All-Met Linebacker Said To Be Robbery Ringleader

Robert Warren
 testifies that Pat Lazear, above, was not only the driver of the get-away car in a robbery of a Smoothie King, but was also the ringleader behind the scheme.

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8 Schools Used Ineligible Athletes, Officials Say

Problems with athletes grades at eight Montgomery County high schools were found, school officials said yesterday. Walt Whitman HS, where All-Met Linebacker Pat Lazear previously attended before being arrested for armed robbery, is one of the schools.

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Are You Really Surprised?

“All-Met Linebacker Said To Be Robbery Ringleader” as big as life in The Washington Post.    “All-Met linebacker Pat Lazear played a prominent role in the planning and execution of an armed robbery in March…”

Should we be surprised by this revelation? No.

Entitlement.  That is what is at the root of this.

“Why were they engaged in this type of activity?” Assistant State’s Attorney Tom DeGonia asked the court. “They don’t need the money. They clearly don’t want the notoriety. The state is left with the explanation that these are young men who feel for whatever reason they can get away with this. That’s the most disturbing aspect of this.”

Entitlement.  That’s why. 

Too often he saw other athletes given special treatment, allowed to break rules and not face the consequences. That’s why.

If you are gifted in something that will bring other people success the rules don’t apply to you. You are entitled to special privileges.  That’s why.

But Lazear mistook what that meant or what that entitled him to.

He has/had an outstanding football career waiting for him in college.  He was/is one of the most heavily recruited players in the country and all by big name programs.   He was made to feel “special”.

He was made to feel special not just by the college coaches who wanted him but his own high school coaches and fellow students.  The Washington Post article quotes Robert Warren, one his armed robbery accomplices:

 ”To be around this kid made me feel good,” Warren said. “Kids looked up to him like they looked up to me at Kennedy. He was a god. It was ridiculous. I wanted that feeling. People would look up to me because I was friends with him. They were like: ‘You’re friends with Pat? Whoa.’ I think that has a lot to do with all the other kids. That’s kind of sad.”

He’s right.  It is sad.  And even sadder is what lies ahead for him.

In a article from September 8, 2006 in The Washington Post, Lazear is quoted as saying, “I am just trying to put this all behind me.”  Too little, too late.

But is it really his fault?  On one hand it is because we are all responsible for our actions.  But on the other hand, was he only acting by example?

Is anyone looking at his coaches or the administration at Walt Whitman High School?

Another article in The Washington Post in today’s same edition, “8 Schools Used Ineligible Athletes, Officials Say” reports:

 ”46 athletes at Einstein, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Winston Churchill, Quince Orchard, Walter Johnson, Watkins Mill, Wheaton and Walt Whitman were playing on sports teams while not having the minimum 2.0 grade-point average or possibly having more than one failing grade in the previous quarter.”

Walt Whitman High School.  The same school that Lazear and all the others involved in the robbery attended.  The same football team  that Lazear and two of the alleged perpetrators played on.

Is anybody looking at the tie between these types of activities?  Is anyone going back through Walt Whitman High School history to see their record on enforcement of school rules and how it is applied to athletes?   We need to look at the coaches and school administrators who turn a blind eye when a star athlete is caught drinking underage and they don’t suspend them. 

Lazear and every other person in the armed robbery, if found guilty, should be held accountable for their actions.  But we should also look at the root of the problem and see who is setting the example for them.

UPDATE:

Ok, I normally wouldn’t come back and add things like this but it just adds to my point.  Another article today in the The Washington Post, “Vandalism at Prep Stadiums Probed”.

Apparently, following the Whitman v. Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School  game last week, someone, presumably, Whitman fans/students, vandalized the B-CC stadium.  While this appears to be in retaliation for  B-CC students spray-painting at Whitman’s stadium the previous night, the vandalism at B-CC consisted of anti-Semitic messages.

 What is going on at Whitman?  Read the page on “Sportmanship” on the Whitman High School website.  Someone must have forgotten this exists.

Dr. Alan S. Goodwin, Principal should resign

David H. Magathan Jr,  Athletic Director should resign.

Eric Wallich, Varsity Football coach should resign.

Andy Wetzel, Asst. Athletic Director/Varsity Wrestling coach and former assistant football coach should resign.