I guess in honor (not really an honor but cannot think of a better word right now) of AHern's arrest, I will count down the top 5 athletes whose careers were affected by a crime they committed.
No. 5 Maurice Clarett
Such a promising career and he never even got the chance to play a down in the NFL. He tried to fight against the NFL's rule of at least 3 years in college before going pro. He lost. He then got into trouble with armed robbery and was sentence to 7 1/2 years in prison. Seriously, one of the best college running back's I have ever seen and all of it wasted.
No. 4 Plaxico Burress
This was such a strange case to being with. He ended up going to prison for shooting himself in the leg. Um, yea. He ended up in prison for two years and was released from the NY football Giants in the process. Plaxico is now playing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the original team that drafted him.
No. 3 Michael Vick
This is probably one of the most well known cases of a star athlete, in his prime, convicted of a crime. Vick was sentenced to multiple years in federal prison for his role in his dog-fighting venture. He was released from prison in 2009 during which time he also filed for bankruptcy. He is now the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.
No. 2 Mike Tyson
This is a man that was at the top of him sport when it all came crashing down. He was convicted of raping a girl whom he invited to his hotel room. Tyson served three years in prison before being released. It is a bit sad that he will forever be known for biting a piece of Holyfield's ear off. Tyson can now be seen in cameo's for the Hangover movie series.
No. 1 Rae Carruth
Rae Carruth, a star wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers, was convicted just two years after he was drafted for having his girlfriend, who was 8 months pregnant, shot and killed. His reasoning for the shooting, "he didn't want to pay child support." His son survived the shooting and now lives with cerebral palsy. The only reason he was not sentenced to death or life in prison was because he didn't actually pull the trigger. Carruth is not eligible for release until 2018.
What better song than this for #backthatazzupfriday. I think all of these men are having/have had the prison blues. And, who doesn't love a little Johnny Cash,.
Just a couple of things...
ReplyDeleteI don't really know how good Clarett was because he only played one year of football in college. His crimes didn't keep him out of the NFL. After he sued them, he was drafted by Denver and they cut him because he wasn't good enough. That was before he went to jail.
Burress didn't go to jail for shooting himself. He went to jail for carrying an unlicensed handgun. If the gun hadn't gone off but he was caught with it, he still would have went to jail.
Vick is a perfect example of why you shouldn't say that Hernandez wouldn't get picked up by another team if he's found innocent. If teams keep giving people like Vick and Pacman Jones seconds (and third, and forth...) chances then they would take a look at Hernandez too.
Mike Tyson was the youngest heavyweight champion of all time. He had no technique but devastating power. Most young people don't know about him biting off Holyfield's ear. They just know him from the Hangover movies. It's just another example of people just remembering the last thing you did.
Carruth was far from a "star receiver". He played in 20 NFL games and caught 62 passes with 4 touchdowns. Those numbers are far from great. He signed a contract that paid him less than one million dollars per year so he wasn't a big name, big money star.
I'm surprised the Ray Carruth thing doesn't happen more often. These thug athletes have to pay tons of money to their "baby mommas" so I'm kind of shocked more of these gold digging women don't have "accidents". If Carruth would have gotten away with it I would bet it would have happened again and again.
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DeleteThanks for pointing some things out and I would really like to address each of those points.
Delete1. Clarett should have stayed at OSU through his junior year and he should really despise whoever gave him the advise to try and leave early and fight the NFL in court. I think we can both agree that he looked to have a very promising career only to be cut short by not one, but multiple bad choices, including armed robbery.
2. Yes, technically it was for carrying an unlicensed handgun BUT he never would have found himself in trouble or prison had he not fumbled with a firearm in this pants and shot himself.
3. Neither Vick or PacMan were accused of shooting someone in cold blood. Now, the only person you could even remotely compare Hernandez to would be Ray Lewis. The difference would be that this is an execution type murder as opposed to a fight outside a club that turned into a stabbing.
4. I grew up watching a lot of boxing as my father was a professional boxer when I was a child and I have a great respect for the sport. Even now, most heavyweights don't have great technique as they tend to use more brute strength to knock someone out. Very rarely do you see a heavyweight match, at least a good one, go the full 12 rounds. The boxers just aren't conditioned well enough for that.
5. Carruth was a first round draft pick for the Panthers and was named to the All-Rookie team that year. He was injured all of the 1998 season and then only played half of the 1999 season before the shooting. I would definitely say he was a very productive receiver for the Panthers in both his rookie year and leading up to the shooting.
6. To label all the "baby mamma's" of athletes as gold digging women is a pretty ridiculous accusation to say the least. Also, I disagree that more people would shoot someone carrying their child, regardless if they have to pay child support or not. This was just a man who didn't have any regard for anyone but himself.