Crime in Sports - #2 - From Hero... To Hanging In a Cell - The Tale of Lawrence Phillips

Episode Date: February 16, 2016

This week, we look at a charming man, who beat women, ran down teenagers with his car, and strangled the imprisoned cousin of another NFL player.He was one of the greatest running backs in college football history, an NFL bust, and a prolific letter writer, Lawrence Phillips!!Check us out, every Tuesday. We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman New episodes every Tuesday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Crime in Sports!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Small Town Murder Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/crimeinsportsInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] on Patreon: patreon.com/crimeinsportsPayPal: paypal.me/crimeinsports See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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This week we bring you an even bigger scumbag, possibly. I don't know, you'd kill a pregnant girl, that's pretty bad. But this guy was a shithead too. Lawrence Phillips, everybody. My name is James Petrigallo, here with... Jimmy Wisman. And we are going to bring you the worst in sports. So let's get started with Lawrence Phillips.

I was straight-faced, and then you pressed record, and I can't stop smiling. This is fun. A gentleman like Lawrence Phillips brings a smile to lots of people's faces, the ladies especially, teenage boys in a pickup football game. Imagine how much they did smile when Lawrence Phillips showed up to play pickup football with them at the park. No way, the running back from the Rams.

That's Lawrence Phillips, man. That's him. He had like, wow, he was so good in college. They won a national championship. Hey, look, that's a nice car, Lawrence. Oh, fuck. And then they're running and there's grass chunks flying everywhere.

That is a sweet car. It's 65. It's the little car. That's so hard to get. Look at the chunks flying everywhere. That is a sweet car. It's 65. That's so hard to get a look at the detail on it. Slow down, slow down. Oh no. The grill, it's horrible and large. Make it stop. We'll get into that though. We'll get into Lawrence Phillips' deeds and how he plays football with teenagers.

But first, let's start at the beginning. The best place. Lawrence Phillips was born a boy. Yes. That's definite. He may have been born a man. He was probably born a man. Lawrence Phillips was a beast of a man in all possible ways.

Lawrence Phillips had an interesting childhood. Yeah. Raised by his mother. His dad wasn't around. Apparently had an abusive stepfather that the mother brought in. There's stories of him holding young Lawrence down with his foot while urinating on him in front of his mother. Sounds like a party. It's a nice, it seems like a pleasant way to grow up.

So, of course, Lawrence rightfully so blamed his mother for this infraction for allowing this to happen so uh yeah lawrence not not having a good time uh football did find a place in football yeah found an outlet for all that anger outlet to unleash his uh had to be pent up rage i would imagine tons of it tons of it judging by laterred of women. He didn't get it all out. Right. Let's just say that. He had some he kept in reserve. Absolutely.

He left a little remaining. You've got to leave a little. Yeah. You've got to leave a little for the ladies. You know what I mean? I think that's what he was doing. He was just leaving a little for the ladies. A little something for the ladies.

And the teenage boys who he plays pickup football with. So anyway, Lawrence Phillips, obviously a great high school football player. Fantastic. Baldwin Park High School in California. He lived with one of his coaches, this Pagone guy. He was very close with them and the family. Stories of this guy driving him to school so he could make classes at 7 a.m. They do discuss his uh his his

softer side in early life as well growing up in group homes he did assist a boy that could not read or write in learning how to read or write and he never made fun of him so if there's anything to glean from this that's positive about lawrence phillips he did never he did not ever uh call a dummy a dummy um probably because he was also a dummy. He probably used him to tackle also. He just set him up outside. No, that's the odd thing, too. And I guess it's not odd because you hear about it a lot.

Maybe not with serial killers or something. But a lot of times with guys like this that are these extreme highs. Sure. He's running for 1,700 yards in a season. He's beating the shit out of any woman that crosses his path. He's running in the red, and it seems like a lot of times they also have compassion to the extreme, too. It's a very weird thing. At least one person in their life has that.

He wasn't so bad. There's a bunch of people that say that. The Pagon family says how great he was with their boys and how he brought them out of their shell. There's all sorts of... He's an odd duck, let's say. This is Lawrence Phillips. Say the least.

Interesting personality altogether. Just... Anyway, so... Group homes. Bad stuff. Held down. Urination. Mom bad.

He's playing high school football. Everything's pretty much fine in high school. A couple of minor things, but nothing that was ever brought up, and he wasn't arrested, no arrests or anything like that. As kids do. He gets recruited for college. I mean, here's this kid. He's having a great high school.

