When Will They Learn?

Welcome one and all to another edition of Tha Weatha Report. There’s a lot going on in the world of sports lately, but only one topic can bring me from the dark caves of silence to drop some knowledge on you. So, relax your mind and let your conscience be free and roll with Tha WeathaMan as we hit this journey. 

2013	Aaron Hernandez, NFL	Murder
2013	A. Walcott, NFL	Murder
2013	O. Pistorius, Running	Murder
2012	Josh Brent, NFL	Mans.
2009	Donte' Stallworth, NFL	Mans.
2005	Dany Heatley, NHL	Homic.
2004	Tammy Crow, Swim	Mans.
2003	Dwayne Goodrich, NFL	Homic.
2001	Rae Carruth, NFL	Murder
2000	Ray Lewis, NFL	Murder
1998	Leonard Little, NFL	Mans.
1995	Brian Blades, NFL	Mans.
1992	Charles Smith, NBA	Homic.
1989	Bruce Kimball, Diving	Mans.
1988	Reggie Rogers, NFL	Homic.
1986	Derrick Fenner, CFB	Murder
1984	Craig MacTavish, NHL	Homic.

-        -Credit to ESPN research for this list-

The above list is just the pro athletes that have been arrested and/or convicted of murder, homicide, and/or manslaughter in my lifetime.  Granted, not all of these involve weapons but there are enough that do to give pause. What’s the point? The point is that this is a list that just keeps growing.

As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the latest incident involves the former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. There’s no need to retell the story (click here if you need to catch up), but the same cycle that has caught up to previous athletes seems to have engulfed Mr. Hernandez into its web. Kid is born, people discover that said kid has athletic talent, kid becomes popular, popularity attracts unsavory characters (commonly known as “thugs”), kid goes on to be drafted by *insert team name here*, unsavory characters follow along said kid’s path, kid ALLOWS (key word here) unsavory characters to hang around, unsavory characters bring said kid down in a heap of fire and brimstone. We’ve seen it too many times to be surprised at this point. The biggest issue is that these “kids” keep making the same mistakes. 

Adam “Pacman” Jones has made the move to speak at the NFL’s annual Rookie Symposium about this very cycle. We’ve seen upstanding citizens such as Ray Lewis caught in this cycle. Michael Vick was the last big name to be involved in something similar. Now true, Lewis and Vick were able to rebound from their incidents to resurrect their careers but something tells me that Hernandez won’t be able to say the same. Hell, at this point he needs to be more worried about his personal freedom versus catching passes from Tom Brady, Peter Brady, or even Peter Pan. 

The problem is that these athletes don’t realize that in order to live a life like no one else, they have to live a life like no one else. Meaning, not everyone around you is for you. Sometimes the folks that are behind you are the individuals that have the knife that will be inserted into your spine. As opposed to finding out the hard way, these athletes need to realize that cutting off the folks that are hanging on by a thread is the only way to live. A five year $40 million contract is enough motivation to “turn your back on the hood”. 

I understand the stigma of “forgetting where you came from”. It is the most common thing that successful people hear. As soon as you become something special and move up in the world, the crab in a bucket mentality kicks in. People want to pull you back in because you’re leaving them behind, and we all know that it isn’t fair that you get to make it big while Pookie, Ray-Ray, and ‘dem stay in the old neighborhood wasting their lives away. Heaven forbid that the athletes deserve to live a nice lifestyle because they showed the dedication and determination necessary to do something with their lives. 

There’s a lot of information still yet to come concerning the Aaron Hernandez situation. He might even make it out of this mess with no jail time and only a ton of press clippings to his name. But that really isn’t the point now is it? The point is that he allowed himself to be put in this situation to begin with. Somewhere along the line Hernandez allowed all of the pre-draft concerns that teams had about him to become a reality and now he will have to live with the consequences of his actions. There has been too many NFL players (28 since Feb 3 of this year) and athletes in general that find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Yeah, they may be targets because of their wealth. But they also create that target by allowing the openings needed to hit the target. You can either close the cycle, or find yourself scrolling across the bottom of the ESPN screen like Aaron Hernandez, Michael Vick, and Plaxico Burress. The choice is yours professional athletes…us “common folk” can only hope that you make the right one.