Donte Stallworth

Double standards exist everywhere, and the sports world is certainly no different. But there's a reason they exist: this is the real world, and issues are only seen in black and white by the ignorant. Because of this, everything is open to interpretation, and an action that may seem fair in one instance can be wholly unreasonable in another.

This will always be prevalent, thanks to round-the-clock media coverage (not to mention all those god awful blogs).

There's a lot of news surrounding a few NFLers in the past couple months; and I'm gonna start with and concentrate mostly on Donte Stallworth. A lot of people are upset with the 30 day sentence he got; when you're facing 15 years and wind up spending 24 days that's a natural reaction. But allow me to offer a little perspective. If you know Miami, and the area at which the incident occurred in particular, you know that only a fool would be running across that street - at any time, let alone early in the morning before the sun is up. Yes a man died, and yes it's unfortunate, but as harsh as it sounds he WAS asking for it. And while Stallworth was technically "under the influence," people who are used to drinking/being in a drunken state - especially if they're a 6' 200 lb conditioned professional athlete (relevant for several reasons) - have the ability to operate a vehicle without difficulty. I realize most people won't be willing to admit this, but it's the truth. Of course he deserved to be punished because he put himself in an unfortunate position, but as far as his criminal responsibility and justice is concerned, the punishment fits more than you'd think.

Ok, I'm done playing devil's advocate (for now). This is where everything really gets tied together and perspective is truly achieved. Let's go back to 1998, when one Leonard Little turned 24. As he drove home from his party, with a BAC of .19 (well over Stallworth's .12, it comes out to a good 5 drinks worth more alcohol), he crashed into a car, resulting in the death of the woman driving it. He received a mere 90 days, more than Stallworth but in this case he was 100% to blame.

The problem is this: six years later, Little was again arrested, this time for doing 80 in a 55 zone, and failed three sobriety tests to go along with his obvious drunken state. You know how many felony charges he wound up facing? Zero. Maybe I'm wrong (I know I am, however this isn't the time or place...) but isn't the "correctional" system supposed to prevent this from happening? I don't know a thing about Leonard Little the man, but I HATE what he represents in this case. So before people jump on Stallworth and forget about him a week later, do a little homework.

On another note, I'm glad to see Michael Vick out of prison.

Yea I said it. On top of that, here's to hoping the Redskins sign him.

I'm not gonna champion Vick's cause, because either you'll agree with me or you won't; there's no healthy conversation to be had on the topic. I will say this though, you better believe he didn't get a fair shake in the matter.

I'd also like to know how Pacman Jones keeps getting bailed out in life; he DEFINITELY sold his soul to the devil long ago.

One final thought: isn't it funny that John Daly is probably the crowd favorite at the British Open now, with Tiger missing the cut?