About that Alabama thing

So this week in sports, we heard that the DA is not going to prosecute the 2 Alabama players who were arrested on drug charges and for illegal gun possession.  There was a lot of outrage in many circles over this, especially from the sports media.  My thoughts are as follows:

First off, why is anyone surprised by this?  Aren't we smart enough by now to realize that sports figures get special treatment?  Ever heard of Jameis Winston?  OJ Simpson?  Tom Brady?  The reality is, there are so many sports team to root for that, most of the time, almost everyone is against the accused - the only people for him or her are the fans of that team.  Take Jameis Winston - everybody thought he was guilty, except of course for the FSU fans, who were more interested in chasing their national championship dream than they were in justice.  Was he really guilty?  We'll never know, and most people don't care - they want him free if they are FSU fans, and want him in jail if not.

Second of all, DAs make decisions like this all the time.  It's all about money, like everything else, or more properly, it is all about resources.  DAs neither have the time nor the resources to actually prosecute all of the criminals, which is exactly why they let so many people off on plea bargains.  Trials are expensive, time consuming, and hey, you might lose (just like a football game).  One could argue that the DA in this instance looked at the evidence, reviewed the facts, and decided he had a low probability of winning, so it wasn't worth pursuing.  They make these decisions all the time, and choose not to prosecute many cases they don't think they can win; it really is no big deal.  Granted, the DA is a moron - he shouldn't have admitted the reasons, or elaborated on them at all.  In this instance, less would have been more - all he had to do was say there was not enough evidence, or better yet, prosecution would not be in the best interests of the county, etc.

Third of all, why are people so freaked about by this anyway?  Drugs are no big deal anymore - marijuana is legal in lots of states nowadays, and even Pat Robertson thinks we should let non-violent drug offenders out of jail so they can go be productive.  That leaves the gun charge, which lots of people in red states think is bunk anyway - just ask any Texan.

Sports stars do stupid things all the time, but we love them anyway.  Not sure why.  But we may as well accept their foibles, and their special treatment, because it's never gonna change.

Peace.