As originally aired on The Rochester Press Box
By BILL PUCKO
Crimes of being young. Maybe some overindulgence. Perhaps getting a tattoo of something you shouldn’t somewhere you shouldn’t. Bad hair. No fashion sense. Many of us have been there. Done that. What we probably haven’t done is wave a gun in public and brag about it on Instagram. Left the scene of a crime where two people were killed in a car race you were involved in. Or delivered a weapon to be used in a murder.
Ja Morant. Jalen Carter and Brandon Miller. This wasn’t a good week for those three high-profile athletes who are allegedly guilty of those particular deeds. Allegedly. That makes it OK. And what’s the issue anyway? None of them are in severe legal jeopardy. Three people died. No big deal.
Of the three involved, Morant is the oldest. The one who should know better. He’s 23. You want to give these guys a break. Because you know they’re fair game for anyone in a cheap seat with a ticket to see them play. Any creep with a computer and a basement to hide in. And we know that young black men don’t often get a fair shake from the American justice system. But who are they going to listen to? Shaquille O’Neal, who was twenty, thirty years ago says to Morant, who just signed a new deal with Nike, “We have to stop putting ourselves in positions where they can take away everything we worked so hard to get.” Will he listen? You think you know everything until you find out otherwise. And by then it’s too late. That’s the real crime in being young.
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