What Lil Wayne and TI Have Taught Me

Vince Young, who apparently was prepared to retire after his first season in the NFL, explained that he learned from the travails of other rich, young, black men to avoid the temptations that fame and wealth can bring:

“I have a stronger circle,” Young told the Web site. “Now I can handle this kind of stuff without it making me want to give up football. I learned that 24/7 I’m representing the Titans and, especially, the kids all over I am trying to influence. I look at my man Michael Vick. I learned from that. I look at Pacman [Jones]. I learned from that. I look at some troubles recently for rappers T.I. and Lil Wayne, guys I listen to. I learned from them. I’ve learned from my life.”

I understand what Vince Young learned from Michael Vick – don’t commit a crime that offends the sensibilities of the entire nation. But did he learn anything from Ray Lewis, who was involved in a fatal stabbing in an Atlanta club and got with a misdemeanor obstruction of justice, one year of probation and a 250K fine? I mean, Lewis did settle with the family of one of the victims for some 1 million dollars, and an undisclosed amount for another, but he’s still one of the most respected defensive players in the NFL. What did learn from Puff Daddy? After all, he was involved in the infamous night club shooting, hired Cochran and got Shyne to take ten years on weapons charges.

But he didn’t mention Puffy or Lewis, he talked about all the trouble Lil Wayne and TI have gotten themselves in. Young must have been referring to Wayne’s numerous run-ins with the law, including three arrests between July 2007 and January 2008 for drug possession and weapon possession. Of course, Lil Wayne hasn’t gone to jail or done anything more than post bail and pay some fines as a result of all these arrests and is perfectly able to delay the release of Tha Carter III without spending time in the Big House.

Hmm, so maybe Weezy isn’t the best example of a young, rich, thugged out black man who gets caught up in the law and whose career is ruined. TI might be a more convincing case. After all, he was caught trying to buy automatic weapons from a police snitch. Oh yeah, and he’s a convicted felon. Sounds pretty bad, like career ruining bad, right? Wrong.

Although he does have to serve 1,500 community service hours (that’s 62.5 days), pay 100,000 in fines, spend a year under house arrest and a year in the federal pen, we all know that he will be back soon enough. His career is hardly ruined, if anything, he’ll now have enough cred to produce cheezy, ubiquitous pop tunes like 50 Cent.

So was Vince Young trying to say that if you’re rich and famous, you don’t have to do time for killing people(allegedly), weapons possession or having drugs? And if you really get caught, you can pay a minuscule fine (most people get fines of 250K a count) and way less hard time (TI could have gotten ten years) than any normal person could ever expect in the same situation. But, hey, don’t do anything to dogs! It might ruin your career!

Since When Did Lance Armstrong Become Such A Player?

One of the weird things about Lance Armstrong, America’s Superhero™, is that while most just see him as this infalliable, brave and inspirational survivor of cancer and indomitable competitor, he’s also in incredibly competitive to the point of assholishness. I mean asshole in the best way. If you read his memoir, It’s Not About The Bike, you get a portrait of someone who not only has an incredibly strong will, but is insanely competitive. This isn’t surprising, nice guys don’t win the Tour seven consecutive times. And I don’t begrudge Lance being brusk or super competitive, it’s not his fault that he isn’t the image of moral perfection that America has demanded of him.

But we should still look at his personal life with a rather wary, and perhaps judgmental, eye. In his memoir, his wife Kristin, appears to be a saint. Not only does she marry Lance after his cancer has metasized, she also has three kids using his banked sperm. And then they divorced in 2003. Of course, he started dating Sheryl Crow in extreme close proximity to his breaking up with Kristin. They were engaged and then broke it off in 2005. And who can forget, in late 2007, Lance dating the 21 year old Ashley Olsen (he was 37). And now, according to People, there’s something with him and Kate Hudson. Oh yeah, and in early 2007, he had a fairly serious relationship end with designer Tory Burch. That’s not an unimpressive track record, even for an incredibly famous athlete. I guess the question becomes, when will the rest of America start treating Armstrong like just another celebrity, as all the gossip outlets already do?