And the story begins. And Tom Osborne comes to his house, who was a legendary Nebraska football coach at the time. And, you know, one second he's being peed on in front of his mom. Next second, Tom Osborne's sitting in front of him. Standing right in front of him telling him, we want you, son. At Nebraska, which sounds like a horrible proposition

to be drugged to Nebraska at any point in time. But then this was not bad. To be drugged there, to be drugged to Nebraska at any point in time. But then this was not bad. To be drugged there, to be dragged there, whatever, to play football for Tom Osborne in Nebraska in the 90s was a very good thing for a young man to do. The only time it was ever okay to go to Nebraska. Come to Nebraska and enjoy the perks of... You get to play for Tom Osborne. That's really it.

That's really it. I went to... I drove through Nebraska a couple years ago, and Lincoln, Nebraska is hell on earth. It's hell on earth. We pulled in. Just wanted a good meal. Dying for a good meal

every single person we asked from a store to a hotel anybody we asked where can we find a good restaurant they all said there's a Perkins you got all you can eat soup bread bowls they were all real excited

we were like what about something besides the Perkins and they looked at us like we were crazy like not the Perkins no idea so that's Lincoln, Nebraska he went about something besides the Perkins? And they looked at us like we were crazy. Like, not the Perkins? No idea. So that's Lincoln, Nebraska. He went to the land of Perkins. Which possibly could also have added to his violent tendencies. I'm not going to.

You can't blame a guy when that's all that's on the table to eat. I can't slander the Perkins Corporation to that level and blame them. But that weird strawberry sauce on pancakes, that does weird shit to people. That's all I'm saying. That and some close to that. It's not real strawberries. That's a chemical compound of some sort. It probably does things to your brain like

smashing into running backs. And defensive linemen at 30 miles an hour. Yeah. And then you run teenage boys over with your car. Okay. We'll get to that. And we start. That's so down the road. Anyway, that's so, that's just so down the road. It's so fun, though.

So he gets into Nebraska. He's, even in his freshman year, he starts to play, has a really good time. He was pretty nasty in his freshman year, even. His sophomore year, though, is when Lawrence Phillips became the man. Yes. That's when he showed his colors. even. Sophomore year though is when Lawrence Phillips became the man. Yes, that's when he showed his colors. Yeah, they had guys like Tommy Frazier and Brooke Berringer as their quarterbacks. So hard to believe the passing offense wasn't, you know, just flinging it down the field. Just slides out.

1984 Dan Marino. It's shocking to think that it wasn't. But apparently they needed a running game, which is where Lawrence Phillips came in. And back then, too, God, remember those games with the Nebraska teams like that? They were like just molasses. There was no throwing at all. Slow moving. The whole excitement was who's going to run it this time? Is it the quarterback going to run it,

or are they going to give it to that guy to run it? It was just running. It was boring for me. know anyway so he gets in this guy ties a school record rushes for 100 or more yards in 11 straight games which is incredible which is amazing in 94 college yeah and they and they were loading up on him like they were loading up on him like they used to do with like lawrence taylor in the 80s and they'd have like you know an offensive tackle and like a tight end and then like a fucking running back coming in trying to hit him in the kneecap too like to block him this was the same type of thing they really were i mean we're talking about brooke beringer as the quarterback so

they're teeing off on lawrence phillips they got a beast back there and they got brooke beringer they're not afraid of and they're chip shot-shotting and dirty play, clip-tackling his legs. They're going after him. And he doesn't stop. Doesn't stop. 11-0 yards in 10 games. He's got stepfather urine as his fuel. He's running on old man piss.

He's running on hatred and urine at this point. He's running on old man piss. He's running on hatred and urine at this point. So he runs for 1,722 yards, which is still a... Is that still the school record? I think it's for a sophomore or something like that. But it's still pretty good. 1,722 yards. In the NFL, that's good, playing 16 games.

That's absurd. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This guy, they're only playing 10 by 11 games back then. I don't know if that includes the ball game or not. But I don't know if that includes the bowl game or not, but I don't know. Let's see here. Yeah, anyway, Nebraska won the national championship that year, 94. Thanks, Larry. Undefeated season.

Good job, Larry. Way to bring the heat. Tom Osborne getting it done. Let's see. Also, he started his crime. This is like he's dipping his toe in the water. You know what I mean? Just see how it is.

Yeah. It's cold here. There's a crime room and he just cracked the door open and kind of just peeked in there and said,

what's going on here? Oh, I think that's... Smells rather crimey in there. What is that, crime? Yeah. I see a little assault, a little vandalism, you know, maybe something like that. He was charged with some assault and vandalism type things.

