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'Free Mo' T-shirts are being sold at the Hitmens website.
www.mvhitmen.com $16.95 with a percent going towards MoC's bail. I'm curious how many of these things will sell. Not to pass out idea's but I think it'd be classic if at the away games the opposing crowds all showed up wearing these shirts.
www.mvhitmen.com $16.95 with a percent going towards MoC's bail. I'm curious how many of these things will sell. Not to pass out idea's but I think it'd be classic if at the away games the opposing crowds all showed up wearing these shirts.
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the mob backing makes sense. How else could this guy live for 3 years with no income and a huge legal debt.
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
8/19/06
8/19/06
Clarett feared personal harm before arrest, his lawyers say
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Ted Hart and Kevin Landers
WBNS-10 TV
Some of Maurice Clarett’s concern might stem from ties to a man convicted of racketeering in Los Angeles, one lawyer said.
Before Maurice Clarett’s arrest last week on a weapons charge, the former Ohio State University football standout had received threats and was concerned for his safety, his lawyers say.
Yesterday, attorney Dominic Mango said that some of that concern might stem from Clarett’s connection with a man convicted of racketeering in Los Angeles.
Hai Waknine, 35, who authorities have said is connected with an Israeli organizedcrime cartel known as the Jerusalem Group, was convicted of racketeering in June. Authorities say the syndicate has made money through loan-sharking, extortion, money laundering and illegal gambling in several countries.
ESPN has reported that Clarett, 22, met Waknine in Los Angeles in 2004. Waknine was under indictment at the time on 46 counts of racketeering, extortion, conspiracy and other charges related to an alleged scheme to hide money embezzled from an Israeli bank. He pleaded guilty in federal court in June to a single count after a top member of the syndicate testified against him. Under the plea agreement, Waknine will be sentenced to nine years in prison during a hearing on Sept. 11.
And Mango said yesterday that Waknine had given Clarett money.
"I do know that, in fact, he did have a relationship and a friendship with this individual," Mango said. "This individual treated Maurice well and did things for him. I don’t know the nature, and again, the expectations.
"Money exchanged hands. I mean, whether it was between friends, or whether there was an employee-employment relationship, that I don’t know," Mango said.
Clarett was days away from standing trial on aggravated robbery charges in Franklin County when he was arrested on the Far East Side on Aug. 9 on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
Police chased and stopped him after they said they saw his sport-utility vehicle weaving on Brice Road. They said he was wearing a bulletproof vest. And they found four loaded weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, as well as a hatchet and an open bottle of vodka, in the SUV.
Clarett was a Denver Broncos draft pick who was cut from the team last August. He has an offer to play for the Mahoning Valley HitMen, an Eastern Indoor Football League team in his hometown of Youngstown. Clarett remains in the Franklin County jail. His trial on the aggravated robbery charge is scheduled for Sept. 18.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.
Ted.Hart@10 tv.com
Kevin.Landers@10 tv.com
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Dispatch
8/20
ESPN owes many an apology for its reporting on Clarett
Sunday, August 20, 2006
RAY STEIN
Editor: It’s time for ESPN to apologize to OSU fans, players, coaches, faculty — and, for that matter, their viewers — for the position they took over the years regarding Maurice Clarett vs. Ohio State. What an embarrassment to have ESPN publish articles and conduct media meetings with Maurice, his mother, Jim Brown and others saying OSU treated him unfairly. They even stated that OSU intentionally tried to damage his career. Andy Geiger, unfairly, took the brunt of ESPN’s inaccuracies and in the end they assisted in ruining his career. Ironic!
Apparently they didn’t know Maurice as well as they thought and surely not as well as Geiger and Jim Tressel did. I sometimes wonder if ESPN didn’t ruin Maurice. I’ve lost a lot of respect for the so-called sports broadcasting network.
— Todd Cameron, Columbus
Todd: There are those among us who would happily tell you how they lost respect for ESPN’s journalistic inconsistencies long ago. Tougher would be finding someone at the network and its many properties to admit they saddled the wrong horse.
