story from Harper's a while back, which was much more in depth).

And then I mentioned both of these to my s.o., and he told me that the infamous old-school hacker Captain Crunch is known for demanding to do "energy work" with journalists who ask to interview him -- which consists of him stripping to his underwear and riding piggyback on the journalist's back...

But yeah: agreed that it would be ideal if we could take the immense skill these folks develop and help them channel it in productive ways, it would be great. Some sort of community that operates on Asperger's rules? Where the one guy gets to run the subway, the other guy gets to manage the sports team...
posted by gusandrews at 7:35 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

I think the fewer people who realize their dreams of nonconsensual physical interactions with teenagers there are in a society, the better off we are. Violating the boundaries of minors isn't like running a marathon---it's not a goal to be worked toward.

I think the commenter you were responding to was actually just being facetious.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:04 PM on March 9

Like bloody screaming hell let's set aside the whole weight/injury angle, because I do consider that to be my prime objection to his behavior.

Ditto. I'm shocked he's managed to do it this many times without injuring someone. I absolutely would be less concerned if there was no chance of injury to the victim, though it would still be non-consensual and inappropriate.
posted by vegartanipla at 8:16 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

gusandrews: And then I mentioned both of these to my s.o., and he told me that the infamous old-school hacker Captain Crunch is known for demanding to do "energy work" with journalists who ask to interview him -- which consists of him stripping to his underwear and riding piggyback on the journalist's back...

Having known two brothers who were solicited at HOPE for these seminude "energy workouts", these invitations were not limited to journalists.
posted by dr_dank at 8:35 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

He definitely understands that it's inappropriate. That's why he lies. If he didn't have the capacity to understand that this was inappropriate and unwelcome, he wouldn't confabulate like this, he'd just wander onto the court and leap on people.
posted by KathrynT at 9:36 PM on March 9 [7 favorites]

I'm surprised he hasn't been beat up yet- Teenage athletes are low on impulse control themselves.
posted by jenkinsEar at 10:21 PM on March 9

Apparently Barkevious Mingo won the 2009 Name of the Year Award and, IMO, rightly so.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:23 PM on March 9

Can someone explain the trespass thing to me? The first time I encountered it in the article it sounded as though it's venue-specific: X store, X school, etc. But later it says "Sherwin was trespassed from state tournaments in Washington," so, presumably all sporting events in the state? Just school tournaments? Another mentions says "the Oregon School Activities Association announced it was trespassing Sherwin, too. Banned in two states!"

So... I guess there are official overseeing bodies that can preemptively ban someone from attending [type X] events in the entire state? Could the pertinent officials in any state do this, even if he has not showed up there yet? It's all a bit confusing to me, but the reason I ask is that he seems to recognize the validity of being "trespassed" in a way that he doesn't recognize that he cannot do what he does because it is physically dangerous / potentially harmful, against the law generally, socially unacceptable, etc. The "trespass" means something more absolute and comprehensible to him, apparently.
posted by taz at 12:54 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Count me in the "just made me sad" camp. Obviously teenage athletes deserve to be able to play their sports without having to deal with potentially dangerous physical contact from a large adult with a strange impulse. But as the father of an 8-year-old boy on the autism spectrum, who wonders frequently about what will happen as my son ages out of "cute, little boy" phase and some of his more bizarre personal quirks become more noticeable compared to his typical peers, this just came off as a worst case scenario example (not that my kid has shown any proclivity to random piggyback rides or anything) .
posted by The Gooch at 1:07 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

OK, I'm probably a terrible person for thinking this, but:

Pro wrestling. This guy craves contact with athletes. He likes to jump on people. Pro wrestlers tend to be large, muscular men accustomed to being jumped on. This guy needs a career in pro wrestling.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:45 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

So... I guess there are official overseeing bodies that can preemptively ban someone from attending [type X] events in the entire state?