He basically, they basically blew it off so he could play in the Orange Bowl. 1722 yards, that's what you do. Yeah, you blow it off. in the Orange Bowl. 1722 yards, that's what you do. Yeah, you blow it off. There's a recurring theme for Lawrence Phillips in his whole life and career. There is always, always a gray-haired white man

in his 60s that's there to make sure that Lawrence Phillips is not accountable for any of his actions. He's the original blind side, and they are everywhere. They're everywhere. I mean, right from Pagone, who, you know, his defense, he was a teenager at that point, he's helping him out, nice guy,

to Tom Osborne, who, let's be realistic, because he's brushing this under the rug. Right, he wants ratings. So he can get some national championships. And then Dick Vermeule, who's probably in tears at some point, because he always was saying Lawrence Phillips is a wonderful human being

and you know so and so so here he is okay so that's a that's a one problem

so that kind of blows over no big deal there next season another thing see this is just a small thing he gets in trouble with the NCAA there's an investigation saying that he he accepted a $100 lunch from an agent.

A lunch. A lunch. A lunch. Not even a gift card. Such a huge infraction, this $100 lunch. The lunch is the end of the world. Yeah. So anyway, it's a $100 lunch. No good. They have a quote investigation.

Lawrence Phillips reimburses the agent. Make sure. Atta boy. See? Big heart. Big heart. Big heart. And also makes him eligible to play.

Absolutely. Because then they were like, hey, no harm, no foul. He paid him back. It was just a loan. The check came. He was like, ah, you know, I left my card back at the dorm. And he was like, ah, it's all right. I got it.

I got it. I'll pay you back next time. And, you know, you know how all right, I got it. I got it. Get me back next time. You know how it goes. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for two cheeseburgers today. You know how it goes. $100 cheeseburgers is a very good cheeseburger. He's a big man, Lawrence Phillips. He needs a lot of energy.

Absolutely. He has women to drag down the stairs by their hands. Women to punch. He's got women to punch. So, yeah. It's 1995. Lawrence Phillips is a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. He's got women to punch. So, yeah. It's 1995. Lawrence Phillips is a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. He's a beast.

And then some things happen. Now, this is kind of go time for this whole thing. Can we call you Larry? Lawrence. Lawrence. Lawrence. Larry. Listen, Larry.

Things are not going well for you. So, at this point, they play Michigan State, and Nick Saban coached Michigan State. Oh. Yeah, yeah, Nick Saban coached Michigan State. Saban not having a good time here. Lawrence Phillips runs roughshod over them for 206 yards. Tim Tebow and his God to save you yet, Saban.

Saban was, yeah this he was not the coach that we're looking at now i don't think uh he was probably as respected as lawrence phillips was running all over so uh yeah anyway they win this big game against michigan state he comes back home to east lansing or he kind of they get back from east lansing, and it starts. Phillips gets arrested for assault. Oh, boy. Now, this is of the Kate McEwen woman. This is a bad one. This is a bad one.

This one's really bad. Kate McEwen played basketball for the Women's Huskers. Yes. She was a woman Husker. Yeah. Judging by her pictures that I've seen, power forward minimum, she's a big girl. She's built. She looks like a big girl.

She looks sturdy. Yeah. Like you could climb her. Yeah, yeah. Like a large. Looks like it would take a lot to knock her over. she's a big girl she's built she looks like a big girl she looks sturdy yeah like you could climb her yeah yeah like a large looks like it would take a lot

to knock her over yeah you'd need like a Heisman camera right something like that to really get it down yeah it's good

so Tom Osborne actually steps up and suspends him at this point which is shocking honestly I'm surprised for the assault

of Kate correct for the assault of Kate and the assault of Kate, correct? For the assault of Kate. And the assault of Kate was the one that he did. He, King Kong, scaled a building. That is not racial by any stretch. No, not by any stretch, because this man

climbed three stories, went in a sliding patio door, and drug this woman out by her hair, smashing her face into a mailbox. For what reason other than please tell them, James? I can't. You do it. It's not even fair. Sleeping with the backup quarterback was the accusation that he heard from his teammate

and without a call or a letter, he just scaled. I mean, you find out that that sturdy of a woman, and she was fairly attractive, is sleeping with your own teammate. Not just, but the backup. The backup. How dare you? The backup quarterback. Not even the starter.

And he scales a building and pummels her into submission for which he is arrested. That's fantastic. I love that story. In all fairness, we do not know if there was ever submission. That's a good point. She might have been unconscious and unable to.

Just a KO while he's dancing around the octagon with his hands in the air. It's amazing. So Lawrence Phillips, this was at a time in the NFL where the NFL now is very, very image-focused. Especially with the domestic violence. You've got guys like Ray Rice. This guy was the original Ray Rice, by the way. Absolutely.

This guy made Ray Rice look like a bitch. Ray Rice, he's a one-round, one-KO quitter. He's nothing. Ray Rice is a hack. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a hack. Ray Rice is just copying. He's a hack.

He's a hack. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's a hack. Ray Rice is just copying. He's a hack. He's a total knockoff. Just looking at your paper and then claiming his own answers. He's like one of these guys going around sounding like Hedberg. You know what I mean? That's what he's doing, basically. That's not how you do it, Ray. He's like, hey, man, I could knock a woman out, too. In an elevator, on camera.