Editor: Do you think Clarett read the article, "Teenagers to serve time after football" in Wednesday’s Dispatch? If he did, he will want his trial moved to Kenton to be tried by Judge Gary F. McKinley. What a joke.
Here’s some friendly advice, Judge: Stay retired. Your kind of justice we don’t need. Come to think of it, Judge McKinley could not help Maurice, anyway. I think this judge does favors only for football players.
— Rex Mason, Columbus
8/20
ESPN owes many an apology for its reporting on Clarett
Sunday, August 20, 2006
RAY STEIN
Editor: It’s time for ESPN to apologize to OSU fans, players, coaches, faculty — and, for that matter, their viewers — for the position they took over the years regarding Maurice Clarett vs. Ohio State. What an embarrassment to have ESPN publish articles and conduct media meetings with Maurice, his mother, Jim Brown and others saying OSU treated him unfairly. They even stated that OSU intentionally tried to damage his career. Andy Geiger, unfairly, took the brunt of ESPN’s inaccuracies and in the end they assisted in ruining his career. Ironic!
Apparently they didn’t know Maurice as well as they thought and surely not as well as Geiger and Jim Tressel did. I sometimes wonder if ESPN didn’t ruin Maurice. I’ve lost a lot of respect for the so-called sports broadcasting network.
— Todd Cameron, Columbus
Todd: There are those among us who would happily tell you how they lost respect for ESPN’s journalistic inconsistencies long ago. Tougher would be finding someone at the network and its many properties to admit they saddled the wrong horse.
Editor: Do you think Clarett read the article, "Teenagers to serve time after football" in Wednesday’s Dispatch? If he did, he will want his trial moved to Kenton to be tried by Judge Gary F. McKinley. What a joke.
Here’s some friendly advice, Judge: Stay retired. Your kind of justice we don’t need. Come to think of it, Judge McKinley could not help Maurice, anyway. I think this judge does favors only for football players.
— Rex Mason, Columbus
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
ESPN's Page 2 By Patrick Hruby
What I've Learned:
Maurice Clarett, 22, Inmate, Franklin County Jail.
Only God can judge me.
Too bad government prosecutors don't feel the same way.
Cautionary fable has a nice ring to it.
They say the camera adds 15 pounds. Well, those skimpy mesh shorts at the NFL combine add another 25.
At least.
Pepper spray doesn't taste like pepper.
It sounds nice, but the Denver Broncos' offensive line can't actually make just anybody a 1,000-yard rusher.
The Ohio State University? Hey, just keep the illegal benefits coming and they can call themselves Harvard South for all I care.
Don't sleep on the Israeli Mafia. Just don't. When you find a severed horse's head and a pack of Hebrew National franks on your pillow, you'll know what I mean.
Yeah, they have an Israeli Mafia. Who knew?
No one knows this, but I only challenged the NFL because I lost a bet.
A guy can't welch on a bet. Ever. Haven't you seen "Cocktail"?
Canada was never an option. I don't speak Canadian.
I get busted for lying on a police report. Dick Cheney still has a job. Life is unfair.
Looking back, four loaded guns was probably excessive. Even Jesus only had two hands.
What's a Buckeye? Shoot, your guess is as good as mine.
When you stop and think about it, being in jail ain't much different than playing big-time college football. You wear a uniform, you're segregated from the general population and you spend a lot of time lifting weights.
Of course, the weight bench at college is indoors.
Actually, there's a lot of ass-touching in both places.
I'm not jealous of LeBron. I am jealous of O.J. Simpson.
What did I learn from Jim Brown? That when push comes to shove, you're better off beating your girlfriend.
Who's Lawrence Phillips?
I don't know what a Taser feels like. Ask Dale Davis.
What the hell is wrong with A-Rod?
College football has lots of dirty little secrets.
Like, did you know that those little plastic helmet stickers aren't biodegradable?
I'm dead serious, dude.
Always carry a ski mask. You just never know.
