This wasn't a good sports weekend for me. The whole thing started and ended on Friday, when my Washington Wizards were ousted from the playoffs yet again by LeBron James' and the 11 Pips. So, I was just about to declare a full blown sports-fast when a couple of interesting nuggets came to my attention.
Double [||] on that last sentence.
Crooner R. Kelly will finally be going on trial for his alleged trysts with an underaged girl later this month. Seems like a couple of ballers should be accompanying him.
You'll remember Roger "The Rocket" Clemens from his Capitol Hill grilling last year regarding alleged steroid use. This guy who largely dodged the hubris spewn at fellow-doper Barry Bonds, is in some unrelated hot water of his own.
The scandal enveloping Roger Clemens took a sordid turn yesterday when it was alleged that the former MLB pitcher carried on a lengthy affair with an underage country music starlet.You gotta love the "non-apologetic" apology. Seriously, if you're not saying specifically what you're apologizing for, then why bother? Or at least that's what AverageSis always
According to a story in the New York Daily News, Clemens was romantically involved for a decade with Nashville B-lister Mindy McCready. Citing unnamed sources, the Daily News claimed the pair met in 1991 when Clemens was a 28-year-old married father of two. McCready was 15 at the time.
Clemens apologized Monday for unspecified mistakes in his personal life but denied having an affair with a 15-year-old.
The Daily News reported last week Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country star Mindy McCready that began when she was 15 and an aspiring singer. The newspaper also linked the star pitcher to former Manhattan bartender Angela Moyer and Paulette Dean Daly, a former wife of champion golfer John Daly.
If the 15 vs 28 angle of that last story didn't gross you out enough, how's this barely discussed revelation about former NBA player Karl "The Mailman" Malone, also from last week?
Buffalo Bills rookie offensive tackle Demetrius Bell is the son of Malone, but the Mailman had no role in Bell’s success except passing along athletic genes.All together now... "ewwwwwwwww".
The two have had very little contact during Bell’s life. His mother, Gloria Bell, reportedly was only 13 years old and Malone a college sophomore at Louisiana Tech when Demetrius was born. Malone might have served jail time had her family asked the district attorney to file criminal charges.
Bell didn’t even know Malone was his father until after graduating from high school. When they finally met, Malone told the 18-year-old Bell it was too late to be his father, and that Bell would have to “earn his money on his own.”
Malone also fathered twins while in high school. One of them is WNBA star Cheryl Ford. It took years to claim the twins, and now he and his wife, Kay, fully accept them as part of their family.
I'm trying to figure out what's worse: knocking up a 12 year old while in college, or carrying on with a tween' when you're a grown up family man with kids?
Does it really matter? They're equally dispicable.
I know I'm about to get into some trouble here, but I gotta ask: in both of the above cases, where the hell were the parents? The middle schooler (ick!) that the Mailman "delivered" in surely had a parent or grandma who knew she was hanging around the local college a bit too much. The stage parents of Mindy McCready had to know the Rocket was "blasting off" in their daughter. And for that matter, didn't the teeny bopper in Chi-Town have a Dad or uncle who knew Sylvester Kelly was "bumpin' and grindin'" on their baby girl? Come on now!
I've been entrusted by God with the responsibility of raising a young man whom I pray will make the world a better place and add more to it that he takes away. Part of that responsibility means raising him (intentionally) with the understanding of what's right and what's wrong. Part of the thousands of discussions I'll undoubtedly have to have with him will entail dating women his age or better. Cause we all know older women are where it's at.
Cougars, stand up!!![1] Grrowwwllll!!!!
Older men (or women for that matter) preying on underaged kids is nothing new (Julius Ceasar anyone?), but as long as the sole blame is always placed on the perp, and not the parents of the victim, something tells me we're not going to see any improvement in the future.
Question: It's obviously late, but should Malone and Clemens we somehow held accountable for their actions? How should the parents in each of the above cases be held accountable? If you're the parent of a teen, how do you have the older/younger discussion? Have you thrown up in your mouth yet?
Roger Clemens hit with tale of affair [Toronto Star]
Dad Karl Malone a footnote in Demetrius Bell’s life [Buffalo News]
[1] Yeah, I know I sorta undermined my whole point, but hey, I've just been dying to use the term "Cougar", with all this young dude/older chick marriage stuff going around lately. Seriously, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon? WTH!??!
