Ohio State's Maurice Clarett Sues NFL

ABC/ESPN Breaking News ^ | September 23, 2003 | staff writer

[rftc]

Suspended Ohio State tailback Maurice Clarett sued the National Football League today in an historic attempt to gain entry into the league.

Under the current rules, Clarett is not eligible for entry until 2005.

[Bikers4Bush]

See #32. It's the same principle.

You have to buy the right to own a team from the NFL. You then have to share certain parts of revenue with other teams.

In essence it's one large corporation and the NFL has been slowly asserting that fact over the years in anticipation fo this. Take a look around the stadiums these days, lot's of NFL logos on the field etc.

Listen the to broadcast rights that are read at the end of the games "The exclusive property of (insert team name) and the National Football League."

He's gonna get waxed.

[Bikers4Bush]

Minimum standard is three years out of high school, period.

[rftc]

I really have a distaste for how the Clarett family have handled the media through Jim Brown.

But isn't this situation a bit different than allowing soldiers who are 40 years old to enlist in the military?

[Labyrinthos]

On the other hand, are you willing as a coach or owner to waste a high draft pick on a kid with his history?

He hasn't killed or raped anyone yet, so by NFL (and DNC) standards, he's a choir boy.

[Bikers4Bush]

Aka legal drinking age.

[rintense]

should have a right to earn a living

That's crap. The only rights you have are in the Constitution. I don't recall an NFL amendment in it. Playing professional sports is a privlidge. Clarett screwed himself out of a career, and now wants the rules changes because he broke them? Nothing more than B.S. Period.

[smith288]

Dont blame OSU... Tressel tried to help this guy. Tressel was betrayed by Clarett and Claretts moms greed.

[glory]

Agreed...Good luck to him, but even if he did get in to the draft, who would draft him? He hasn't even played a whole season(missed about half last year with an injury).

BTW, we are OSU fans and live about 20 miles from campus! This guy deserves the negativity about to follow. He(and his single(?) mother) have shown no remorse at all for his behavior(the fraudulant claims, the questionable funds, etc). I'm sick of thugs and various other two bit criminals who have athletic talent bringing up ridiculous claims like this or behaving in any manner they wish, usually supported by family members looking for their meal ticket and who have been grooming them for said meal ticket all their lives without concern for the character of the child they are grooming for "greatness".

[rftc]

I meant 'as a legal adult of 18 years of age' he should have the right to play in the NFL.

As long as he passes the physical and drug tests just like any other athlete..

[You Dirty Rats]

Spencer Haywood did NOT sue the NBA. That's an urban legend.

Spencer Haywood signed a contract with the ABA's Denver Rockets after completing two years of NCAA competition. It was the NCAA that sued Haywood, because their four-year rule prohibited a college athlete from turning pro until after they had four years in the NCAA. The courts took about eighteen months to rule that the four-year rule had no basis in law; in other words, the NCAA couldn't interfere with Haywood's right to sign a pro deal with the Rockets.

This situation is completely different from the Haywood case. Clarett has to find a basis in law to overturn the NFL's rules, not the NCAA's rules. That is much more difficult. Antitrust is the best chance, although the USFL case amounted to only $3.

The NBA eventually dropped its age requirement, since after the Haywood case and the later signing of Moses Malone by Utah of the ABA, they didn't want to lose all of the top talent. Legal action had nothing to do with it.

[discostu]

I think they have to be 21, maybe 20. It has nothing to do with if they went to college, there are players that never play at the college level instead getting their seasoning in the semi-pros.

The NFL better win. Letting kids into the NBA has turned it from a juggernaut threatening to become the #2 or #1 sport to a joke with thugs for athletes and "good" players dropping freethrows less often than batters hit fastballs.

[smith288]

I meant 'as a legal adult of 18 years of age' he should have the right to play in the NFL.

They arent restricting based on age. Its based on 3 yrs removed from High School.

[rintense]

I'm sorry, but I don't think age guarantees the right to anything unless deemed so by the Constitution. He should have the *opportunity* to play. But a right? That's going too far in my opinion.

[misterrob]

You cannot put limits on who you employ in this case. If someone is qualified to play then why can't he? The other organizations you cite are civil service or government positions.

Also, you mean to tell me that a team needing a running back or receiver would pass on the next Randy Moss, Terrell Owens or Clinton Portis if they could get them? Hell, leave them on the practice squad for a year and then turn them loose at the main team level. Screw the draft and screw your division rivals. If I am an NFL owner looking to win I would want underclassmen.

[rftc]

I agree, Clarett and his mom should pay the restitution if they file suit against OSU.

[mhking]

Didn't the NBA lose a similar case around 10-15 years ago?

The Spencer Haywood case (in 1970) was tied to the notion of sitting out affecting his future earnings. He won, and the floodgates were opened in the NBA.

In this case, Clarett is trying to use the same defense. The difference is that Clarett has been suspended a year by Ohio State for lying to NCAA investigators and for violating rules regarding compensation.

A judge would have to take that into consideration before rendering a verdict. (The judge in the case, ironically enough, is the son of legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes)

NFL Player's Union head Gene Upshaw said (in an ESPN article), "We support [the NFL's] position. ... I don't think he should be playing in the NFL yet. He should stay in school. This will be here for him.

"I'm concerned about [him] physically being prepared to play. I'd have loved to have played against a guy who's 18. I'd have whipped him."

He's impatient and greedy. And it's gonna cost him in the long run.

[misterrob]

Maybe but he has already shown bad judgement and his advisors would make any GM shudder.....

[ken5050]

It's also part of the collective bargaining agreement signed with the NFL players association..that's why it'll stand..

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Are businesses that only hire college graduates illegally discriminating? Or do high school graduates have a right to be hired by them?"

---

Since when does the NFL require a college degree for its players? I believe that less than half of its players graduated from college. The problem is that the NFL and NBA, unlike Major League Baseball, have their heads too far up their respective posteriors and refuse to set up a farm system to train young players. Major League Baseball teams signs hundreds of kids out of high school every year, and send them to the minor leagues, where they can develop and, if they make the grade, are eventually called up to the majors. Why can't the NBA and NFL do the same? Teams could draft whoever the hell they want, and if they aren't ready to play in the highest level they can keep them in a lower league. Nobody forces the teams to draft or sign young players---if a team refuses to draft players who are not at least 21 or who have not graduated from college, that's their prerogative. But it is wrong for this semi-governmental body (which has a monopoly on professional football in the U.S.) to tell a private corporation that it may not draft a player they want to draft simply because the league and the players' union want to keep salaries low.

[rftc]

I would say Clarett has to earn 'the priviledge' to play if he passes the drug screens etc. into the NFL