Jack in touble again

[Vince]

I don't get it. A cab driver went to see the police because some kids said "F***" to him???

[QuartzGooner]

I think jack may be assosiating himself with the wrong type of people outside of football.

Saw Ledley King in westfeild shopping center today, and the gang of "rudeboys" he assosiates himself with is unbelievable like the cast of kidulthood!!!!!

This is a point too.

Look at JET, his tweets and so on.
I am not saying he has ever got into any trouble.

But if he carries himself in a certain way, with a certain swagger, it will attract jealousy and that can bring trouble.

A player could be low profile and still get into trouble, look at the Liverpool players who burgled, but players have to realise they are not the same as the average kid their age and so change their behaviour accordingly for the sake of their career.

USMartin could tell us about Michael Vick.

[USMartin]

I think jack may be assosiating himself with the wrong type of people outside of football.

Saw Ledley King in westfeild shopping center today, and the gang of "rudeboys" he assosiates himself with is unbelievable like the cast of kidulthood!!!!!

This is a point too.

Look at JET, his tweets and so on.
I am not saying he has ever got into any trouble.

But if he carries himself in a certain way, with a certain swagger, it will attract jealousy and that can bring trouble.

A player could be low profile and still get into trouble, look at the Liverpool players who burgled, but players have to realise they are not the same as the average kid their age and so change their behaviour accordingly for the sake of their career.

USMartin could tell us about Michael Vick.

Michael Vick's story is a bit hard to to fathom, I mean right now he is encourse after serving time in jail for a pretty nasty crime -though certainly that is relative (animal cruelty) but right now is on course to be the NFL's Most Valuable Player this season and as much I dislike him(he plays for one of my teams biggest rivals) his comeback is nothing short of remarkable. So he is not the best example here as he is almost performing like Tony Adams after coming back from his darkest days.

There are so many athletes here though who get caught up with the wrong people doing the wrong things but don't get that second chance that Michael Viock like Tony Adams has gotten and even fewer who actually take advantage of it. Whether they blow it at the high school level the college level or the pro level there are hundreds of athletes in US Sport who have destroyed or risked destroying their careers this way.

The best examples for me go back aways and will be familair to anyone here familair with American Baseball - Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry - teammates best friends and at one point certain Hall-Of-Famers. I saw Dwight Gooden pitch at 18 in the minors and said ne would be one of the best pitchers ever in the Majors. Darryl Strawberry was a fabulous outfielder who had more power in his wrists than some great power hitters had in their enitre upper bodies.

In his first three seasons Gooden had two 20-win Seasons a Rookie of the Year Award,a Cy Young Award(pitcher of the Year) and Strawberry was a Rookie of the Year as well and regular All Star and they helped the mets to a World Series Win in 1986. Both looked like they could be among the very best players at their positions to play the game in their generation , maybe even ever in Gooden's case. The teammates also became close friends.

And Addicts. In Strawberry's case alcohol was his prime dug of choice, in Gooden's case cocaine. And playing In New YorK City their falls from grace were sudden shocking and horribly public and painful to their fans or just people admiring their skills. Diwght Gooden's career - at least the career people though he was going to have was over before he was 25, Strawberry's before he was 30. Yes they got other chances yes they still showed their talents occasionally, but many are still haunted by what either of them particularly Doc Gooden might have been. I still have never seen a pitcher quite like him again until this past year - and Aroldis Chapman plays for my team

Sorry to go on

[USMartin]

I thought I would provide there stats before/after their problems to illustrate their declines - feel free to ask for explanations - but I think you can see even if you don't know baseball that the numbers changed drastically as their demons took hold of them

1984-1988 91W 26 L 19 SHO 52CG 1067 SO 2.55 ERA
1989-2000 103 W 86 L 5 SHO 16CG 1226 SO 4.13 ERA


1982-1990 .264 Avg 252 HRs 733 RBIs 191 SBs
1991-1999 .243 Avg 84 HRs 237 RBIs 30 SBs

[USMartin]

BTW Michael Vick's problems weren't just with the wrong sort of friends but associating with the wrong sort of relatives as well. His broother Marcus was thought to be as talented potentially but his behavior in school was even worse and since he was not as good as it turned he never even got that second chance really his brother for now at least is making the very most of.