If I could do it all over, I'd change a few things.
Such as picking myself in last year's fantasy football draft.
Speaking of doing things over: Did Britney Spears build that time machine yet?
Lawyers, guns and money. Two out of three ain't bad.
It's funny: You think you spend your whole life gripping a football, and in the end it turns out to be a half-empty bottle of Grey Goose.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/060821&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2
What I've Learned:
Maurice Clarett, 22, Inmate, Franklin County Jail.
Only God can judge me.
Too bad government prosecutors don't feel the same way.
Cautionary fable has a nice ring to it.
They say the camera adds 15 pounds. Well, those skimpy mesh shorts at the NFL combine add another 25.
At least.
Pepper spray doesn't taste like pepper.
It sounds nice, but the Denver Broncos' offensive line can't actually make just anybody a 1,000-yard rusher.
The Ohio State University? Hey, just keep the illegal benefits coming and they can call themselves Harvard South for all I care.
Don't sleep on the Israeli Mafia. Just don't. When you find a severed horse's head and a pack of Hebrew National franks on your pillow, you'll know what I mean.
Yeah, they have an Israeli Mafia. Who knew?
No one knows this, but I only challenged the NFL because I lost a bet.
A guy can't welch on a bet. Ever. Haven't you seen "Cocktail"?
Canada was never an option. I don't speak Canadian.
I get busted for lying on a police report. Dick Cheney still has a job. Life is unfair.
Looking back, four loaded guns was probably excessive. Even Jesus only had two hands.
What's a Buckeye? Shoot, your guess is as good as mine.
When you stop and think about it, being in jail ain't much different than playing big-time college football. You wear a uniform, you're segregated from the general population and you spend a lot of time lifting weights.
Of course, the weight bench at college is indoors.
Actually, there's a lot of ass-touching in both places.
I'm not jealous of LeBron. I am jealous of O.J. Simpson.
What did I learn from Jim Brown? That when push comes to shove, you're better off beating your girlfriend.
Who's Lawrence Phillips?
I don't know what a Taser feels like. Ask Dale Davis.
What the hell is wrong with A-Rod?
College football has lots of dirty little secrets.
Like, did you know that those little plastic helmet stickers aren't biodegradable?
I'm dead serious, dude.
Always carry a ski mask. You just never know.
If I could do it all over, I'd change a few things.
Such as picking myself in last year's fantasy football draft.
Speaking of doing things over: Did Britney Spears build that time machine yet?
Lawyers, guns and money. Two out of three ain't bad.
It's funny: You think you spend your whole life gripping a football, and in the end it turns out to be a half-empty bottle of Grey Goose.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/060821&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Why Do We Love Hating Maurice Clarett?
Harvard Law professor Jon Hanson and I have an op-ed in today's Providence Journal:
Harvard Law professor Jon Hanson and I have an op-ed in today's Providence Journal:
Jon Hanson and Michael McCann: The psychopathology of athlete worship
Providence Journal
Thursday, August 24, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
TO SPORTS FANS, it probably wasn't a surprise to learn that former Ohio State University football star Maurice Clarett was arrested again the other week. The evasive running back who had carried the Buckeyes to the 2002 National Championship was unsuccessful in evading the police in a car chase that occurred near the home of a witness in his upcoming robbery trial. As if his location and the arsenal of four loaded guns in his car weren't suspicious enough, Clarett was sporting a Kevlar vest at the time.
Much like Clarett in his glory days, the story has legs, powerful legs. Everyone has now seen the post-arrest photos of Clarett, dressed in a jail-issued jumpsuit and looking beleaguered. Sports writers around America have penned countless condemnations of Clarett and his bad life choices. The following sample of news headlines give a flavor of the indignation:
Letters to The Columbus Dispatch got even nastier (Ohio State is in Columbus). One: "Big Mo's actions only confirm what my pappy always said: 'Beauty is only skin deep, but stupidity goes clear to the bone.' " Another called for "a citywide ban against Maurice Clarett," saying that "[a]nyone wearing No. 13 this year during Buckeyes games should be encouraged to burn their jersey."
