Newz Forum: FOOTBALL: Gun-wielding Clarett accused of robbery

Oh, how the mightily talanted have fallen. I truly beleived that this kid just needed some guidance. Instead, he has taken the path of sorrow. What a friggin waste.

Story Link

Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was accused of using a gun to rob two people in an alley behind a bar early Sunday, police said.

Clarett, 22, who helped the Buckeyes win the national championship in 2002, fled when the bar owner or manager, who knew Clarett and the victims, came into the alley and identified him shortly before 2 a.m.

[Edited on 3/5/2006 by Gibbs Baby!!!]

Well, not to overlook our court system's sacrosanct presumption of innocence or anything--because unlike Bonds, I've seen and heard no evidence of Clarett's guilt--but I would be more prone to say, "How the mightily tainted have fallen."

This kid has been bad news from day one. I agree that coaches have a duty to help keep kids out of trouble spots (strip joints, etc.), but when you are talking about a stone sociopath like Tom Sleazeborne's Lawrence Phillip's or like Clarett, the better question is, "How in hell did they take this guy in the first place, give the amount of money the university gives them to research their recruits?!!" And doesn't the university have a duty to protect the surrounding community and its coeds? (Answer: Yes, from known predators.)

Seems to me THAT is where, and why, some heads should roll.

B.H.N.

Tom Sleazeborne? Ouch man, that's a bit rough don't you think?:angry-smiley-034:

Somehow people like this are getting College educations... I just don't get it.

No. "Tom Sleazeborne" is way too lenient a sobriquet. I use it in deference to the inexplicable but conceivable fact there may be Osborne fans here. You know... People who have forgotten that his ego about having "the greastest team in college FB history" caused him to shun the simple P.A.T. that would have given his players the national championship they'd worked their hearts out for since Spring of 1983. Then there's the matter of his working to get Lawrence Phillips left on the campus, and thus on the team.

It is a real comment about his state that they named a major highway after him, elected him to Congress, etc.

Now, my state has given the world Governor Earl Warren (forget Supreme Court rulings; think, Japanese-American internment camps), Pierre Salinger, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Brown and Arnold, so we've got a ton of sins to atone for. But if a coach had fought to leave a player on his team after he'd: (1) beaten the bejesus out of his girlfriend; (2) dragged her, by her hair, down a flight of steps; (3) smashed her head into a metal mailbox; and (4) thrown her over a car, into oncoming traffic... well, I can promise you this: Earl or Pierre or Richard or Ronald or Jerry or Arnold would have been DONE for that one.

But Ol' Tom, the "humanitarian" who racked up all those sadistic scores in 1983 until they played a real team in the Orange Bowl.... Well, his "humanitarianism" was more aimed at his team's W-L % than at the women on that campus.

And have you followed Lawrence's actions since then? Quite some perception of women he seems to have.

I apologize to any women who read this site for having been so restrained in my criticism of Osborne. It's just that I hate him more than any other sportsfigure of my lifetime, and once I get started, there will be no stopping me, so....

B.H.N.

BHN, I'd be interested in hearing what you think about other low-class sporting types. Maybe you could start a new thread on them? (Clarett, Phillips, Tyson, TO, etc.)

Well, I'd be careful in what I said about Clarett, since his "eyewitness" has now said he's not certain it was Clarett he saw. Any experienced criminal lawyer can tell you, as can MANY books on the subject, that eyewitness testimony re violent crimes is not worth near as much as people think. Other than that, Clarett was just a punk with a me-first, don't-care-about-the-team, give-me-the-bucks attitude, as far as I know. There are a lot of them, though he was an especially egregious example, and a delicious bustout.

You've already heard my thoughts about Phillips, who will probably wind up shot to death, lawfully, by a woman he attacks some day, though I would add he was a MESS in the N.F.L. The Niners signed him, lost lots of season ticket holders (but promptly gained new ones), and wound up getting rid of him in a hurry. I can't give team names and dates off the top of my head, but he was signed by 2, 3 or 4 total N.F.L. teams, was always a bust-out, and since then has been someone just waiting to get arrested for murder or to get killed by a citizen acting in lawful defense of his/her own life or the life/lives of other people.

(I note an ESPN.com story from late August which reports two wholly unrelated alleged episodes that pretty much tell you what Phillips is: (1) He attacked his girlfriend twice, and on one of those occasions, choked her to the point of unconsciousness; and (2) after getting into verbal spats with 3 teens during a football game, ran his CAR into them.

The good news is, these things happened in California. The article says he was charged with "domestic abuse," which is not what choking your g.f. into unconsciousness would be called here, and "attempted murder," which apparently is three counts. NOW, it sure sounds to me like, after simmering and seething through a football game, the decision to drive a car into three dudes would be deliberate and premeditated, and if a jury decides he committed that action, they'll almost surely agree. MOREOVER, in California, DA's can present past evidence of domestic violence--which we know old Lawrence has--to show a "propensity" to beat up g.f.'s. He could get several years for the attack on his g.f., which in my opinion should also have been charged as an attempted murder.

