- It’s about freaking time! Genarlow Wilson, the teenager whose rape case became a national story because of the absurd and cruel punishment he received that absolutely did not match his “crime,” has been freed. Wilson’s tale became known when ESPN and many other media outlets picked it up over the past year. He was arrested, tried and convicted on statutory rape charges after having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party at a hotel room in 2003. At the time of the incident, Wilson was 17 and thus a minor himself, but under the outdated, idiotic laws of the state of Georgia, he was a rapist. Even those on the other side of the case felt, for the most part, that the law was unfair and that the ten-year prison sentence Wilson received was far too harsh. His attorneys waged a massive campaign, trying every possible route to have his conviction overturned, have his sentence lessened or find any kind of leniency. The public outcry was massive, but even when the state legislature revised the law, they did not do it in a way that it could be retroactively applied to Genarlow Wilson’s case. Now, however, he has been freed after the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the ten-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. Wilson wants to use his newfound fame to help other teens so they don’t end up in the same predicament as him. “(Being safe) isn’t the only thing kids need to know about sex,” he explained. “They need to know that they can actually go to jail.” Count me as one of those who are really happy that you’re out of jail, G.
- Time to compare and contrast. First, this: 2-11 field goal shooting, a scoreless first half, 10 points for the game and five turnovers. Take that stat line for a certain NBA player and keep it in mind while reading the following quote. “I am a great leader and I believe our team is going to win games because of who I am. I’m not going to allow our team to not play well.” Those comments come from the same man who posted that stat line, one LeBron James. He said that before the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first game of the season, then the team, led by their star, dropped a 92-74 stink bomb loss to Dallas. You have to love the sheer arrogance and self-importance in that quote. You’ll win games because of who you are? Let me tell you who you are, King James, because you seem to have forgotten. Who you are is a guy who is so completely full of himself that he put a massive bas relief limestone sculpture of himself on an outer wall of his new house, a giant monument to your love for yourself. Who you are is a guy who can’t make free throws, a guy with the world’s most erratic jump shot and a guy who hasn’t won an NBA title to this point. And by the way, great leaders don’t tell people that they are great leaders, they just lead well. Your team won’t win a single game because of “who you are” because who you are, your reputation, doesn’t put points on the scoreboard, nor does shooting 2-11 in your first game. Now it is only one game and it’s a long season ahead, but how’s about putting a lid on the grandiose proclamations for now, King?
- Better get that 2XL jumpsuit ready, because the Juice is about to finally go where he should have been every single day since 1994: jail. Yet another person has rolled on O.J. Simpson in the burglary case involving the theft of memorabilia from a Las Vegas hotel room, this time a man whose lawyer claims that he can verify that Simpson asked him to bring guns to the hotel room where the Juice staged his commando-style raid on two memorabilia dealers. Michael McClinton of Las Vegas will accept a plea deal and now joins two other men who have already reached deals with prosecutors to testify against Simpson and his two remaining co-defendants in exchange for lesser sentences. Take a lesson from Mike Vick, Juice, don’t be the last one in your case to take a plea, because the sooner you plead, the better shot you have at getting a little bit of leniency.
- Obvious scapegoat, table for one please. The fallout continues from the perpetual recruiting scandal that follows University of Indiana basketball coach Kelvin Sampson around like a ginormous black cloud, wherever he goes. Rob Senderoff, a now-former assistant coach at IU, has resigned amid a telephone-based violation of NCAA rules that has already cost Sampson a $500,000 salary bonus he was due and has caused the men’s basketball team to lose a scholarship for this year. Senderoff was the assistant coach involved in Sampson’s pathetic plan to circumvent NCAA rules limiting the number of phone calls he could make to recruits after Sampson and his staff at his last stop, the University of Oklahoma, violated NCAA recruiting rules by placing way, way too many calls to potential recruits. Senderoff would call up recruits, get them talking and then mix in Sampson on a three-way call, as if it somehow didn’t count because Sampson didn’t dial the phone or place the call himself. Nice try, loser. Senderoff may be the one getting fired, but it should be Sampson. When you come to a new school toting NCAA penalties with you because you violated recruiting rules at your last job and you’ve been warned to clean up your act at your new job and you go out and deliberately violate those rules in your first year, you’re the one who need to be axed.
- A big salute and “Job well done!” goes out to officers and guards at the jail in San Antonio where a suspected killer was able to go free simply because he knew the magic password. David Sauceda, suspected out a brutal slaying in the San Antonio area, was released from jail Sunday while awaiting his arraignment after reciting the personal information of his cellmate Michael Garcia, whose bond had been posted. So Sauceda pretended to be someone else and that was enough to totally fool the cops? Personally, I wouldn’t feel very safe if I were a resident of San Antonio right now, because those serving and protecting you are clearly not the best and brightest your city has to offer.
- A melancholy happy trails to actor Robert Goulet, the legendary singer/actor who golden voice and studly appearance made him a fixture on Broadway for decades. Goulet is probably best known, at least to anyone under the age of 30, for being immortalized in the Saturday Night Live skits done by Will Ferrell depicting Goulet in all his glory. He died of a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis and was awaiting a lung transplant that sadly never came. Goulet made his Broadway debut in Camelot and starred in countless plays and musicals over the years. Fans may also know him from his appearance in the popular ‘90s sitcom Boy Meets World, in which he appeared during an episode where Cory (Ben Savage) fought school bully Frankie Stacchino in the school gym at John Adams High. So we bid you a fond farewell, Robert……GOULET!
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