It is obvious that people care about this story; what isn't so clear is why. Why are Americans so interested in an event that, with a different culprit, would have spread no further than the local crime blotter? And why are so many sports writers preoccupied with a man who never played a down in the National Football League and who hasn't played college football in over three years? Most perplexing, why the vitriol? Why do we pile insults on a young man who is already a has-been?
Is it because a young black man was arrested and jailed? Nope. After all, we barely notice that over 15 million Americans are arrested each year and one out of every four black men will go to prison in his lifetime.
Might it be because he was carrying concealed weapons? Uh-uh. Thousands of people are arrested each year for that, and it is not a crime that elicits general outrage. In fact, more and more states are passing laws making it easier to carry a concealed weapon.
To understand why we Americans enjoy villainizing certain sports figures (Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, Rafael Palmeiro, Lawrence Phillips, Mike Tyson), it is helpful to understand why we make super-heroes of others.
Consider the most celebrated athlete in recent memory, Lance Armstrong. He has been the recipient of too many accolades to count, including Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year," the Associated Press's "Male Athlete of the Year" (four times), and ESPN's ESPY Award for "Best Male Athlete" (again, four times). Is Lance talented and successful? To be sure. And, yes, he won the Tour de France seven times -- more than any rider in history.
But those successes alone are not what make Armstrong our hero. In fact, not long ago Americans cared as much about French cycling races as they do about English cricket tournaments. In Armstrong's case, it wasn't so much the race that made the man; it was the man who made the race. And what we admire in this man is not that he is a winner, but that he is a winner after having nearly lost his life to testicular cancer.
We love loving Lance because his success confirms our faith in the power of perseverance. The message for us all is the American creed: We can overcome our situation, no matter how grim, if only we work hard and choose wisely.
Consider also ESPN's award for the "best sports moment of the year." In the single basketball game that Jason McElwain played in high school, he scored 20 points in just 240 seconds. Sure, that was an outstanding accomplishment, but what made it the "best moment" is that "J-Mac" is autistic and had spent the rest of the season as the team manager.
Oh, we love those stories! Indeed, we pay good money to see movies about fictional sports figures (from Radio to Rudy to Rocky) who overcome their situations.
This brings us back to the more tragic Clarett story. Why do we love hating Maurice? For the same reason -- just from a different angle. Clarett was at the cusp of fame. Had he simply chosen better, as one editorialist wrote, Clarett "would be signing autographs in some National Football League training camp right now. He'd be the face of a franchise. He'd be a millionaire. He'd be wearing Nike shoes and getting paid to do it. He'd be posing for magazine covers and billboards, instead of mug shots."
The message of Clarett's story is just the flip side of the same creed: If we work hard and make good choices we will succeed, but if we are lazy and make bad choices, we will fail.
And why do we love that message? Social science provides several reasons, but among the most important is our subconscious craving to believe that our world is just and that anyone can overcome circumstances. When our heroes are "good guys" who make "good choices" and our villains are "bad guys" who make "bad choices," that craving is satisfied.
If someone succeeds, he deserves it; if someone fails, he has no one but himself to blame. Feels good.
http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-do-we-love-hating-maurice-clarett.html
Providence Journal
Thursday, August 24, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
TO SPORTS FANS, it probably wasn't a surprise to learn that former Ohio State University football star Maurice Clarett was arrested again the other week. The evasive running back who had carried the Buckeyes to the 2002 National Championship was unsuccessful in evading the police in a car chase that occurred near the home of a witness in his upcoming robbery trial. As if his location and the arsenal of four loaded guns in his car weren't suspicious enough, Clarett was sporting a Kevlar vest at the time.
Much like Clarett in his glory days, the story has legs, powerful legs. Everyone has now seen the post-arrest photos of Clarett, dressed in a jail-issued jumpsuit and looking beleaguered. Sports writers around America have penned countless condemnations of Clarett and his bad life choices. The following sample of news headlines give a flavor of the indignation:
"After Saying He Had Changed, Clarett Goes Down Familiar Path" (The New York Times).
