Thursday, March 5, 1998
Justice system only enforces unacceptable, bad behavior
COLUMN: Society should stop putting pro athletes on invincible
pedestals
Hi there, the voice of morality here, come to air my
indignation.
In case you somehow missed it, Latrell Sprewell won his
arbitration case against the NBA and his former/current team
yesterday.
Arbitrator John Feerick cut the league’s suspension from a year
to seven months and ruled that the Golden State Warriors must cover
the remaining two years and $16.3 million on Spree’s contract.
Feerick did add the condition that Spree and the union must give
assurances that he will manage his temper.
Don’t laugh, he could be on to something here: who needs prisons
as long as criminals promise not to do it ever again? And make no
mistake, Latrell Sprewell is a criminal.
As of now, the score stands Johnnie Cochran 2, Justice 0.
In case you’ve forgotten the details, a quick summary: Spree and
his coach get into an argument during practice, Spree chokes the
coach, is pulled off by teammates and reportedly storms off to the
team’s brass to demand a trade. Then, 20 minutes or so later, he
returns and attacks the coach again.
None of these facts were disputed by Cochran or Sprewell, who
simply argued that he failed to land a punch during the second
attack.
In the week following the incident, the league suspended Spree
for a year, and the Warriors terminated his contract, saying that
he violated Section 16 of the uniform player contract, which states
that players must "conform to standards of good citizenship and
good moral character."
Now, I don’t think my old Cub Scout manual mentioned it
specifically, but I’m pretty sure that choking somebody violates
the ideas of good citizenship and moral character.
Of course, Sprewell and friends don’t see it that way.
"This decision is a victory that is shared by Latrell and the
other 400 members of our union. It reaffirms the sanctity of
guaranteed contracts in the NBA," union President Billy Hunter told
the Associated Press.
Amen, brother; protect the sanctity of those contracts, but do
explain to me where it rates in importance with the sanctity of
human life.
You folks remember Billy, don’t you? He’s the dope guy from a
couple columns back. It’s his job to fight for his players
regardless of how guilty they are.
Feerick based the decision on the technicalities of previous
punishments doled out by the league.
"The evidence indicates that there is no history of both the
league and a team imposing discipline for the same violent conduct,
on or off the court," Feerick wrote in his decision. "This speaks
to the issue of fairness, as I see it."
Fairness? How is this fair?
I don’t care what sort of contract or lawyers he had, if Spree’s
job was washing cars, he couldn’t have gotten his $5.25 an hour
back after choking his boss.
And you can be sure that whatever job you have, they wouldn’t
keep on paying you after you wrapped your hands around somebody’s
throat.
Face it, Spree is getting his second chance for one reason and
one reason only: he’s famous.
It happens all the time, a pro athlete or movie star receiving
special treatment from our supposedly impartial legal system. It is
so common that Spree’s wasn’t even the only example in the sporting
world over the last 48 hours.
There was also the case of Red Sox All-Star first baseman Mo
Vaughn, charged with drunk driving after crashing and flipping his
truck early on the morning of Jan. 9 while on his way home from a
strip club.
When police arrived, he refused to take a breathalyzer test, but
subsequently failed eight other sobriety tests.
According to the Associated Press, police testified that on his
third try Vaughn recited the alphabet "A-B-D-C-H-L-M."
His attorney claimed the failures could have been the result of
Vaughn’s being sleepy, dazed from the accident, or, get this,
because he had put on weight in the offseason.
Try that one the next time you come up short on a midterm: "You
see, Professor, I missed all the multiple choice because I have a
big fat ass."
I can just imagine the lawsuit filed against ETS by the
Overweight High-Schoolers of America – "Ladies and gentlemen of the
jury, the SAT clearly discriminates against the metabolically
challenged." Sizzler would be named as a secondary defendant due to
the intelligence-damaging effects of their all-you-can-eat shrimp
and salad bar.
Are you kidding me here?!? What the hell kind of defense is
saying that the guy put on weight?!? But it worked: Vaughn was
acquitted of drunk driving and paid only the $100 fine for driving
outside the lines.
But the best example had to be former Seahawk running back Lamar
Smith. Smith, less than a month into a four-month sentence for a
1994 car accident in which a teammate was paralyzed from the waste
down, was released from jail for 24 hours Tuesday so he could
travel to New Orleans and sign a four-year, $7.1 million deal with
the Saints.
When was the last time you heard about a guy who worked at
McDonald’s being temporarily released from prison because the fries
were up? Or a farmer being let out because his cows need a
milkin’?
The answer is never, because it doesn’t happen. But Smith got
out to sign his piece of paper. Why? Because he is a professional
athlete.
I mean, God forbid the team should have to bring the contract to
him. I guess they just wanted to avoid the heart-warming press
conference in which he would hold up his new jersey and try it on
over his orange prison jump-suit.
Justice may be blind, but her sense of touch is just fine, and
she can feel the heat of bright-shining fame just like the rest of
us.
Rob Kariakin is a fourth-year student. E-mail comments/responses
to [email protected].