Here is a quote from Marquis father

Bruce Cooper knows the official version of what happened to his son. One of four people clinging to an overturned boat in the Gulf of Mexico, his son Marquis gave in to the wind, the cold, the pounding waves. He slipped away from the boat and died.

Cooper says he knows better.

"I raised the kid, I lived with the kid, I can tell you that is not his personality,'' Cooper said during a news conference this afternoon.

"I'm telling you, that didn't happen that way.''

anyone can survive, he says, it's his son, a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer. His son's top-notch physical shape and mental toughness make him special, he said.

"This kid is going to fight to the bitter end,'' Cooper said

I am not saying what I did compares to these guys, I am just telling you that I understand the ocean, boating, cold weather, and hypothermia, when you surf in 55 degree cold water after an hour your body shivers uncontrollable in effort to warm itself, your flesh turns like a purple and orange color. It is wild and scary. I pray for these men. I am not part of the story, I was justtrying to give you my experience, so you understand I am not talking ou of my ass about these things, that is all. I just dont believe the story of the survivor and apparently neither do the people that knew the men well he is talking about. I do not have athe answer, I just am very suspicios of these stories that have come out about the survivor. Enough attacking me about it

from SMiths Family-
"I just know Corey's a very strong and determined person," Smith's girlfriend, Nikki Shaw, told King. "I just know he wouldn't give up, so we can't give up."

Smith's sister, Yolanda Newbill said that she would like to talk to Nick Schuyler and hear his account of what happened. Newbill said she doesn't believe some reports that Smith and Marquis Cooper eventually gave up and drifted away.

"Until I speak to Nick, that story is pure speculation," Newbill said.

Didn't mean to attack you.

Those quotes are along the lines of a loved one wishing for something other than reality.

They are still holding on to hope that the guys are still alive...floating around somewhere.

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“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

no worries , all good. You can say that it is loved ones or you can say, no one knows a child like a parent. And these guys history proves they are not quitters IMHO, and would more tend to back the parents then the survivor. The guys that made it all the way to the NFL, are quitter's and the LA Fitness Trainer wasn't...... and he didnt try and talk them into staying or trying a litle longer. Normally you hear a story like this and you hear how one survivor was the catalyst to make the others go on etc. I pray for them all

If you know so much about the gulfstream, then you would know that the gulfstream is very , very far offshore of Daytona Beach

The apex of the gulfstream is very very very far offshore at Daytona, maybe 50 miles, that's where the current is the strongest, the edge of the stream is much further in, the eddies and countercurrents are much further in still. In September, as Eesti correctly stated, the water is mid eighties right up to the beach, almost bathwater warm. 65 degree water is a whole different animal. These guys may have been physical specimens but, cold water will change that in a hurry. The fact that these four guys were that far offshore in a 21 foot boat, in winter, with only three lifejackets suggests that common sense was not a defining factor. I feel sorry for the parents.

This was a very intelligent discussion between eesti and Crowder52 with a lot of facts and a lot of knowledge by both parties.

I went back and forth reading both parties.

The middle ground, of course, is that the survivor is hiding the fact that it was a drunken party where all parties were acting a fool and the boat flipped over, the anchor went down and all drowned immediately except him and he decided to concoct the story because in some jurisdictions (particularly here in California) they constantly warn you "Drunk boating is the same as drunk driving." In other words, he could be liable for involuntary manslaughter for engaging in the drinking and boating even though the victims were equally guilty.

I think we can all agree that, absent that, the big mistake was dropping anchor in rough seas which everyone is saying you never do, particularly in a small boat like that.

I heard they left the boat out there. Wonder if anyone checked underneath.

The boat has already been returned to shore.

ChyrenB: I think the liability lies with the owner of the boat so that particular scenario would not implicate the passengers/survivor. You can get a DUI on a boat but only for the driver. It is not illegal to drink or even be drunk on a boat if you are a passenger.

All drowning immediately seems unlikely even if they did flip the boat. They did say that the owner was a strong swimmer. One of them could have been injured and drowned but the likely hood of all three at once is slim.

This whole thing sucks. It hits close to home when this sort of thing happens in your own community. I remember when they first reported it, thinking how cool it was that two Caucasian guys were good friends with two African American guys. You don't really see that much in today's society. Especially here in the Tampa area.

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“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

Crowder52 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Life fines a way to survive and these guys seem
> to have alot ways to try and do that, but instead
> they choose to just give up...

> 4 athlets. I guess the survivor had superhuman
> strenght and the others were super weak...


I personally find these comments to be rather disturbing. You sound very sarcastic and I am personally disgusted that you can talk about human life in such a manor. I am very happy that you are aqua man and can swim through sub zero water but not everyone is a navy seal. How can you say that they just chose to give up? As you said you dont know what happened. Who would just chose to to give up their life, obviously it was taken against their will. They were compromised, maybe enebreated, maybe numbed from the cold who knows, and youre superhuman strength comment makes me sick.

Maybe I am missreading your comments, maybe you should have ended these with a question marks so they dont read as statements. But as it stands I found them disturbing...

Miami Reppa Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Crowder52 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Life fines a way to survive and these guys
> seem
> > to have alot ways to try and do that, but
> instead
> > they choose to just give up...
>
> > 4 athlets. I guess the survivor had superhuman
> > strenght and the others were super weak...
>
>
> I personally find these comments to be rather
> disturbing. You sound very sarcastic and I am
> personally disgusted that you can talk about human
> life in such a manor. I am very happy that you
> are aqua man and can swim through sub zero water
> but not everyone is a navy seal. How can you say
> that they just chose to give up? As you said you
> dont know what happened. Who would just chose to
> to give up their life, obviously it was taken
> against their will. They were compromised, maybe
> enebreated, maybe numbed from the cold who knows,
> and youre superhuman strength comment makes me
> sick.
>
> Maybe I am missreading your comments, maybe you
> should have ended these with a question marks so
> they dont read as statements. But as it stands I
> found them disturbing...


RESPONSE: I am wondering whether I am reading YOUR comments right, Miami Reppa.

It was Schuyler (spelling?) who said that the 2 NFL players decided to give themselves up. Crowder52 was saying he did not believe that.

Now, perhaps you are commenting that Crowder52 is under-appreciating the delusion factor that can come upon someone in sub-normal temperature water and that Crowder52 is saying that there are only 2 possibilities which are that Schulyer is lying or that the athletes were in their right mind and decided to commit suicide after only a few hours.

If YOUR point is that Crowder52 is ignoring the third alternative, i.e., delusion, then I follow your comments. (Not saying I agree with them but just that I agree to the existence of that third alternative.)

On the other hand, if you are blaming Crowder52 for being the first to float the theory that they "just decided to give themselves up," then of course, he did not invent that, the surviving boater said it first.

Apparently....the guys let go of the boat after only a couple of hours. I don't understand why they would just let go, but they must have lost hope or saw that it was pointless to hold on if no help was coming.....only to prolong the inevitable.
It's too bad, but i don't know how i would react in a similar situation either.
I heard too that there may have been sharks in the water and maybe the guys were looking for a quick death instead of a slow,drawn-out, agonizing one, that would have surely occured if the sharks got them. It wouldn't have been pretty. They would have bled-out over hours or maybe even days.
My heart goes out to the families.