That ain't shit. I scaled a building, Ray. Get off your ass. What about the Dufresnes? Oh, I knocked them out and drugged them down a flight of stairs by the hair. Smashing her head into a mailbox. I don't know how Lawrence Phillips,

J.K. and Mitch Hedberg were really down a fucking rabbit hole here with this whole thing. Smashing her into a mailbox that said Dufresne across the side. That's amazing. So good. It's so good.

If you don't know Mitch Hedberg jokes or any of this, this is going to sound insane. Google that joke about the Dufresnes. It's an amazing joke. It makes sense. Trust me, it really does. And if you do get it, congratulations. Yeah.

Because you're jackass, Tim. So here we go. All right. So anyway, this is amazing so despite all this that's gone on back then

the NFL really looked at talent yeah they really said yeah yeah he did all that punches chicks slams their heads

man did you see him in the orange ball 1722 yards on the season god he's a monster Jesus he made Tommy Frazier look good.

Do you understand Brooks Barringer looked like a quarterback with this guy in the backfield? Holy balls. So the Rams, a team of questionable decisions, let's be honest. They're moving back to L.A. This is one of the reasons why we're doing this. The Rams, they're moving back to L.A. now. They moved to St. Louis.

A little unstable of a team. This is not one of their better decisions. They have the number six overall draft pick, and they choose Lawrence Stokes. This is a team that had Eric Dickerson. At one point. At one point. They had Eric Dickerson.

And they think this is the next coming of Dickerson minus the goggles. But Dickerson, if you look at it, Dickerson with all the SMU violations, he never really climbed a building and beat the shit out of a woman. But there was violations in CAA. I mean, there was character concerns with Dickerson as well. Not nearly to this extent. But they figured this guy's got that sort of talent. And we want him. And he did.

Yeah, he was great. We cannot understate what a great running back this guy was in college. He was incredible. He was an absolute monster. He was strong. He was fast. He's one of these guys that you look at and you go, how does that guy fail in the NFL? How does that guy fail at life in general?

He's going to have everything just presented to him. And he's not like a Reggie Bush where you look at him and be like, oh, I don't know, he's kind of small. I don't know if this guy's going to be able to run it 20 times a game. Those legs aren't so big. This guy's a monster. He looks like OJ. Yeah, he did.

He's very similar to OJ. Just didn't kill him. No, he rubs up's very similar to OJ. Just didn't kill him. That's it. No, he rubs up against the side of OJ. He's sniffing the air around OJ. Didn't kill a woman. No. We'll get into it later on.

We'll get more. So anyway, yeah, the Rams pick him. Everybody thought he was going to be amazing, obviously. Sure. Wasn't really that amazing. Didn't have a good year. 193 carries for 632 yards his first year. Pretty pedestrian.

Yeah. Not very good. Things got out of control here for Lawrence Phillips a little bit. Yeah. He had some... They demote him to second string because he's kind of piss poor. And he's probably distracted. He's got issues.

There's a lot of rage. He always has the sound of urine in his ears. He always hears a trickle. There's always a trickle. So you have to really take into account the trickle of urine that's going through this man's head at a constant pace. And after such a successful year, a couple of years in college, and then you go into the NFL to have just a, it's depressing, it's nothing great.

To go from that to that, it must have been just so brutal. So brutal. But he did have money. Yeah, yeah, plenty of that. He did make a shitload of money, a couple million dollars here. Anyway, so yeah, they end up cutting him. He got mad. He stormed out.

Once again, emotional issues. Too much. The trickle of urine built up. Now it's becoming a stream. It's becoming a stream. It's becoming a stream. They couldn't deal with him anymore. It's funny, but Dick Vermeule cuts him and of course he cries

while he cuts him. Once again, a silver haired, salt and pepper, middle aged, white gentleman. Where are they? Crying for Lawrence Phillips. So he gets signs with the dolphins. upper middle-aged white gentleman. Where are they? Crying for Lawrence Phillips.

So he gets signs with the dolphins. Yes. What do you think Miami would be a good place for him? Sure. You figure a guy like that, you want to get him hopped up on cocaine also. That's going to help. Get that piss engine churning.

Get it going. That's going to help. That's the only thing that keeps the piss down. Absolutely. But they released him after guess what he did I'm going to give you one guess

what he did I can't wait pled no contest to assaulting a woman oh my god shocking are you serious it's shocking

it is shocking that doesn't match up with his track record starting to sense a pattern yeah a little bit starting to sense a pattern who was this one this one

there's not a lot of information on this one because he pled no contest. Probably just, it's Miami. Some brought on a beach. This was one where it seemed like he just wanted to be like, I don't want this one in the press. No contest. Sure.

