Addiction, Strange Twists of Thinking, and Tikkun

The Ohio State Buckeyes under the late-Woody Hayes featured the stand out quarterback Art Schlichter (pronounced, Sh-lees-ter);  in fact, Schlichter threw the interception that prompted Woody Hayes assault on Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman in the 1978 gator Bowl game leading to Hayes' dismissal.

Schlichter is a remarkable example of someone so addicted to gambling that it destroyed his career and his life.   The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Schlichter is again under indictment on 13 felony counts relating to a ticket selling scheme and fraud.  Schlichter is blaming his addiction (on gambling?)  Here's an excerpt from reporter Mike Wagner's report:

"Art Schlichter, the former Ohio State quarterback and one of the nation's most notorious compulsive gamblers, was indicted today on 13 felony counts in connection with the ticket-selling scheme that swindled people out of more than $1 million.

A grand jury handed up the indictment to the Franklin County Prosecutor's office after Schlichter and Prosecutor Ron O'Brien failed to reach a plea agreement since Schlichter surrendered to authorities more than two months ago.

The most serious charge filed against Schlichter includes one rooted in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which alleges a pattern of corrupt activity and is typically used to prosecute organized crime. The RICO charge involves Schlichter and five associates, who are not named in the indictment, and accuses them of scamming people out of their financial assets beginning in 2009 and continuing for more than 18 months. In some cases, the schemes involved cash accounts, credit cards, loans and other investments.

Schlichter, 51, an All-American at OSU more than 30 years ago, continues to be held in the Franklin County jail. If convicted on the charges, Schlichter could face a maximum of 30 years in prison.

In each of the 12 felony theft counts, Schlichter is accused of deceiving people and stealing from them. Schlichter is accused of telling people that he could make money by selling tickets to Ohio State football games and the Super Bowl. But in many cases, those who lent him money were never repaid, and others did not receive the tickets they were promised. The indictment also contains an allegation that Schlichter sold memorabilia that had already been sold years ago."
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You'll notice that one of the elements of the story is the selling of memorabilia.  In the scandals swirling around Coach Jim Tressel are allegations that Tressel covered up for Ohio State players who were selling memorabilia or exchanging memorabilia for tattoos from tattoo parlor operator who was under investigation by the FBI.  Instead of Tressel reporting the violations by his players to the NCAA as he is obligated to do, he lied. 

There it is again, misplaced values.

These strange twists of thinking can be indicative of a severe addiction as in Schlichter's case, or of a fundamental life correction or redemption.   These flaws, failure and falls of mankind effect me profoundly.  Of course I see myself in them and I am striving mightily to effect my tikkun, my correction.  It's why I write Bad Lawyer.  Bearing in mind that in classic Kabbalah mysticism, the Tikkun ha-Olam is the command that humanity must restore and redeem a broken and fallen world. 

Michigan State's Thong Thief Thwarted

Oh, this is too easy. 

The Detroit News reports under the headline:  Cops: MSU thong thief caught with 79 pairs of pilfered panties,--on the 19 year old East Lansing student who has been suted stealing panties from the dormitory laundry. 

The unnamed spandex obsessive denies being a "sex addict." or having an addiction.  Sounds about right.  He claims it was just a prank and that other students "are doing it."  The owner of the items in question wants the suspect charged.

All joking aside, there are serious issues.  If this kid had been stealing t-shirts we would not think there was a sex element to the petty theft.  So it's absurd to think that this 19 year old kid doens't have some sort of screw slightly loose--he's lucky that at age 19, he has a jump start at looking at his fetish for female undergarments.  Jeez, it's not easy to write about this without it coming off as a joke.  So let me shift gears.

Last week, 20 year old Laura Hall (pic) became the first "woman" in the UK to be banned from every bar and pub, according to the London Daily Mail!  Twenty years old! 

In May of 1986, I was 31 years old and I had blasted through as much drinking as I was capable of doing and still be able to and physically manage to pull myself together and practice law.  I got sober, because frankly I could no longer bear the physical and psychological burden of drinking like a pig.  And while it is true that I relapsed on two or three occasions since then, for all my problems I could be dead, and behind the wheel of a car drunk I could have killed others--and, those are some of the more obvious bad shit/outcomes that happen to drunks and those that happen across their paths.

So you see when I talk about these Bad Lawyers and Judges with substance abuse issues I am talking about and seeing myself in their horrible outcomes.  St. Paul, Minn. Al Garcia, that could have been me.  Ann Arbor's Ron Plunkett, taht could have been me.  For all of my problems-- killing someone, raping someone, crippling someone--that has not happened to me, yet. My guess is that in the lives of these youngsters--oh, and these stories get played out in the media as jokes, these young people are getting a chance to see something misfiring in their lives early on.  They have  an opportunity in these "silly" crises, early on,  to avoid a lifetime of disaster piled on disaster.