"Maurice Clarett in Dire Need of a Reality Check" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
"Clarett's Misplaced Sense of Manhood Meant Nothing but Trouble" (The Akron Beacon Journal).
Editorialists ratcheted up the righteousness. Scott Soshnick, of Bloomberg News, told readers in a column entitled "Maurice Clarett Doesn't Deserve Your Sympathy": "Clarett has no one but himself to blame for his latest incarceration." An editorial said, "all [Clarett] ever has been is a knucklehead." Another, entitled "Don't Cry for Clarett," attributes his failings to "self-absorption," "ego, and arrogance.""Maurice Clarett in Dire Need of a Reality Check" (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
"Clarett's Misplaced Sense of Manhood Meant Nothing but Trouble" (The Akron Beacon Journal).
Letters to The Columbus Dispatch got even nastier (Ohio State is in Columbus). One: "Big Mo's actions only confirm what my pappy always said: 'Beauty is only skin deep, but stupidity goes clear to the bone.' " Another called for "a citywide ban against Maurice Clarett," saying that "[a]nyone wearing No. 13 this year during Buckeyes games should be encouraged to burn their jersey."
It is obvious that people care about this story; what isn't so clear is why. Why are Americans so interested in an event that, with a different culprit, would have spread no further than the local crime blotter? And why are so many sports writers preoccupied with a man who never played a down in the National Football League and who hasn't played college football in over three years? Most perplexing, why the vitriol? Why do we pile insults on a young man who is already a has-been?
Is it because a young black man was arrested and jailed? Nope. After all, we barely notice that over 15 million Americans are arrested each year and one out of every four black men will go to prison in his lifetime.
Might it be because he was carrying concealed weapons? Uh-uh. Thousands of people are arrested each year for that, and it is not a crime that elicits general outrage. In fact, more and more states are passing laws making it easier to carry a concealed weapon.
To understand why we Americans enjoy villainizing certain sports figures (Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, Rafael Palmeiro, Lawrence Phillips, Mike Tyson), it is helpful to understand why we make super-heroes of others.
Consider the most celebrated athlete in recent memory, Lance Armstrong. He has been the recipient of too many accolades to count, including Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year," the Associated Press's "Male Athlete of the Year" (four times), and ESPN's ESPY Award for "Best Male Athlete" (again, four times). Is Lance talented and successful? To be sure. And, yes, he won the Tour de France seven times -- more than any rider in history.
But those successes alone are not what make Armstrong our hero. In fact, not long ago Americans cared as much about French cycling races as they do about English cricket tournaments. In Armstrong's case, it wasn't so much the race that made the man; it was the man who made the race. And what we admire in this man is not that he is a winner, but that he is a winner after having nearly lost his life to testicular cancer.
We love loving Lance because his success confirms our faith in the power of perseverance. The message for us all is the American creed: We can overcome our situation, no matter how grim, if only we work hard and choose wisely.
Consider also ESPN's award for the "best sports moment of the year." In the single basketball game that Jason McElwain played in high school, he scored 20 points in just 240 seconds. Sure, that was an outstanding accomplishment, but what made it the "best moment" is that "J-Mac" is autistic and had spent the rest of the season as the team manager.
Oh, we love those stories! Indeed, we pay good money to see movies about fictional sports figures (from Radio to Rudy to Rocky) who overcome their situations.
This brings us back to the more tragic Clarett story. Why do we love hating Maurice? For the same reason -- just from a different angle. Clarett was at the cusp of fame. Had he simply chosen better, as one editorialist wrote, Clarett "would be signing autographs in some National Football League training camp right now. He'd be the face of a franchise. He'd be a millionaire. He'd be wearing Nike shoes and getting paid to do it. He'd be posing for magazine covers and billboards, instead of mug shots."
