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Surely we’re the only ‘media outlet’ to use that pun. Either way, we’re sure you’ve heard already, but for those who find it more relaxing to live in your basement without a TV, radio, or running water (upon which news stories might travel), OJ Simpson is back in jail. This time, it’s for a smörgåsbord’s of charges ranging from suspicion of assault to robbery with a deadly weapon to kidnapping. Just a fun-filled standie afternoon for old OJ, who, it’s obvious at this point, really prefers the idea of a wooden slab for a mattress and a steel pot for a john as opposed to the 600 thread count and porcelain bedee he suffers through now. In the wake of his most recent arrest, we found ourselves wondering- could OJ be the role model that is ruining America’s youth?
In recent years, we seem to have seen more and more young athletes doing dumbass stuff. In just the last year or so, we’re talking about Tank Johnson, Chris Henry, Maurice Clarett, Pacman Jones, and Michael Vick among others. And there are arguments made from all sides that these kids came from tough backgrounds and that they had been exposed to violence and recklessness their whole lives and didn’t know any better. And we’d basically like to call bullshit all over the place on that one. But, at the end of the day, there has to be some explanation for why these kids can’t seem to learn. And then one smacks us in the face like a black glove that doesn’t quite fit- OJ ‘murdered’ his ex-wife and her friend (yeah, the quotation marks mean allegedly, but look cooler). Then, OJ ran from it on national TV. Then there was overwhelming evidence that he was guilty. Then, he was found not guilty. And while a large part of the nation rejoiced that he wasn’t incarcerated, it may have sparked a bad attitude in this generation of athletes.
Just think- if you see one of your childhood heroes on TV on trial against what look to be impossible odds, and he beats it, doesn’t that start building your own confidence that you can get away with stuff? Listen, the legal system can work both ways- it can deter people from committing crimes, or it can help convince them they are immune from the legal problems that can face the rest of us. And this isn’t even limited to athletes and celebs: When you’re 22 years old and you see a friend get pulled for DUI, and you know he’d just taken like eight shots at the bar, he’s a dead man walking. But, when you see him stroll out of court after his lawyer gets him off on some technicality like the officer didn’t do the field sobriety test right, you start thinking you can beat the system and don’t worry as much next time you’ve had four or five beers and need to get home. So take that idea, and apply it to some kids who find themselves making ten of millions of dollars and who know they can hire a ‘dream team’ of lawyers if they get in trouble (not the $1500 DUI guy, but the $150K Bob Shapiros and Johnny Cochranes of the world) and it’s easy to see where you could get a little ballsy in your actions.
So, this begs the question: What happens if OJ gets convicted this time? What happens now that Vick plead guilty? What happens since Maurice Clarett is in jail for the next couple of decades? Maybe kids will learn that they’re not invincible just because they were blessed with talent on the court or the field. Or, maybe, they’ll continue to believe they are the exception to the rule.
