“Hey... Goldberg! I bet if that puck was a cheeseburger, you'd stop it! Hahaha!” –Mighty Ducks 2
First of all, I thought Josh’s presentation was a good topic to talk about with all the upcoming “jail time” events for professional athletes. I, personally, would have added Lance Briggs slamming his $250,000 Lambo into the side of the Edens Expressway in Chicago and leaving the scene in the presentation. Now only if I was smart enough to be driving with someone in Chicago on the Edens at 3:00am, I probably could have had myself a nice car. Then again, I guess that’s how we do it in Chicago. First Lance Briggs and then this summer we had Chicago Blackhawks star, Patrick Kane, punch a cab driver over a near $.20 in change. Come on buddy, did you forget you had to tip him? Kids these days!
Overall I thought Josh made a good point about Donte Stallworth. The man (Stallworth) was drunk and driving. He killed other drunk man walking across the street and was only sentenced to 24 days in jail. Now, how does that work? I mean I completely understand he is under house arrest for the next two years (I believe) but really, that’s all? Anyone else would not be this lucky in their jail sentence. I do believe part of the reasoning is Stallworth’s money and lawyer. However, I do not think the court systems want people to know the more money you have, the better sentencing you will get.
Even Plaxico Burress is another unacceptable case. As matter of fact, I think he is an embarrassment to the NFL. Again I am not biased because I play hockey, but when was the last time you heard of a NHL or MLB player getting into a jail type situation with the exception of the steroid users? The NBA and NFL seem to have countless problems. Maybe the problem for these two leagues is the time in between the next games. NHL and MLB players seem to be always traveling with not a lot of down time during the season. In addition, NHL players, this year, have to play a regular season, playoffs, and compete in the 2010 Vancouver games for the Olympics. The MLB players have 162-game season to play each year.
Still, I do not really believe down time between games in the reason. In my opinion, I do believe everyone deserves a second chance in life. However, when a professional athlete is getting paid millions of dollars and are role models to society, they do not need a second chance because they have millions of reasons not to screw up. If I worked for a high paying job and well-known company and got arrested for shooting myself, do you actually think the company would rehire me after spending two years in jail? I don’t think so. We are all fans of the game and smart people, is it really fair?
I agree 100% that athletes should have the same punishment and everyone else and that there should be NO EXCEPTIONS! The Donte Stallworth case is a prime example on that he go "cut lose" early because he was an athlete. I know someone that died in a drinking and driving accident and to see this man only get punished for 24 days makes me sick. Athlete or not does not mean that he should get any less of a punishment. I have nothing against athletes because i am a gymnast myself, but if i were to get in trouble i would not expect to get off the hook just because of my status as an athlete on campus. Also, the Plaxico Buress case is an example of steroid usage among the teams. Why do these athletes feel the need to use steroids when they are getting paid millions of dollars a year to play the sport that they are amazing at. I understand they want to get better but do it the right way not the wrong, and if they chose to do it the wrong way then the should be punished like everyone else. I strongly believe that everyone needs to be punished equally to set an example for the other athletes because right now they believe that anyone can get them off the hook because of their status.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that in no way do I condone the 24-day jail sentence that Donte Stallworth received as a result of the accident in which a man was killed. However, I read that part of the reason for the shortened sentence was that he agreed to a settlement with the family of the man who was killed. While those terms are confidential, it probably included quite a bit of money (perhaps around $5 mil). See this link for more info: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4262751
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