Don't want to have a big deal. I'm sure it had to do with public urination. He's not fans of urine, and that town is full of people pissing on sidewalks. Full of urine. And this starts a pattern of, he played for the Rams 96-97. And 97, actually, a better year than 96, too, which he was starting to come into his own, but then he, I don't know. Starting to figure out the NFL.

Yeah, he goes to Miami in 97 for a little bit, finishes out the season there, two games. Now we start the bounce around times for Lawrence Phillips. Wow. Now things start to get a little for Lawrence Phillips. Now things start to get a little more unstable. Reminiscent of childhood maybe? Reminiscent of childhood. Streams of urine building up in his ears every

day. New house every couple of months. Oh no. He ends up playing for the Barcelona Dragons. Probably the World Football League. Yeah, when it starts coming to the WFL or the CFL, it's usually downhill from there. The Barcelona Dragons, 98.

I remember the 49ers and him, 99. I remember him coming back briefly with the 49ers in 99. Shocking, that didn't work out. You would imagine that would work out, but it didn't. But that will keep him in California for a long time, will it not? Well, now he'll move around a little more. He apparently took the 2000 season off. You know, sometimes you've got to catch up.

Take a break. Decompress. Probably had a couple of women to beat up, you know. Sure. Had some shit he had to catch up on. A couple of matches he's got to cut weight for. He's been busy. He's been real busy.

So, then in 2001, he is primeded for a comeback and he has a comeback with the florida bobcats oh boy who um i actually this normally wouldn't look something up during this but i don't know what the fuck the florida bobcats are i gotta be really honest with you i'm i'm at a loss for words i think they're a arena league. Yeah, arena. Are they? Are they really? They folded in 2001. That was the year Lawrence Phillips was there. I assume they had a female owner, and Lawrence Phillips beat the shit out of her. For a job.

Yeah, and she didn't want to. So, yeah, the Florida Bobcats. Yeah, 90s. Wow. Arena league. He's trying to take the Kurt Warner path. Arena league. I don't even know.

Was he any good in the Arena League? I can't imagine. Does it matter really? It doesn't really matter. They're playing on a basketball court. So that doesn't really matter what he does in the Arena League. They're playing on wood. So yeah, he plays in the Arena League.

That went so well that he got an invitation to Canada. Yes. He played for the Montreal Alouettes in 2002, which you want your team to have a French. Sounds tough. It sounds tough to have a French name. And then he goes to the Calgary Stampeders for 2003, where I assume he probably stampedes a lot of Canadian women.

Over women heads. Yeah, so that's his professional football career. There's really, he actually had a great year for the Barcelona Dragons, which was funny. He had 1,021 yards. Hard not to. You played in the NFL. You beat women.

You're tough. That's how he ended up back with San Francisco. But, yeah, you can't. Everything after that turned into just a sea of legal problems. So it was kind of hard to actually get anything going. But, yeah, you can't. Everything after that turned into just a sea of legal problems. So it was kind of hard to actually get anything going too well. Even in Canada, they frown upon that, I would imagine. I don't think you're allowed to beat Canadian women.

Yeah. As pussies as they are, they don't hit women. So, yeah, he's there. So now we get into some very, very interesting heavy prison time and things for that. On August 21st, 2005, this is when things get really fun. This is when it's sad time. He goes to a park in L.A. and starts playing pick-up football with some teenagers. Because that is the next step from the Canadian football league. Yeah. It is pick-up football. Fuck the Stampeders. You know, they don't want me. football with some teenagers because that is the next step from the canadian football yeah

he doesn't pick up football fuck the stampeters you know they don't want me um let's see what these kids are up to yeah so presumably he's just bashing the shit out of it and we were talking this before imagine how great this would have been because if you're a kid yeah lawrence phillips is there he was just in the nfl a couple years ago and you know if you're a football fan this guy played for nebraska's a college legend. And you're looking at him and you're like, holy shit, he's in the park playing playoff football with us. This is awesome. Why is he driving at us? And I imagine he probably saw the Peyton Manning ad on Saturday Night Live and just didn't

realize it was satire and just figured, I can go beat shit out of kids all day. And it's just fun. It's just fantastic. I can call them all pussies and drive my car at them. It's fine. So there's an incident. This isn't even like they don't even get into what the incident was. I want to know what happened. What could cause that?

The accusation is that they stole from him. But there is no information what, how, where. Where did they take it from? What did they steal from him? And how did they get it? what did they steal from him and how did they get it did they steal it out of his car or did they maybe he hit them and one of them was holding a piece of his car and there and he was like you stole that from me i have no idea the size of a fucking what teenager is going to steal from nobody nobody's stealing from an

frightening man and if you've heard about his King Kong story, he's even more fucking scary. Who's stealing from this boy? Nobody. I'm not stealing from this guy ever. So, yeah, anyway, I think I know what happened. If you want my honest opinion. I'm willing to listen, sure. Okay.

