Running...from the Law

Two former football Stars are back in the headlines.

OJ Simpson, Heisman trophy winner and former pro football great turned actor. On the 13th anniversary of the acquittal in the murder trial of the century of his ex-wife, he was recently found guilty of robbing dealers of all things....autographed sports memorabilia at gunpoint. In 2006, he authored the book If I Did It and now the book has been thrown right back at him. He was jailed in Las Vegas, as unlikely as probable a place for your luck to run out.

Lawrence Phillips, the former 1990’s standout Nebraska Cornhusker running back, whose troubles with the law exposed his character flaws and imploded his professional football career had his day in court.

The sixth pick in the 1996 NFL draft proved to be a statistical bust and as his football career spiraled downward from missed practices, acts of insubordination, and lackluster play, Phillips continued to struggle to be an upstanding human being. In 2000, he was charged with domestic abuse of a woman at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

In a movie scene Hollywood could script and OJ Simpson could play, Lawrence Phillips was arrested for the following in August 2005. While professional football teams prepared for the upcoming season, Phillips turned his vehicle into an assault weapon after losing both his anger and a pickup game of football to a bunch of youths with the Los Angeles Coliseum in the background. The former football great now faces the “three strike your out” imprisonment penalty for Californian repeat offenders. Striking out in life seems an ironic baseball label for a running back used to running over people.