Judgment Day

There's a thin line between tranquility and drama. On a random boring weekend night you can choose to either chill in the comfort of your living room, or venture out and have some idiot broadside your car at an intersection. The neighborhood bar, where everybody knows your name, could someday be the site of your violent death as a result of you stepping on some psycho's foot at the wrong time. Life can change very quickly for any given person on any given day.

One evening after practice, K-Solo told me he might not make it to our game the next day because of a court date.  Since the liquor store heist occurred years before I had met him, I thought he was done with that particular case. We actually never spoke much about that adventure. As a matter of fact, he doesn't even know that I googled him after I had met him for the first time. He thinks I'm in the dark about that.

I decided not to say anything because he didn't offer any reason for me to question his character since that initial encounter. As a result of showing up on time for every single preseason meeting, I decided to hook him up with a job. I also got a very good vibe from him which doesn't occur often here. Only three other players in my coaching career (6 years) can say that I actively helped them find employment. In the case of K-Solo, I saw a young man who seemed to really want something more for himself. Through his first month of classes, his lowest grade was a C. He also had two "A's". 

My Assistant and I decided to meet with K-Solo after practice that day to discuss this court appointment he had coming up. To K-Solo's credit, he was very honest about his legal trouble.

Me: What do you mean you might do 2 years in jail?
K-Solo: Yeh.. If they find me guilty tomorrow, I'm going down.
Me: Damn. Really. What happened?
K-Solo: Well, it's a long story but basically I was at a park one night and some dudes started chirpin to my homegirl who was wit me?
Me: What do you mean?
K-Solo: I don't know exactly what happened but we were all drunk and some white boys..these skaters... called my homegirl the n-word.
Me: Oh..
K-Solo: Yeh. So I heard this and stepped to these dudes acting like I didn't hear what he had said. As he started to get loud and shit I just cracked him in the jaw.
Me; With a weapon?
K-Solo: Nah. I punched him. I broke his jaw.
Me:Yikes. Really?
K-Solo: Yeh. The bigger problem is that I was on probation for some other stuff that had gone down a few years ago so now, who knows??
Me: Can I write a letter for you stating that you're a model citizen on the team and that you have good grades?
K-Solo: Maybe it'll help. I just gotta go to court tomorrow and see if I get lugged for two.