Mike Samuels

08.08 - It’s amazing how sports have changed. The Golden Years have passed us all in the younger generation, and instead, we are brought up by the million-dollar lawyers, the candy cane trials of professional athletes, and the opinion that if you have money nothing is impossible.

Every sport has that ‘one druggie ‘ who gets away with everything. Football had Lawrence Taylor. Baseball had Darryl Strawberry. Basketball has Allen Iverson and boxing has always had Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker.

Incase you haven’t heard (and lets be honest, we all quit listening to the cocaine charges that Whitaker has racked up since he began boxing) Pernell Whitaker’s charges for violating his cocaine probation for the quadrillionth time recently were dropped, when he was caught with a small amount of the drug on him as he was being taken to jail. Whitaker could have faced up to ten years in prison last year but he is hall of fame defense artist, so the law let him slide between the cracks. Then in January Whitaker and Mr. Coke were back at it again and he was hospitalized on an over dosage. Whitaker went on to plead GUILTY to violating his probation. So what happened?

Once again he slid through the cracks of the justice system.

I’m so sick and tired of Whitaker’s act. He goes in and out of drug-rehab every month and at the end of the year he is always getting charged with something drug related.

EARTH TO THE LAW: REHAB ISN’T WORKING!

The reason I’m coming down on Whitaker is based on a personal experience in my life. My high school buddy had a Dad who was always snorting coke, smoking crack, or doing any kind of drug he could get his hands on. He was a great guy on the outside, but messed up more than you could imagine on the inside. Much like Sweet Pea. The sad thing is he worked seventy hours a week at a steel mill in Cadillac, Michigan. He was a bust-ass type worker – loyal to the company, had paid his dues – who always got the job done and stuck his neck out on the line for anyone in the plant.

But he had a drug problem.

Much like Sweet Pea.

The law ended up catching up to him after he had been caught with – and selling – coke on the streets near his home. The first time he was sentenced to four years in Jackson state Prison. That’s four years (sixth grade through ninth grade) that my friend went without his father. And if you don’t already know, those are some of the hardest times for a growing teenager.

Eventually he got out and told us all that he was "clean" and "straight" with the drug issue. We believed him. After all, everyone deserves a second chance, right?

Within two months he was back at it (Much like Sweet Pea. Is there an echo in here?). This time he was caught selling cocaine to a supposed ‘friend.’ The law didn’t care. They cracked down and ripped his heart out. He has been locked away since 1997 and he isn’t looking to be released until 2057, where he will be near eighty-five years of age.

What a life, eh?

My friend is now growing up without his father by his side. And he didn’t do anything worse than Pernell Whitaker has ever done. But Whitaker was given a talent by God (he could box like a magician), and he knows how to use it not only in the ring, but outside as well.

The media has spoiled Whitaker. He can get away with murder and they would probably ship him to rehab with Charles Manson. I’m not joking. The lifestyle of a sports hero is a lifestyle crowded by attention, rude journalists, camera lights and much more. But the benefit is pretty much a one-way ticket to eternal life. Some sports stars haven’t been so lucky, but Pernell Whitaker, much like he did in the ring, has ducked and slipped under the wrath of the law yet again. It’s not fair, but who said life was? That’s something I have come to understand, and I’m sure everyone has by now. Whitaker will pay a fine, ‘sweet-talk’ his way with his lawyers and the judges and be out dealin’ and tweakin’ by the weekend.

I don’t mean to be harsh on Whitaker. Wait. I do. Only because the guy has been given numerous chances and he has progressed at a rate of ZERO. It’s time to lock the crack head up. Yeah, I said it: CRACKHEAD. That’s what Whitaker has become and it’s time for the mothers of sports media to pop their titties out of his mouth and show the kid that it’s time to grow up like the rest of us. Whitaker is an adult and he should be charged as one. That’s all there is to it.

In the end Whitaker has life against the ropes and he’s winning unanimously.

Eastside Boxing’s Mike Samuels can be reached for comments at Tyson180@aol.com