When OJ Simpson launched himself back above the fold in newspapers around the country regarding his recent arrest in Las Vegas followed by Michael Vick’s attempt to reach Olympic status in boneheadedness by testing positive for marijuana while awaiting sentencing from a judge reputed to be a hard-ass, I started to think about villains in the world of sports. And then I wondered who would be on the Mount Rushmore of Sports Villains on the assumption that one might be able to reduce the list to four people. And so, let me present you with my nominees for your consideration and your commentary…
OJ has to be on the list. Even though he has not been found guilty of any crime of any gravity, he was found guilty in a civil proceeding relative to the double murder of his wife and a friend of hers. Now he faces charges ranging all the way up to kidnapping. His claim is that he committed no crime because all he was doing was trying to get back what rightfully belonged to him. I’m not sure how that might justify “kidnapping” if indeed the prosecution can logically move that charge forward into a trial situation. If OJ makes the cut here, then we’ll face the same choice the US Post Office did when it issued the Elvis Presley stamp. Would they portray the young and fit Elvis or the old and fat Elvis?
Jayson Williams is sort of like OJ with regard to this list. He was accused of shooting a chauffeur in Williams’ home about 5 years ago and then trying to cover up what happened. He was not found guilty of murder charges, but he is still involved in legal maneuvering regarding a retrial on charges of reckless manslaughter and the attempted cover up of these criminal events.
Rae Carruth has to be on the list. He’s serving a 20-year sentence for arranging for his pregnant girlfriend to be shot and killed. Let’s agree that Carruth is not going to get any “Boyfriend of the Year” votes any time soon…
Ugueth Urbina belongs on this list too. He’s in jail in South America for about the next dozen years after being found guilty of attempted murder. Evidently, he attacked several farm workers on his land in Venezuela with a machete and then poured gasoline on them with the apparent attempt to immolate them. When he gets out, I would not suggest that you let him light the candles on your birthday cake.
Leonard Little probably belongs on this list somewhere. He once left a party in a huge state of inebriation, got into a car wreck and killed another driver. That’s bad enough but about five years later, he once again was stopped and charged with DWI. He beat the charge of drunken driving but was convicted for reckless driving in the matter. If I’m hitchhiking and Little offers me a ride, I think I’ll pass and wait for another opportunity to roll by…
Ty Cobb might belong on this list. I’m not alluding here to the stories of his rampant racism; while that certainly doesn’t play today, he was not all that far off the track for the times in which he lived. However, it was never part of the prevailing societal norms for a player to go into the stands to attack and beat up a disabled man because that fan was heckling the player all game long. Ty Cobb did just that. And that is pretty villainous…
This list could not possibly be complete without Mike Tyson’s name being on it. His interactions with the justice system in the United States are many and varied
Pete Rose bet on baseball and lied about it for more than a decade. Because so many folks vilify him for that, I felt compelled to put him on the list here even though I don’t think gambling and fudging on one’s income tax returns is nearly as horrific as events that take human life.
Art Schlichter is sort of like Pete Rose here. He too had a gambling problem that got way out of control. Schlichter spent several years in jail and was so into gambling that he reportedly convinced his public defender to smuggle a cell phone into the prison so Schlichter could make bets from his prison cell. This is not laudable behavior and neither are his alleged activities to defraud people of money so he would have funds to gamble with. But I’m not sure he’s a strong candidate on this list.
Michael Vick’s escapades with the dogfighting/gambling operation and his attempt to sneak a bottle with a secret compartment in it onto an aircraft and his recent positive marijuana test make him a mandatory inclusion on this list. The dogfighting enterprise was known as Bad Newz Kennels; the real bad news for Vick was that his friends and colleagues in that enterprise flipped on him such that he could not use his immense wealth to hire lawyers able to get him off or to plead him down to something ever so slightly worse than jaywalking.
I’ll end my nominee’s list here with someone whose offense is not nearly as awful from a societal point of view as others above but whose offense is simply disgusting. I’m of course referring to Najeh Davenport who sneaked into the dorm room of a young woman at a Florida university and defecated in her laundry basket. In a plea agreement, felony charges were dropped and Davenport did a bunch of community service hours. Interestingly, Davenport is now with the Steelers taking the place of the retired Jerome Bettis as the “big back”. Bettis was known as “The Bus”; Davenport is known as “The Dump Truck”. How apropos…
So, whom did I leave out here…?
And who ought to make the “Villains’ Final Four”?
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………