Dennis de la Pena's Blog

If you remember a few years ago when Cedric played in Austin, he broke down somebody's door to get his plasma tv back. He obviously feels he can do whatever he wants. It's a shame, but dosn't surprise me.

You know what the problem is? UT babying their athletes....HAHA, only kidding!! (kind of). Seriously though, anytime you have situations where family and "friends" stop looking at these athletes as family and friends and start looking at them as investments, you can expect this kind of behavior. As Dennis touched on, nobody close to these prodigies-turned-millionaires will ever tell them "no" or "don't" for fear that they'll get booted off their gravy train.

As a sports fan, there are a few things I hate to see get lost in all of this. One, the fact that athletes like Clemens and Benson have worked their tails off to become the athletes they are, two, the fact that most athletes like Clemens and Benson have used their fame to touch many peoples lives in a positive way, and three, the people that are attacking these athletes and trying to bring them down aren't usually squeeky clean either. But when you repeatedly lie to the public about your past, when "doing time" means a pit stop at the jail then telling cameramen "you're going to regret this" instead of keeping your mouth shut and hanging your head in humility, the positives get overshadowed. And why is that? No, not because of the media, but because too many friends, fam, gravy trainers, handlers, you name it, just try to focus on the positives while not facing and fixing the negatives.

Hey, count me as one of the people that think Cedric is innocent based on the info I have. So I am more disappointed in the LCRA boat cops for using unnecessary force. It is just a product of our cynical society that we just assume the worst of people like Cedric Benson without waiting to see the facts.

Maybe one day when we're communist, instead of the 24-hour news cycle, we'll only have 1 channel and it'll be run by the govt., then we can wait for the facts on Cedric.

Dennis, Mike, Cliff....is the internet great. Even though we office within earshot of each other, thanks to modern tech., we never have to actually speak to each other!

Nice.

I hear Bonds backed up Clemens' story as well.

I also understand Miguel Tejada was charged with Minor in Posession... until he confessed he really wasn't 17.