-0-

“Ugly Ending to Athletes Who Had Everything”

-0-

This will be a bad day in courtrooms for two athletes we knew in San Diego.

1-earned everything he got, coming out of a tough home life, and has now made a mistake that will cost him much..

The other had everything, took entitlement, and likely ruined his life, and will likely lose everything.

Tony Bland. Kellen Winslow II.

Forget who they were, where they came from, just deal with what they did.

That’s what a judge and a jury will decide in the coming hours.

Bland convicted via guilty plea of fraud, in bribery of basketball players.

Winslow facing conviction for 7-felony counts of rape to lewd conduct.

Ignore Bland’s popularity as an Aztecs basketball player, and popular assistant coach

Ignore Winslow’s family background, the son of the legendary Chargers tight end during the Air Coryell era.

Bland was caught trying to pay off (4,100) to USC basketball recruits, caught up in the Adidas slush fund case. Caught bragging that he could deliver more players too, as if he wanted to be a big time player in this scandal.

Winslow charged with 3-rapes of women dating back to high school to most recently…that plus lewd conduct charges in the past year..

Bland is facing 6-to-12 months in prison, though he was a small time player in this big time slush fund case.

Winslow facing life imprisonment, for incidents with women 17-to-77 years of age, all of whom testified in the case.

Lawyers are going after Bland. Yes, the player came out of a drug infested family background. He got out of the ghetto, got to Syracuse, transferred to San Diego State, got his degrees, got into coaching. Then got caught up as the tip of the iceberg in the sleazy underworld of payoffs to college players.

Lawyers called Winslow a ‘sexual predator’, who did whatever he wanted to with women, despite his upbringing, his 40M NFL contract with the Browns and Jets.

Bland is pleading for help for the one mistake of his life. He wants leniency.

Winslow is silent, refusing to testify, as evidence stacked high against him. His track record of outburst at Miami University, and things he did to breach his contract in NFL were warning signs about his decision making.

Decision time.

Bland should pay a penalty, not a year in prison….but maybe 3-months in jail and long probation. His coaching career is over.

Winslow should be put away, and get mental health evaluation. What he did, time and time again, portrays a sexual sickness that says he is far from innocent.

Ugly ending for two people we knew, one who made something of his life, the other who lost everything he was given.

Just another day covering sports, this time with people who made seriously bad decisions.

================

Please follow and like us: