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The Rampage Jackson media circus at court
By Zach Arnold | August 28, 2008
Mr. Jackson plead not guilty today to the charges he is facing. Naturally, Rampage is now doing a media tour to rehabilitate his image publicly.
Sports Illustrated’s Ben Fowlkes is not impressed at all:
It’s not that I can’t understand the collective desire of the UFC and Jackson himself to put this incident behind them. But in order to do that, Jackson needs to take responsibility, and the UFC needs to deal with it head-on. Ascribing the whole thing to illness or delirium downplays Jackson’s role in his own unraveling, as well as the possibility that something more serious could be going on with him. It’s not as if he caught the flu and was running a high fever when he crashed into a parked car on his way to the pharmacy. That would be a case of blameless illness.
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I haven’t been very happy with the way the UFC has backed Jackson in this whole incident and Dana is the chief culprit. I think it is fine to offer him support, but yes, they need to stop trying to whitewash the whole incident and Jackson needs to go through the system.
Does the “D Dubya” name that I gave Dana White, reminiscent of a lackluster “President,” now apply!? Thank goodness, I have been pointing to this analogy for a while, they are both corporate bloodsuckers and if he has to be a bloodsucker to promote an amazing sport (and if it does get too big, he WILL kill it, as our government so slowly does to us in the US) then I will support his evil ways.
So… I think Jackson needs mandatory therapy, no jail, no nothing, serious therapy! I love him as a fighter, not so much as a character (unlike all the bandwagon riders who claim he is the funniest character since George Carlin, RIP). Wish him the best of luck in recovery from the publicity fiasco and any personal issues.
ROLLO. i agree. im a pretty big fan of dana’s and the ufc as a whole, but this move wreaks of a DON KING type move, something i’d hope i’d never have to say about dana. he’s still not near as bad as king, that would take about 25-30 more years of corruptness to equal him.
I like Rampage as a fighter, and he seems to be a pretty good guy, but he obviously has some major mental problems that should be addressed before he’s allowed to continue his fighting career. Normal people don’t go on a rampage in a big ass monster truck with their face on the side of it. That’s just stupid.
I don’t know enough about the situation to decide one way or the other. I have no idea what kind of help Jackson is getting for himself or from the UFC, and I have no idea what kind of shape he’s in or what problems he may be dealing with.
The only thing I know for sure is that the UFC is doing PR damage control. I’m sure they were worried about the “human cockfighting” critics jumping on a popular UFC champion going off the deep end.
It’s hard to understand what people want Rampage to do—-cut off a pound of flesh? Wear sackcloth and ashes? Pour gas all over himself and light a match?
He said that he wasn’t taking care of himself by not eating and sleeping, and that it was stupid to do what he did. He said that some of the crazy thoughts he had were just plain wrong. Sometimes, people confuse the word “reason” with the word “excuse”. It didn’t sound like he was making excuses, because he said the fasting/energy drink regimen wasn’t a smart thing to do. Does anyone really think Rampage just wanted to run from the cops; drive on the wrong side of the street; and broadside some cars for the hell of it that day? Obviously that will only get you arrested or shot. He didn’t plan that chase, and he didn’t do it for the hell of it. That leaves the reason (not excuse) that he already gave. It was stupid and counterproductive for Rampage to not eat, sleep, and take care of himself. That should be all anyone needs to hear.
If anyone is expecting to hear “I’m sorry” in public, then that’s kind of unrealistic. None of us would publicly do a “mea culpa” like that, because it would get you years in jail instead of probation. It wouldn’t undo the event itself–it would just mean that the taxpayers would get to spend $40,000 a year housing Rampage in a prison cell. No lawyer would let a client give a blanket, public apology in a situation like that. So, we need to read between the lines and realize that he is remorseful and apologetic through his description of what happened.