Pacer Problems
Indiana Pacers swingman Stephen Jackson, along with three of his teammates and some friends visited a westside strip-club last week. Jackson got into a fight with a couple of other patrons of the establishment, and during the course of this altercation, fired shots from his legally licensed handgun into the air. He was also struck by a car driven by one of the other men.
A small amount of marijuana was found in the car belonging to Jamaal Tinsley. No determination was made as to who the pot belonged to. These are the basic facts, but there are two variations as to how they occurred, Jackson’s and Prosecutor Carl Brizzi’s. Each of them has a reason for his take on the situation.
Jackson, who was caught up in the moment, and probably doesn’t even have total knowledge of the step-by-step unfolding of events, doesn’t want to go to jail. Brizzi, who is running for reelection to his position, has a vested interest in making a big splash. So in Jackson’s version, it was self-defense, while in Brizzi’s it was unlawful assault. Due to Jackson’s checkered past, and his unpopularity with Pacer fans, most people have chosen to believe the Brizzi version. The true version may never be known, but a legal decision will be made anyway.
Unfortunately, this episode has prompted an inordinate amount of dirt-digging and mud-slinging, and now the entire Pacers organization is under suspicion. The court of public opinion is unforgiving. Marijuana was found in a car registered to Jermaine O’Neal, so now he, too is guilty. Along with the unpopular Tinsley.
Tell me none of you know somebody who uses marijuana, at least socially, and I will call you a liar. The stuff is all around us, and to say these guys are thugs because they also have those types of friends is hypocrisy. To set these young men up as role models for your children is emotional abandonment. You, Jackass, are the one responsible, not some shoulda, coulda, woulda athlete. Stop throwing stones for a moment and examine your own lives.
Yes, Jackson deserves some kind of punishment for his behavior. Does he deserve to go to prison for disillusioning your children? No. Suck it up.
