As some around the nation may have heard, former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett is asking Ohio governor Ted Strickland for an early release from prison so he can possibly get back into football...Clarett was sentenced to seven years that would last until February 2014 if he served the full term...however, he is eligible to be released sometime in 2010...Clarett is asking for a special privilege from the governor...he wants to be released now - not in 2010...Clarett, who is 25-years-old, believes he can still play football and if he has to wait another year or so, his football skills will be even more eroded...
First off, as most know, I hate everything associated with Ohio State sports, however, my views on this would be the same even if a Michigan player was in the same situation...Gov. Strickland should not make a special exception for Clarett...
The time has come to stop allowing athletes to receive these special privileges and exceptions compared to the average common man who may have committed the same mistake...
After his freshman season at Ohio State, Clarett had the world "by the onions" but he did not want to follow the rules on how to enter the NFL Draft...he wanted to play in the NFL - now!!!...he was Maurice Clarett...he did not want to wait the three years like every other college football player has to...the rules clearly state that a player has to wait three years from their high school graduation date...but Clarett was never made to follow the rules...
Throughout his entire life, Clarett was given special privileges than other athletes...it started when he was a running back at Warren Harding High School when head coach Thom McDaniel let Clarett be the boss...a good high school head coach would have set Clarett straight right then and there...
Then when he headed to Columbus, he ruled the team as Jim Tressel allowed Clarett, a freshman, to live off campus, yell at assistant coaches on national television, and gosh knows what else...but like McDaniel, Tressel knew that Clarett was the one who was going to get him that title...at those points in his life, McDaniel and Tressel should have been a true "father figure" to Clarett and made him understand that life is tough and that he would not always be getting special treatment...instead McDaniel and Tressel supported this behavior and character...
There is undoubtedly hundreds of other young men in the Ohio Pen under the age of 26-years-old who made a mistake by robbing someone or similar to what Clarett did...many of these same young men want to "get on with their life" and have the chance to hold their son and daughter...but they are not allowed because the law states that they must serve their time...
Obviously Clarett has not learned one damned thing while sitting in the clink...once again he believes he is "special" and should be treated differently than any other prisoner in the Ohio State Pen
Hopefully Gov. Strickland treats Clarett just like any other inmate...see ya in 2010 Mo....
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