The message of Clarett's story is just the flip side of the same creed: If we work hard and make good choices we will succeed, but if we are lazy and make bad choices, we will fail.
And why do we love that message? Social science provides several reasons, but among the most important is our subconscious craving to believe that our world is just and that anyone can overcome circumstances. When our heroes are "good guys" who make "good choices" and our villains are "bad guys" who make "bad choices," that craving is satisfied.
If someone succeeds, he deserves it; if someone fails, he has no one but himself to blame. Feels good.
http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-do-we-love-hating-maurice-clarett.html
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
I'm surprised that he still has two friends.
Updated: Aug. 25, 2006, 9:08 PM ET
Clarett's former lawyer: Prosecution offered plea deal
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A fired attorney for Maurice Clarett said Friday an assistant prosecutor offered a plea deal in July with a sentence as short as 1½ years if the former Ohio State football standout admitted to a robbery charge.
On Friday, Clarett was in court for a status hearing on that January robbery charge. He is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a mental evaluation, on charges that he held up two people outside a Columbus bar early New Year's Day and took a cell phone from them.
During the 20-minute hearing, Judge David Fais ruled he will not issue a gag order in the case. Clarett spoke just once, responding, "Yes, sir" when Judge Fais asked if he understood the proceedings. He turned to smile at his mother and two friends who sat behind him.
Fired attorney Bob Krapenc, who sat in on Clarett's hearing, told reporters afterward that the former Ohio State running back, Krapenc and his partner met in July with assistant prosecutor Doug Stead about a plea deal. Krapenc said Clarett had not decided whether to accept the deal and admit to a felony robbery count in return for a five-year sentence with the option to apply for release after 1½ years.
Clarett fired Krapenc and his partner about two weeks later.
It's not clear if the deal is still on the table, and Stead would not comment Friday.
Clarett's current attorneys said they were trying to find out more about the meeting.
"Certainly, anyone who had an opportunity to talk to my client prior to my representation of my client is someone I need to talk to," said Nick Mango, Clarett's attorney. Clarett has been jailed since Aug. 9, when he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon after officers found four loaded guns in his SUV after a police chase that began near the home of a woman set to testify against him in the robbery case. Officers said they had to use pepper spray to subdue him because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest that thwarted their stun guns.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2561504
Updated: Aug. 25, 2006, 9:08 PM ET
Clarett's former lawyer: Prosecution offered plea deal
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A fired attorney for Maurice Clarett said Friday an assistant prosecutor offered a plea deal in July with a sentence as short as 1½ years if the former Ohio State football standout admitted to a robbery charge.
On Friday, Clarett was in court for a status hearing on that January robbery charge. He is scheduled to go on trial Sept. 18, pending a mental evaluation, on charges that he held up two people outside a Columbus bar early New Year's Day and took a cell phone from them.
During the 20-minute hearing, Judge David Fais ruled he will not issue a gag order in the case. Clarett spoke just once, responding, "Yes, sir" when Judge Fais asked if he understood the proceedings. He turned to smile at his mother and two friends who sat behind him.
Fired attorney Bob Krapenc, who sat in on Clarett's hearing, told reporters afterward that the former Ohio State running back, Krapenc and his partner met in July with assistant prosecutor Doug Stead about a plea deal. Krapenc said Clarett had not decided whether to accept the deal and admit to a felony robbery count in return for a five-year sentence with the option to apply for release after 1½ years.
Clarett fired Krapenc and his partner about two weeks later.
It's not clear if the deal is still on the table, and Stead would not comment Friday.
Clarett's current attorneys said they were trying to find out more about the meeting.
"Certainly, anyone who had an opportunity to talk to my client prior to my representation of my client is someone I need to talk to," said Nick Mango, Clarett's attorney. Clarett has been jailed since Aug. 9, when he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon after officers found four loaded guns in his SUV after a police chase that began near the home of a woman set to testify against him in the robbery case. Officers said they had to use pepper spray to subdue him because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest that thwarted their stun guns.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2561504
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