This is what happened. Because this is what happens in every pickup football game. I think there was a little problem and some argument over the sidelines. They're never defined clearly. It's always like this tree and that, and if you make a line, that's the sideline. It doesn't even line up. Well, how the fuck are you going to do it?

It doesn't line up. I got my feet in. No, you didn't. How did you get your feet? There's no way to call this. There's no replay. There's no fucking referee. We're self-judging. The way to settle it is with the Buick. You run somebody over with your car. So there's an issue.

There's some arguing. Lawrence Phillips goes. They figure, okay, he's leaving. He probably has somewhere to be. Right. No, he's going to

drive the car up onto the sidewalk and run these teenagers down. Now, we say teenagers. i don't know if they were like gang members or if they were like you know right three kids going oh i don't know johnny like throwing a football up in the air like i have no fucking kids from the sandlot or were they wearing raiders jersey exactly or were they like it was it boys in the hood or the sandlot like was it ice cube or was it it was a small benny rodriguez which one was it i'm okay with

benny rodriguez and I'm okay with Benny Rodriguez and I'm okay with Ice Cube also honestly but neither of them deserve to be run down by Lawrence Phillips I don't think

so this is a problem he at this point also he's got another problem he choked his girlfriend and the San Diego Police Department had wanted him also

so he was wanted anyway at this point for that also so he was wanted anyway sure for that and so he gets arrested there um uh gets sentenced to 10 years uh for seven various counts felony assaults assault with a deadly weapon being his car reckless driving and shit i imagine as soon as a traffic violation or two in there also driving on the sidewalk driving on the sidewalk failure to yield failure to use a turn signal something something's in there would it be great if he used his turn signal before he went up on the curb he was driving down the street and he's like i don't want to i want to run these boys over but i don't want to inconvenience any of the drivers around me i'm turning right turn it right he had signals and

shit and then he runs him over. And then waves. The traffic investigator's like, well, I guess we can tack on no turn signal. And the boy on the gurney's like, he used it, sir. He used his turn signal. We saw him coming. The last thing I remember was that light. And it's so bright orange. And then, yeah.

So this starts the Lawrence Phillips prison saga here. This is when it gets very interesting. He's in prison, prison, prison, prison. Finally, the odd thing is, in 2010, he's finally charged with the assault of another, the Amalia Weisler girl. Oh, she's so white. Ex-girlfriend. So Nordic. One of the whitest people I've seen, really.

It's really incredible. She's extremely white. Lawrence Phillips has a type. Because she looks kind of like the Canadian girl. Yeah, she does look a lot like the basketball girl. She's kind of big and Nordic and white. He should have moved to Sweden. Yeah, yeah.

I think he would have had a lot. I think he would have been happier, honestly. He'd have more money, tax havens. Although he probably would have just beat more Swedish girls. These are the only large blonde women he could find. Yeah, yeah. They're everywhere. Yeah, the lack of large blonde women.

So maybe we should have moved him somewhere with no large. We'll move him to Mexico. Tall. He needs to live in Asia. He needs to live in Asia where there's no tall... Asian basketball or football league. They've got to have one. Oh, they have to. They've got to. Yeah, he would have been awesome just knocking little Chinese guys

around. Like bowling pins. Anyway, so here are seven more counts. Lucky sevens for Lawrence Phillips. Oh, boy. Too bad that wasn't his number. Yeah. Number seven. Another seven counts. Saw a great bodily injury. false imprisonment, auto theft. That's probably, I guess, maybe he took her car. After knocking her out.

And ran some more teenagers over. Which would have been my go-to. Anyway, so yeah, he's 25 years in prison on that, on those assaults. On the beating her. On the beating of her, which more than her. More than for running children over. And in her interviews after he's sentenced, she says

he had a big heart and was an unbelievably soft, sweet, caring person. Those are her words. That's amazing. Repeatedly people have this to say about him. That's the other thing. People like Lawrence Phillips. The people close to him really love Lawrence Phillips.

People that he is choking unconscious still adore him. That's, which I assume, like, I see them as they're going unconscious, he's choking her, and he's, like, over her, but as she's looking at him, as she starts to fade out, she sees, like, you know, hearts around his eyes, you know what I mean? Or his big heart beating through his shirt. His big racing otherwise yeah this man with adrenaline i don't understand he's not a good guy no but they seem to like him it's amazing

all monsters have those that love them that's crazy but you never hear like anybody be like oh dahmer had a really good heart or like like I said before, he wasn't eating people. Right. Let's move on. So, 32 years, and in California, because it was a violent crime against another person, he is required to serve 85% at least of this 32 years. Unbelievable. That's a huge sentence. So that guy is in there.

