The law won

Last week was a busy one in the world of sports as the NBA and NHL playoffs hit their stride but as compelling as those postseasons might have been, that's not how I'll remember that week.

I'll simply remember it as the "week of the knucklehead." Everybody knows at least one. You know, it's that guy that just can't stay out of trouble, the one that keeps making dumb mistake after dumb mistake.

He's the guy that can do nothing but make you stare at him in puzzled amazement at just how careless he can be. Lately, the NFL has been a booming factory for such guys. It's almost like they have them coming down an assembly line.

Look no further than the two prime suspects from last week: Titus Young and Rolando McClain. They are two players that continue to squander away talent because they can never get their acts together.

Recently, Young has been put in jail almost as many times as Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinny." They might as well reserve a special cell just for him whenever he's in town.

Young had a great college career at Boise State and showed a lot of promise when getting drafted by the Lions in the second round. However, his life took a downward spiral last year.

He became a malcontent and began displaying behavior detrimental to the team. That led to the Lions quickly parting ways with him.

That was just football; no big deal. But it quickly became a big deal just recently when Young decided to go from living like a football player to living like a character from a "Grand Thef Auto" video game.

First, he was arrested for DUI. Later that day, he was arrested again for trying to steal his car from the impound lot.

On May 10, he was charged with burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest after he attempted to break into a home in California and later, fought with the cops in the chase that followed.

He has also been charged with two other felonies from back on May 4 when he stole a candy bar, a bottle of water and cigars from a gas station. If he is convicted on the eight counts he faces, he could end up doing over seven years in prison.

But he wasn't the only knucklehead of this week; McClain was right there with him.

He's a guy that had even more potential than Young. He won a national championship while at Alabama and was picked No. 8 overall by the Raiders in 2010.

When he actually played, he showed promise but like Young, he just couldn't stay out of trouble.

He was arrested and charged in a 2011 shooting and sentenced to jail time, but the case was later dismissed. He was also charged the same year with lying about his identity to the police after being pulled over for a window tint violation.

Those charges were eventually dropped as well, and it appeared he had gotten back on track. The Ravens signed him last month to fill the huge hole at linebacker left in the wake of Ray Lewis' retirement.

But just 10 days after signing, McClain was arrested again--this time for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

With his rap sheet filling up so quickly, McClain unexpectedly decided to retire at the tender age of 23. I have a feeling he'll be making a comeback in a year or so after his lawyer fees start piling up.

He and Young found out the hard way that being famous isn't all it's cracked up to be if you're lacking maturity and a level head.

Like the song says, it's usually "mo' money, mo' problems." And along with those financial demons comes the pressure of keeping your job in a cut-throat business and having every little thing you do get seen and analyzed.

With the paparazzi, TMZ, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, camera phones and 24/7 news coverage, you can't do something stupid these days without it being front-page news five minutes later.

I just hope Tyrann Mathieu can avoid being the next Titus Young or Rolando McClain.

He went knucklehead his junior year at LSU. He has gotten his second chance with his drafting by the Cardinals. I hope he has truly turned over a new leaf, and I hope his LSU and now Cardinal teammates, Patrick Peterson and Kevin Minter can help keep him in check.

If not, he just might turn into another one of the NFL's many knuckleheads that wasted away amazing talent and potential because they couldn't stay out of handcuffs.

It's a very good reminder to us all that though these players seem larger than life at times, they're not.

They're humans with problems and weaknesses just like the rest of us. Their talent may be divine, but that's where the divinity ends.