Call a Spade a Spade. The Descent of Maurice Clarett.

I have been following Maurice Claretts situation for a hot minute.

He was arrested earlier this week with hella guns. In a car. Wearing a bp vest. Ouch!

Clarett's recent arrest reminds me of the greater issue of how institution's decide how and to what extent they will invest in their members.

His situation reminds me of the fact that Model Minorities HAVE to constantly be aware of the fact that being talented/athletic/brilliant is not enough. They also have to:

• Have a way of managing stress, anger and depression.
  
• Learn how to manage relationships with the institutions that they are a member of.
• Learn how manage relationships with people whose salaries depend on their success.

I personally experienced the wrath of tangling with an institution this year. Trust. It's war.

Now Clarett clearly had a troubled life from jump street, Did anyone intervene? What resources were available to him? On its face, it appears as if Clarett is clearly on the DMX action plan.

However, I think there are some other issues operating here.

Clarett's situation reflects not only his poor decisions, but also the fact that institutions will only invest in an individual, in the short term, if they are guarenteed, a HUGE return on investment.

If Not. Tough sh*t.

In The Post, Michael Sabon says,

Perhaps football might have saved Clarett at one point. Even as someone who was not in favor of the NFL changing its rules to allow Clarett in early, I sit at the keyboard now wondering what might have become of Clarett had he spent the last three years within the structure of a football team, which is probably the only structure he had ever known -- certainly the only one he ever appreciated. It's impossible to not wonder what might have happened had Clarett been good enough to stick with the Denver Broncos, who brought him to camp last summer.

Don't ever be desperate. Black. And an aspiring Ball player.


Nothing but poor decisions will come of this.
Desperation compromises ones ability to consider the long term effect of their current actions.
Peep.

Problem was, Clarett played the wrong sport for that kind of individual cash-in. The NBA sells its stars; the NFL sells its teams. Clarett wasn't sophisticated enough to see the difference. He wanted what he felt was coming to him, so he left Ohio State. He listened to the fools who told him it was his birthright to play in the NFL, even though labor laws and smart labor lawyers knew otherwise. Instead of getting tens of thousands of dollars up front to sign with the Broncos, which at least would have given him a little financial cushion (which more than 99 percent of kids coming out of college get), some knucklehead negotiated a back-loaded deal that presumed Clarett would make the team, which he didn't.

Clarett is troubled. He has clearly impolded. Every institution he interacted with is contributorily neglegent.

I hold Clarett accountable.

I hold Ohio State and the Broncos accountable too.

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Yall think im wrong. Narrow minded. Cynical. Naive.
Prolly a little bit of all of them. The bottom line is that what went down with this cat is symbolic and it is worthy of being analyzed.

I can hear crickets in this daggone blog. I guess erry body on vacy 'cept for me.
Thats cool. Imma go to see the penguins tomorrow. So, that kinda, makes it a mini vacay. Right!?!?!?!!?

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