Done. For all intents and purposes, 25 years, he's going to prison. And he is how old he is uh 40 42 at that point yeah he's born in 75 oh boy yeah so he's he's he's only 35 in 2010 35 years old and they're basically saying you're fucked it's over sir it's over my friend you are going to jail which that's a long time for he didn didn't kill anybody. Now I'm judging the... I don't think... The sentencing's fine. Yeah.

He's... Yeah, yeah. I was going to say, it's a long history. You know what? Good job, California. Yeah. You guys have done well. You guys did a good job.

So anyway, here he is. He's in prison. Doesn't have a good time in prison. No. He is not a fan of prison, Lawrence Phillips, obviously. He's not a fan of gang members, which makes you think that maybe these kids playing pickup football possibly were all Raiders jerseied out.

Yeah. He does not like gangsters. Not at all. No gangsters. So he goes to prison. He has a lot of problems, doesn't get along with people. Right. he has a lot of problems, doesn't get along with people, writes several letters, both to Ty Pagone, his vice principal and his football coach there,

several letters to his other coach, Coach Zane, and all of them basically are saying how he has no friends and nobody likes him. And it's really kind of like he's like a whiny fat child at this point where he's not happy. But let's start here. Let me give you one. Okay.

Let me read one of these letters to you. I love it. Okay. This is like a letter from camp, basically. Okay. Dear Coach Pagone, is a like a letter from camp basically uh okay dear coach begone we are still today on lockdown due to some stabbings and assaults between black and white inmates it has been ongoing for some time i am glad to hear marie's wedding was great usually an open bar leads to a lot of dancing

i do not have a cellmate all of these dudes want to use drugs and weapons in the cell. I'm in the process of applying for single cell status. I will let you know how that goes. It's so beautiful. That's just a sweet little Marie's wedding. It's so poetic. Let's see here. Dear Coach Pagone,

I received your letter and package day apart. We do get the packages in lockdown as the companies do not really want the items back. We have been in lockdown about 80% of the time. You would be surprised at all these altercations. Nonsense! Exclamation point. But when your world is this small,

all one has to care about is nonsense. He's fucking Nietzsche over here. Yeah. Nietzsche and an 8x6. Jesus. That is why I do not want any of these idiots in the cell with me. All they want to do is the drugs. The drugs.

The drugs. They want to do the drugs. The drugs. Make knives, make alcohol. Toilet wine. Sounds like prison life, Larry. this is how i know that alcohol and weed are different by the way this is how i know because alcohol you need so much that if you go to jail and you will drink wine made in a toilet not just a toilet another dude's toilet another dude's toilet and you're like all right

i like weed right but if you said it grows in that dude's ass so thank you want to buy some weed sure i grew it out of my ass i'm out alcohol not a thing so anyway he's he keeps going it's it's a lot of this is a good dear coach zane i hear you were in hawaii i am sure you had a good time remember when we went there and kicked their butt in the all-star game they tried to hold our they tried to hold up our bus and all that crap good times well there is not much happening here we are still on lockdown because they found a hacksaw in someone's cell apparently people use the saw to cut up the bunks and make knives it's completely nuts in here it is pretty much a free-for-all he's fantastic i really like his letters yeah they are fun these i wish i wish he was still

alive to be a pen pal i'd love to write to him and get these here and this letter he gets political i'm this is amazing okay okay let's get it started we're back in camp voice dear coach d huskers kick butt out there i only listen to the radio the game was not televised here uh amir abdullah has a real chance that the heisman and the huskers could win the win the big 10 nfl is going through some stuff unfair to blame the nfl for what guys do these misdeeds by the players are being used by the liberal parties and the media to further their particular interests. Next, they will be forcing out owners

like they did with the Los Angeles Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. Well, nothing new here. We're still locked down. One of the guards was assaulted, so it may be a while.

Coach D, this place is a jungle. Trouble everywhere. Oh, good grief. One must swallow his pride constantly, or one will always be in the hole but we must deal with that situation. Have a good one. I'm making that a t-shirt. That's the best quote ever. One must have a good one.

One... That's the best quote of all time. He really is Nietzsche. One must, say that again, swallow his pride. One must swallow his pride constantly or one will always be in the hole. Wow. That is glorious. Wow. That's the best quote ever. Wow. This Lawrence Phillips.

