We usually go online, grab the sports page, or turn on the television and search for the latest game to find heroes.
The world seems to spin faster and faster out of control and sport is a refuge. Sport is oasis, an island, a life affirming location that makes the world seem sane. We celebrate achievement because we desperately need to find someone with noble qualities.
Lately, however, in the United States there seems to be almost a daily fall from grace. What follows is a list of the worst of the worst of US sports.
Aaron Hernandez is a former tight end with the New England Patriots. He was charged with the June 17, 2013, killing Odin Lloyd, who was found shot dead.
The 25-year-old Hernandez faces separate weapons and ammunition charges at his trial. A first-degree murder conviction carries with it life in prison without the possibility of parole. A second-degree conviction would be life but with parole eligibility after 15 years.
The gun charge is a maximum of five years in prison and the bullets up to two more years. Hernandez’s defence team admits he was at the scene of the killing but did not pull the trigger.
Even if Hernandez is found innocent, he is also facing two more counts of murder in the deaths Daniel de Abreau and Safiro Furtado, during the early hours of July 16, 2012. Following an altercation at a bar, Hernandez allegedly followed the two men in his car to a nearby stoplight where he pulled alongside and opened fire into their vehicle.
The two men were killed, another was wounded and two men managed to escape by scrambling out a rear door before Hernandez fled.
The trial has gone on for months but unfortunately Aaron Hernandez is not the only bad headline in American sports.
This one is simply chilling and cold blooded. Rae Caruth, is a former wide receiver with the Carolina Panthers. In 2001, he was found guilty of conspiring to murder a woman who was pregnant with his child and is serving a prison sentence with an expected release date of October 22, 2018.
On November 16, 1999, Cherica Adams, a real estate agent Caruth had been dating, was shot four times by Van Brett Watkins Sr., a friend of Carruth. Adams managed to call police and said that Carruth had stopped his vehicle in front of hers, and that another vehicle drove alongside and the passenger had shot her. Carruth then drove away from the scene.
Darryl Henley is a former standout NFL defensive back with the Los Angeles Rams. A consensus All-American at UCLA, Henley played for the Rams from 1989-1994. Henley is currently serving a 41-year prison sentence for trafficking cocaine and attempting to murder the judge and a witness from his trial by hiring contract killers.
Chad Curtis is a former Major League baseball player who played with the California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers over a ten-year career. In May 2012, Curtis resigned from a high school coaching position after several female students accused him of “inappropriate touching”. In June 2012, Curtis was ordered to go on trial for five counts of criminal sexual conduct ranging from misdemeanors to 15-year felonies.
Curtis was charged with an additional sixth count of criminal sexual conduct in August 2012. Curtis was found guilty on August 16, 2013, of all six counts of criminal sexual conduct. On October 3, 2013, Curtis was sentenced to 7 to 15 years in prison. He is currently incarcerated in Michigan.
Dave Meggett is a former outstanding NFL running back. He played for the New York Giants from 1989-1994, New England Patriots 1995-1997 and New York Jets in 1998. In 2007, he was convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery in a case and received two years probation. On November 10, 2010, Meggett was sentenced to 30 years in prison for burglary and criminal sexual conduct. Meggett’s current release date is slated for July 2034.
Mel Hall is a former professional baseball player in the Major Leagues, who played from 1981 to 1996 with the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants.
He also played in Japan from 1993-1995. Hall was arrested in Texas on June 21, 2007 and charged with two counts of sexual assault after Texas police received a report from a woman who reported she was sexually assaulted in March 1999, when she was under the age of 17. During the investigation, a second victim under the age of 14 was identified. One of these girls was 12 at the time of the offence.
On June 16, 2009, Hall was convicted on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child. On June 17, 2009, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He must serve 22 years and 4 months before he is eligible for parole.
Lawrence Philipps is a former All-American running back at the University of Nebraska and played in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.
In March, 2006, Phillips was ordered to stand trial on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon. Phillips attempted to run down several teenagers with his car following a pick-up football game. On October 10, 2006, he was found guilty of seven counts. On October 3, 2008, he was sentenced to ten years in a California state prison.
While serving that sentence, Philips was convicted in August 2009 for the assault on his former girlfriend on seven counts, including assault with great bodily injury, false imprisonment, making a criminal threat, and auto theft. On December 18, 2009, Phillips was sentenced to 25 years in prison on the 2009 convictions, to run consecutive to the 2008 sentence (which was reduced to just under seven years), for a combined term of more than 31 years.
Keith Wright is a former standout college football player at the University of Missouri and played defensive tackle in the NFL with the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions between 2003-2006. On August 29, 2011, Wright was arrested on suspicion of home invasion and sexual assault in a neighborhood of Sacramento, California.
On November 30, 2012, Wright was found guilty on 19 charges including armed robbery, kidnapping, forced oral copulation, first degree burglary, and false imprisonment. He was sentenced the same day, and will now spend 234 years and eight months in prison.
Darren Sharper is a former five-time All-Pro defensive back and and played 14 seasons in the NFL. Sharper played with the Green Bay Packers 1997-2004, Minnesota Vikings 2005-2008 and New Orleans Saints 2009-2010. Sharper was named to the NFL’s 2000’s All-Decade team. In 2014, Sharper was arrested and accused of sexual assault in California.
He was subsequently charged with multiple sexual assaults in Louisiana, Arizona, and Nevada. On March 20, 2015 he reached a plea agreement, settling “rape charges” involving at least nine women in four states. On March 24, 2015, Sharper received nine years in a plea deal for all nine charges against him, in addition to the year he has served already.
Sharper was sentenced to 20 years in Louisiana in response to the multiple rapes he committed there.
The most notorious is former actor, broadcaster and NFL Hall of Fame running back OJ Simpson. He won college football’s top honor at the University of Southern California, where he was awarded the Heisman Trophy in 1968. Simpson went on to star in the NFL for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills from 1969-1977 and with the San Francisco 49ers from 1978-1979.
Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were murdered on June 12, 1994. Simpson was charged with their deaths and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a highly controversial criminal trial. In the unanimous jury findings of a civil court case in February 1997, Simpson was found liable for the wrongful death of Ronald Goldman and the stabbing of Nicole Brown.
In September 2007, Simpson was arrested along with three other men, Simpson was charged with multiple felony counts, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, assault, robbery and using a deadly weapon. On December 5, 2008, Simpson was sentenced to a total of thirty-three years in prison with the possibility of parole after about nine years, in 2017.
On September 4, 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court denied a request for bail during Simpson’s appeal. In October 2010, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. He is now serving his sentence in the state of Nevada.
Sports still remains a bastion of accomplishments, deeds and exploits that we all celebrate. Evil, however, can be found in almost every endeavor. Nevertheless, we all need to find our heroes – as sure as the turning of the earth.
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