I'm not a lawyer, but I think the idea is that for a trespass conviction, generally the trespasser must know that they are trespassing. By being 'trespassed', an institution is warning him that he's not welcome, and therefore the moment he steps on their property he is committing a crime (whereas normally, he would only be trespassing after being warned and refusing to leave). Minnesota, at least, has a whole bunch of special cases for trespassing on school property, including this one: "It is a misdemeanor for a person to enter or be found on school property within one year after being told by the school principal or the principal's designee to leave the property and not to return, unless the principal or the principal's designee has given the person permission to return to the property."
posted by Pyry at 4:51 AM on March 10

This is a very poorly written article about a very poor soul.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:02 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

""Sherwin was trespassed from state tournaments in Washington," so, presumably all sporting events in the state? Just school tournaments?"

School tournaments, which are specific, limited-duration things, typically over a long weekend, typically in a mid-sized city drawing a huge out-of-town population. The tournament is organized by the state high school athletic association, which is typically a state government body attached to the state school board/oversight committee/whatever. These are actually fairly tightly-policed because you have a few issues -- high school students who either a) think it's funny to pull pranks on other high schools or b) are involved in gangs and are seeing other gang members, with everyone off their home territories or c) attempting to have sex and drink; non-custodial parents taking the opportunity of the chaos of the tournament for non-allowed contact with their child or even parental kidnapping; your typical opportunistic petty crimes in the pickpocketing vein; and adults, usually but not always parents, who are inappropriate at high school games and do things like punch the refs or scream obscenities at the players and end up banned. Or, apparently, jump on people's backs.

"So... I guess there are official overseeing bodies that can preemptively ban someone from attending [type X] events in the entire state? Could the pertinent officials in any state do this, even if he has not showed up there yet?"

I ... am not sure. Typically to get banned from the tournaments you have to have DONE something or already have a restraining order. But they definitely give the cops and tournament workers a heads-up on people they expect will be a problem who haven't been actually banned. My intuition is that if the tournament was on school property you could probably ban someone pre-emptively because you have a fair amount of control of who accesses school building events (although there'd be plenty of grounds to challenge this in court if you wanted to), but if it's at a civic arena or a college arena, you're going to have a much more difficult time arguing members of the public should be excluded pre-emtively.

I mean basically the state high school basketball tournament is in my town, and the tournament for big schools is this coming weekend (small schools is right now), and it is super-gigantic chaos where it's impossible to get in at a restaurant within 25 miles of town and the hotels are packed and takeout takes forever and there are HERDS of wandering high school students and nobody understands one-way streets. I would expect the tournament organizers have talked to the security staff about this guy, but there are 128 schools coming to the state tournament to an arena that seats around 12,000 that will sell out for at least the semifinals and finals -- he's probably not on the top of the security concern list.

Actually, if I see our school security chief tomorrow (which I may), I'll ask him about state tournament security, and about whether we worry about the piggyback bandit at our games and how our district would handle a concern like that and how the state association handles stuff like that.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:49 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Very interesting! Thanks for the info.

I hope that the exposure that Sherwin Shayegan has received over this might eventually lead to some help / solutions. There's no indication in the article that he has any therapeutic attention at all.
posted by taz at 7:14 AM on March 10

Are we totally ignoring the possibility that this may be some kind of paraphilia of his? Because he is a grown man, collecting information on, attempting to meet up with and make close, aggressive physical contact with teen athletes - not limited to but including the piggybacking. He also hangs around attempting to give them backrubs. If he did not have autism, people would not be interested in accommodating his desire for these interactions at all.
posted by Selena777 at 8:53 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]

Yeah, it seems pretty obvious that it's a paraphilia ("He looks like he's masturbating."). That's why the suggestions that he be given a job managing a team strike me as more than slightly nuts---this is clearly a guy who is getting some kind of sexual thrill out of monitoring, stalking, and assaulting teenagers. His time hanging around with teams is part of phase one and two, en route to phase three. Yes, he is clearly developmentally disabled. So are a lot of child molestors.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:27 AM on March 10 [6 favorites]

Frottage, anyone?
posted by Carol Anne at 10:04 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

(I did not see the school security chief at my meetings today so I didn't get to ask. I was kinda bummed. I'll try to keep it in mind if I run into him soon, but it won't be on the top of my mind so I'm likely to forget unless I see him in the next day or two.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:48 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]