I never wish death on anyone, of course. But from what I've seen of Griffin's irresponsible behavior throughout the course of his career, I should have seen this sort of thing as being bound to happen sooner or later.
Read
this. I don't like to talk ill of the dead, at least not the recently deceased, but I feel in this case I absolutely must. He is a man who has gone from enabler to enabler throughout his entire life; I don't think he would have gotten away with all the stuff he did if not for his ability to shoot a basketball through a hoop. (Which in
no way excuses his behavior; he knew right and wrong and he chose wrong far too often).
I know I'm recapping what's in the article, but...
In high school he was forced from school a month before graduation for getting into a cafeteria fight with a teammate of his. Griffin got his diploma a month after graduation; his teammate was expelled, and I can't help but notice that we don't know who his teammate was so it's not too much of a stretch to assume that his teammate wasn't nearly as talented. And given Griffin's subsequent behavior it's not unreasonable to guess that Griffin may have started the fight.
During his pro career he hit and shot at his ex-girlfriend, violated his curfew after having plead guilty to that, and got 11 days in jail. Then he was sentenced to 18 months'
probation, fined $2,000 (pocket change to an NBA player), and ordered to attend anger management classes.
He was involved in that funny-but-serious car accident in which he drunkenly was watching a porn movie on DVD and masturbating while DRIVING HIS SUV. He then staggered into a convenience store, found the guy whose car he struck, and offered to buy him a new car if he just please wouldn't call the cops. The cops
did arrive and
didn't require him to submit to a breathalyzer test!
And then he dies when he decides to go around a fucking MOVING FREIGHT TRAIN~!
I'm sorry, but... I'm glad his irresponsible behavior can no longer harm another innocent person. And I'm
incensed that so many people decided to look the other way because he was a talented athlete.
And I can already predict that the media will make the ludicrous leap in logic that would require someone to put this incident and the Benoit tragedy in the same fucking
sentence, but I'd watch out...
...God... this guy was born the same year I was. Obviously, just as his behavior doesn't condemn
all athletes or all black people, it shouldn't be used to condemn all young people, either. He was just a young, black, STUPID athlete.
UPDATE: I'm disappointed that
Anderson Cooper 360, which I had been led to believe would have a segment on how professional athletes seem to get away with bad behavior, didn't cover this topic as part of "The Larger Issue" after the Michael Vick daily recap. (I'm also relieved to see that Benoit's name wasn't brought up either, but Griffin wasn't even talked about on the entire show that I saw).
(edited by ekedolphin on 22.8.07 0230)
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