Thug Life

Michael Wilbon wrote a good piece today on the most-recent arrest of Maurice Clarett. In 2003, the kid was on top of the world with a national championship under his belt as a freshmen and countless NFL execs ready to throw boatloads of cash his way. Fast forward three years, he gets arrested with two handguns, an assault rifle and a bottle of Grey Goose near the home of an individual who was expected to testify against him next week in an armed robbery case. By the way, for added effect he was also wearing a bulletproof vest, which served as a nice defense against those pesky police stun guns. It took pepper spray to bring him down.

While being recruited by Ohio State, Clarett accepted thousands of dollars in cash, cars, and God knows what else. All he had to do was run like hell every Saturday, and he certainly delivered. In doing so, he fit in...he was one of the fellas. And he stayed out of trouble. It's hard to tell what he would have become if had he stayed in school and matured a year or two more, both on and off the field. For a kid who didn't have much direction or focus, it didn't take much lobbying from the wrong crowd to get him to go pro and pursue the dollars. Instead, that premature decision ruined his golden opportunity to make a better life for him and his family and lead him to where he is today.

It seems like many of these D-I programs operate like they're semi-pro sports franchises. They recruit to get wins, which brings in the cash, keeps the alumni happy and most importantly, allows the coaches to keep their jobs. They seem to lose sight of the fact that the thugs they recruit and herd through the system actually reflect poorly on their institution when they have their "difficulties" with the law. This is especially the case in college football. College basketball has its Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, Stanford, etc. but the average college football program undoubtedly makes Bob Huggins blush.

Maybe it's a much larger societal issue. But maybe it's more about programs who, in their quest for millions in TV and bowl game revenue, treat their athletes like commodities and not as student athletes who might also need a little coaching off the field.