Retweet of the Day - January 2, 2013

The Hat Trick is back from the holidays! The big news of the day is that Baltimore Ravens future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis announced that he will retire at the end of the season. And, of course, the Twittersphere never fails to surprise me - with oodles of sophomoric and mean spirited O.J. references.

If you are under the age of 21, you aren't old enough to know what the hell you're talking about. 1) You haven't lived long enough and 2) You weren't old enough to read between the lines in early 2000 when the facts of the case were unfolding.


APPLES AND ORANGES

O.J. Simpson's circumstances were highly suspicious from the moment his ex-wife's body was discovered. In my opinion, the police department and district attorney's office bungled the case through evidence contamination and poor preparation. The jury was left with little choice but to acquit. Murder prosecutions should have no loose ends and there were plenty with O.J.

In O.J.'s civil court trial, the plaintiffs were allowed to play by a different set of rules. Simpson's credibility was shredded and the suspicion of his guilt became more evident to the public. The jury awarded a monetary verdict that Simpson will never pay off.

On the other hand, Ray Lewis was never brought to trial for anything related to the incident in Atlanta. The alleged incident started from a fight and there was very little reliable witness testimony. I thought the charges were trumped up and regardless of one's opinion, the two associates of Lewis ultimately accused of the crime were acquitted (they didn't have Johnny Cochran or anyone comparable for an attorney). Lewis settled out of court for an amount he could fart, it was so small relative to his worth, in part to avoid the legal fees associates with a lengthy civil trial. Sounds like a money grab to me.


TODAY'S RETWEET

I could continue indefinitely, but I don't believe that anyone who actually paid attention to Ray Lewis' situation could reasonably think that Lewis killed anyone. I have my doubts to whether or not he had any involvement or knowledge of the incident at all beyond being in the wrong place around the wrong people at the wrong time.

This leads me to today's retweet, by Ryan Wagner (@rwags614), who, unlike me, sums up my sentiments in 140 characters or less.

 "Makes me sick that I'm already seeing asinine jokes about Ray Lewis' murder trial. Everyone who makes one needs to read the case facts."

I'll bet the fellow who wrote this phrase (that was intended to be a sentence) probably things Lewis killed someone, too. 1

1) Image from images.google.com