Off the field, Clarett made his share of mistakes, but there was no denying his talent on the field.We got a tip on this earlier (thanks, Shawn!) but sat on it because, contrary to what some might think about bloggers, we're not vapid, heartless bastards that delight in piling on people and we didn't really want to see his comments section lit up by every troll near a keyboard making Goose and ha-ha tossing-salad prison jokes.
But now that Maurice Clarett's blog has hit Deadspin (and other heavies), it's pretty much out there and we wanted to weigh in on the situation.
We're of the opinion that the blog is legit and as the previously linked-to Doc Saturday says:
If it's a hoax, it's among the most boring and elaborate hoaxes ever conceived, with no payoff.
Reading the blog, we find an inspired, thoughtful and knowledge-hungry man, seemingly intent on turning his life around. Look no further than his most recent post to get a feel for what's going on:
I had a chance to sit down and speak to a young man who is 18 with a 13 year sentence. He has been in the same cell block as me for a few months and I’ve been observing how he has been coping with his sentence. It has been on my mind to sit with him and offer some suggestions on how he could reverse the order and start taking advantage of this solitude but I always came up with the excuse that I didn’t have the time. The truth was I didn’t want to make the time. I then thought, “What if all the people supporting me made the excuse, they didn’t have time?” I probably wouldn’t be where I am at mentally today.
We're a little over six years from that most incredible of nights when Clarett was snatching the ball from Sean Taylor and two and a half years out from his night that ended in police spikes, the final episode of a sad spiral. He is eligible for early release next year. For now at least, he appears to be positioning himself to reenter society the right way and you can't hate on a guy for that.
