IT'S YOUTH FOOTBALL TIME, THE TRAINING GROUND FOR CRIMINALS AND CHEATS---- Or How Maurice Clarett got That Way

Welcome to the world of fake weights, fake birth certificates, cardboard pads, cheating parents, and cheating coaches


Maurice Clarett, arguably one of the top five backs in the country, will sue the NFL so he can be drafted "early"; a guy who has never played a full year of college ball because he's been hurt is now ready for the NFL where he'll be hurt again. He got into a beef with Ohio State before the Fiesta Bowl last New Year's Day over whether the university got his request to go to a friend's funeral and miss practice. This request was sent by computer, he says, by his mother and he. Then he committed a misdemeanor by lying about the amount of valuables and cash that was stolen from a car he was driving. Followed by the receipt of illegal cash and gifts. There are two full pages of additional "irregularities" against Clarett filed by the NCAA. And by the way, he cheated on a test because a teacher seeing he was failing the written test gave him unrecorded oral exam. This test was for a course in Black History or Black Studies.

What do we have? A possibly illiterate (his "mother" sent the request by computer and he couldn't pass a written test) young man attending college who steals whatever is available and lies when caught. He does this because he has been taught from his earliest playing days that he is special, the rules don't apply to him, and that mommy and coaches will always be there to bail him out.

Once again the ethics forming Youth Football season is starting in the LA area of Southern California. I only know about one league, but I assume it covers all of them. The Los Angeles Times blacks out all news of any impropriety in these leagues, going so far as to completely black out the riot at a Youth Football game last year, a riot that was video taped by a parent and shown on national TV. It's not just MEChA and good news about Iraq they black out.

Here's the League. Birth Certificates are not checked and many players are over age as reported by teachers who know them. Weights are faked before games with obviously large players weighed by either a "jump on jump off with one foot" style of weigh in or by just touching the pad with one foot. This is done by coaches. Back in the old days weigh ins were conducted by the referees away from the coaches and heavy kids had their jerseys taken from them. The corruption runs deeper. In the Pacific Youth League they have many teams in each division and there are "rules" that assure (ho ho) that teams with kids who have never played before will play teams who also have kids who have never played before. This is violated by coaches with connections who just switch teams. The uneven matches produce scores of 45-0 and worse. Injuries? Yes, but last year the worst was a broken ankle, one broken leg, and one concussion and heat exhaustion that required an ambulance and a doctor; these were in the games I saw. I don't know the body count from other games. Keep in mind that all parents, coaches, and players know about the cheating.

I am the father of a young kid who was told after his Youth Football career to come back during his sophomore year of High School and play quarterback again. He was told by coaches "not to worry" because they would weigh him in with a cardboard helmet and cardboard pads. These coaches were college grads and upper middle class. "It's only cheating if you get caught" is the slogan these kids are taught over and over again. You hear the stupid announcers at these college games say it all the time. That is the ethic. Clarett has been caught. Now he goes for the really big bucks in the NFL where rap sheets for really serious crimes are common.

Lots of luck Maurice. You'll need it.