But the three attempted premeditated murders? Know what he can get for that in California? How about life with the possibility of parole? And that's 3 consecutive terms. He would eligible for parole CONSIDERATION after 21 calendar years, but almost nobody doing life gets out in California (parole board is almost 100% ex-cops), and with THIS guy's record and attitude....

So, if that case can be sustained and prosecuted, and if adequate pressure is kept on the D.A., ol' Lawrence may be toast. And if he takes that "I'm an incredible bad ass" attitude into prison, he may kick one or two guys' asses, but he'll get himself killed.

As for Tyson and Owens, I despise them, too, but if I were going to start my own thread on "Notorious Sporting World Scumbags," there would be plenty of white guys in there. Mark Gastineau leaps to mind. Or Bill Romanowski. Or a lot of baseball players, past and present. I would not make it a "Bash a Black Guy Every Week or Two" column. (Which is NOT to say I think you meant to suggest such a thing. I don't.)

I don't know, man. I write for a living, and since finding errors and acts of misconduct is what I do, writing polemics comes naturally to me. It also helps that I'm surly, resentful and iconoclastic by nature, lol :bounce::flame

I am so busy, and while writing the stuff I do here is spontaneous and easy, researching a real good trashing of someone takes serious time and Internet research. But since I get to decide which a.h.'s to trash, well, that's pretty alluring.

And starting out with Mark Gastineau seems especially appealing, because he was a totally selfish player, constantly sold out on the run to pass blitz, got a lot of media not so much for his skills as for his T.O.-esque repulsiveness, and then had his ludicrous foray into heavyweight "boxing." He's been gone a long time, but so had Phillips, other than on police blotters.

Obviously you would like me to do this, Gibbs. Thank you for that. How do Toejam and the other panjandrums of this site feel about this idea?

BHN, thanks for your insight here. And BTW, thanks for pointing out my apparent racial slant (and I beleive your perspective), but I don't want to portray that line of thought from myslef, or this site.

AS for starting any rants (or whatever you want to call it) about the lower class citizens of the sporting world, I'd say it's all your call, and whether you want to put that time into it or not. There are a billion things that I would love to do on this site, but mostly I just react to what others say, as that's the easy way out (ie, not much reasearch) Call me lazy, that's OK.

And, back to our original character, it appears that he has turned himself in -

Clarett with police story link

[Edited on 1/3/2006 by Gibbs Baby!!!]

Dear Gibbs,

PLEASE, don't take it that way. I was careful to say I did NOT think you intended to suggest there be a racial bias to the proposed rants. If I'd thought you intended to suggest such a thing, you'd have gotten an entirely different answer... or, more likely, none at all, as I disappeared silently from a website whose co-webmeister advocates such things.

So, NO, I didn't think--and DON'T think--you were advocating I go on a trash-a-black-a.h.-athlete-every-week thing, and I tried to make that clear. Apparently I did a lousy job of making it clear, and wound up making you feel I was say saying you WANTED me to do such a thing.

I apologize for whatever failure of clarity my post suffered from, but that for sure was NOT how I construed your post, believe me. You're a good guy and I was just trying to show you the respect I always feel for, and show, you on here.

B.H.N.

i would not have any problem with a thread of this type, i am confident that the posts would be accurate and handled with class...i say go for it

"The Opium Lounge?" Boy, I'll bet the police never keep an eye on that place, send anyone undercover in there, etc. My god, what the hell kind of an asking-for-trouble name is that?!

Originally posted by BaseballHistoryNut
"The Opium Lounge?" Boy, I'll bet the police never keep an eye on that place, send anyone undercover in there, etc. My god, what the hell kind of an asking-for-trouble name is that?!

BHN, I was trying to say that I beleive what you said about not beleiving that I intentionally put a racist slant on my comments. I was just trying to say it without sounding like Abbott and Costello...

IOW, we cool.

So let's meet at the Opium Lounge for a drink? Truth in advertising?

I was wondering, if this clown had stayed in college and not messed around with the NFL draft deal, would this have happened? I guess no one knows but i'd like to think it wouldn't have.

don't want to start any rumors here but could Maurice be auditioning for the Raiders?

Most likely not, but we'll never know. What a friggin idiot, he looked almost hapy to be there in court.

Speaking as a criminal lawyer, I disagree. I would say he looked comfortable. And THAT is even worse. Quite a bit worse. Perhaps he has a lifetime of this to look forward to. If they let them play touch football on the yard, he'll sure be the #1 pick on every team, which I guess means a lot of guys will always have his back.

Think that prestige and protection will make up for what might have been?

B.H.N.

The latest and (not so) greatest on the whipping boy for what's wrong with college athletes -

Former Ohio State star tailback Maurice Clarett was indicted on charges of robbing two people behind a bar and carrying a concealed weapon, a prosecutor said Friday.

source

CBS Sportsline