The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
This is a tale of three athletes. Three players who reached the absolute pinnacle of success in their athletic careers at or around the age of 20. Three elite performers in their fields who have tasted the elixir of the gods, the champagne of performance excellence, the highest levels of success that any of us will ever achieve. All were champions of their sport and were on top of the world athletically. It’s about the paths that they have chosen.
The Good
This past week, Jordan Spieth emerged onto the national sports scene as he won The Masters at the age of 21. He reached the absolute mountain top of the world of golf. He hoisted the same trophy and put on the same green jacket as golfing legends Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. He achieved MAJOR success at about the same age as most kids are just starting to declare their major in college.
It was not just THAT he won The Masters, it was HOW he won the tournament and how he reacted after the tournament. It was what he said, and how he said it. He genuinely respected the game he played, the performers he played against, the fans of the sport that watched him. He did not act as if he was entitled to anything other than whatever prize money that he earned. And of course, he DID play to try to win that trophy. But he won it fair and square.
This guy was clean cut. He loved his family and he was a good guy to ALL of the fans and media people that watched him chase down history. He was such a nice, humble guy, his opponents seemed glad to see him win. If EVER there was someone who could be considered “The All American Kid,” he just came to the attention of the American sporting public. Jordan Spieth has been on the right path, the straight and narrow path, for his entire career, his entire life. In this, his 21st year, he has become the very best of all that is GOOD about American sports.
The Bad
There was another incident that happened this week. Lawrence Phillips, who at one time was the toast of the sporting world while a star running back at the University of Nebraska, also made the news this week. As you may recall, Phillips was on the Nebraska Cornhuskers teams of 1994 and 1995 that won consecutive NCAA Championships while he was 19 and 20 years old. By the age of 21, he was a first round draft choice in the National Football League, the sixth pick of that first round. But, the headlines he made this week were not as glowing as those of Jordan Spieth. The news involving Lawrence Phillips took place in a prison cell.
Lawrence Phillips allegedly (don’t they always use the word allegedly in journalism?) strangled his cellmate to death in the prison cell they shared at the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, CA. They’re thinking Phillips is the prime suspect in the strangulation death of his cellmate. I guess, since he was the ONLY other person in that cell, that that is a reasonable thing to conclude.
Phillips had been in that prison on a 7 year sentence for a felony assault with a deadly weapon. He would soon follow that sentence with some more years that would be tacked on for a domestic abuse felony on a girlfriend. (You think Ray Rice was bad, this guy was BAD). This incident with his cellmate should just about take care of the rest of his life.
Phillips’ path was pretty much set even when he was at Nebraska. Various charges at Nebraska included assault, vandalism and a famously alleged incident where he beat the hell out of an ex-girlfriend and dragged her down several flights of stairs. Before Ray Rice, Phillips was the face of violence against women. He was coddled by the Nebraska football coaches that were doing what it could to keep its star athlete eligible to play in the big games of their two national championship seasons. In those less politically correct times (this could never happen today), the inmate was being allowed to run the asylum. Nebraska got its championships. Phillips was on the path to being a different kind of inmate.
His professional career was one off-field incident after another. He was released by several teams after various crimes, misdemeanors and all around run ins with the law. His path was set. His convictions for his multiple felony assaults put him into prison for all of those years that then culminated in the strangulation of his cellmate. The path was that he would be BAD.
The Ugly
When Aaron Hernandez was 19 years old, he was playing on the University of Florida team in the National Championship game that was won by the Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer led Gators. At age 21, Hernandez was starring as a tight end for the New England Patriots. He lived the American dream of playing in that pinnacle event of American sports, the Super Bowl the following year. He caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady in Super Bowl 46. He was given a 5 year, $40 million dollar contract extension by the Patriots shortly after that game. He seemed to be on the path to greatness.
But sometimes, there is something in the mind that doesn’t “get it.” Instead of leading a life of doing great things with his new found fame and fortune, Hernandez instead preferred to hang out with an entourage of thugs and gang-bangers. They hung out at clubs together. Instead of working on his craft of football to try to become the best player ever at the tight end position, Hernandez instead chose getting high and partying with his posse.
There had been a pattern of transgressions at the University of Florida that had kind of been swept under the rug (to allow him to play in the big football games), but the idea of homicide seemed out of the question. But, Hernandez, who never graduated from college, instead graduated from smaller crimes and misdemeanors to murder one. A career that seemed to be so promising has turned so UGLY.
Aaron Hernandez, now a 25 year old man, was convicted of the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd in New England area this week. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has lost what would have been five years worth of playing the game of football for a total of $40 million bucks. He has lost the American Dream of success, fame and fortune. He might have had something to do with another two murders. And he did it all for… WHAT? To hang out with some thug friends and to live the life of a gang-banger? He could have had it all, and instead, he is going to live the rest of his life in prison.
His is the life with the possibility of the American Dream turned into a life with the reality of the American Nightmare. How does a life turn into something so UGLY?
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And so, in the same week that Jordan Spieth has had his triumph, we have seen the underbelly of the American Dream. Two people are in prison, pretty much for the rest of their lives, when they could have had it all. They had the talent, they had the opportunities, and they had enough success to have insured that they could be able to “live the dream.” But instead, they threw it all away and ended up in prison.
Why do people do what they do? Why does one person turn out good, while two more turn out bad? They all had the world by the tail, and all did it at such a young age. And two out of the three ended up ruining their lives. I wonder — if the later in life Phillips or Hernandez now in prison could visit the younger in life Phillips and Hernandez years ago, at just the time when they were ready to veer off onto the wrong path — I wonder if they could talk some sense into themselves. I wonder if their lives could be saved.