So these coaches, and I'm sorry to keep going, but I just... I want that tattooed on my chest. That's fantastic. Letters from camp laurence phillips dear coach so laurence phillips he's sending letters he's also saying that that he i don't know if he's paranoid or maybe they are fucking with him because he thinks the guards are messing with him right he's saying they're not they're not giving him his mail they're saying he broke his tv they broke his tv all he has is a radio now

they're saying that they they just like to mess with them and they do certain things they hold his meals up stuff like that these are his claims which i mean the guy possible it's possible he was probably one of the more famous guys in there they you know these guys refused to have a cellmate always wanted to be alone he's a pain in the ass yeah he really is the fucking pain in the ass you're gonna be a pain in the ass to us we're gonna be a pain in the ass. Yeah, he really is. He's a fucking pain in the ass. You're going to be a pain in the ass to us. We're going to be a pain in the ass to you. That's the way life is. I don't blame him.

If I'm in prison, I probably don't want to hang out with some jackass who's making shivs constantly. Haven't you been paying attention to his letters? This place is nuts. This place is a jungle. That's true. What am I thinking? One must deal with the situation or one shall remain in the hole. He's incredible this is a guy who like read his like third book in prison right i mean and he's like really like i'm gonna use the

word one a lot one and shall those are my words now one and shall that's how that's how i talk to everyone all the great writers uh let's see here he is uh so yeah he keeps sending these letters saying everything's going horribly in prison things are not going well uh things are bad obviously uh very paranoid i think he's paranoid anyway um uh but then he gets a cellmate he'd never they should have really given him that single cell status that he was applying for. He was begging for it. He was begging for it. He always wanted it.

He even wrote a letter to somebody, I'm going to have to give them what they want or else I'm not going to be able to get my single cell. Yeah, they really should have given him that single cell. They kept trying and kept trying to give him cellmates and he'd fight with them or argue with them and they'd leave on their own accord. And then comes the big one.

Then comes a gentleman named Damien Soward, who, coincidentally enough, so strange, is the cousin of R.J. Soward, who you guys might remember as the receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's so crazy. First-round draft pick for the Jaguars, played at USC. the Jacksonville Jaguars. So crazy. First round draft pick for the Jaguars played at USC.

So yeah, his cousin, RJ Soward's cousin is, so you know, they think they'd have something to talk about. Yeah,

you'd think so. You know, maybe they'd get along. Apparently, both played the NFC. One should have remained in the hole because,

oh, the Jags are at AFC. It doesn't matter. Go on. The Jags are really irrelevant. They're right. It doesn't matter. The Jags are really irrelevant. It doesn't matter. When Sauer played for them, they were god awful.

They were even worse at that point. Not even thought to play off. It's possible to be worse, but they're not good. No. So here we go. Sauer and him apparently don't get along. Sauer and Phillips. And there's some altercations, we'll say.

And Lawrence Phillips ends up killing this young man. Which, really, this is his biggest accomplishment. He never won the Super Bowl. Right. He didn't get that Heisman. Right. This is prison Super Bowl. This is prison Super Bowl.

Killing the cellmate. A bigger cellmate. A bigger cellmate. He's bigger than him. He's a big guy. 6'4". 6'4". Big fucking guy. Once again, streams of urine that cannot be quelled.

And Lawrence's urine rage took him to another level. And I believe it was a choking. He choked him out. He's a choker. He's got plenty of practice in it. We do know that. He choked women unconscious. We knew that.

Many. He didn't stop at unconscious. No. He choked him to death. Choked him till there was no heart beating any longer. Till a death. Yeah. He was serving, this guy was also serving 82 years to life for murder.

So, I mean, let's not all feel too bad for him. Right, right, right. This wasn't exactly some teenagers in a park. Let's say he saved the people of California some money. That's really it. This was a murderer. And he strangled him. I guess we don't have to say allegedly.

No, he did. Well, they didn't prove it. Well, fuck it. He's fucking dead now. Is he going to sue us? Lawrence Phillips is dead too. So you know what? Fuck him.

His family might sue us, but you'd have to prove that he didn't kill this fucking guy. They're in the cell alone together. There's two men in, one man comes out. One strangled. He's screaming about man down to the guards. That's how he got people's attention. Man down!

If you have a problem. I would say so, Mr. Phillips. If you have a problem with us saying that he killed his cellmate, then go fuck yourself. That's because he killed his cellmate. I'm into that. That's just based on his history. I'm going to say the choking lines up pretty well. So, yeah.

Kills his cellmate. They decided to prosecute him for it. You know, why not? Why not? What the hell? He's already in there. They got nothing better going on. He's not going anywhere.

No. So, we go to October 1st, 2015, which is recently. Charged with first degree murder. First degree. First degree. They were trying to figure out if they wanted to go for the death penalty or not. Which would make him the second NFL player ever to be

up for the death penalty, if that's what they chose. They tried. So they go to court for it. In January, they decide there is enough evidence. Plenty of evidence. To go forward. Right of evidence to go forward. To go forward. Just strangling enough.

Right. Right there. They go forward. This is a ruling. This happens on the 11th of January, 2016. And the next day, Lawrence Phillips hangs himself. He is found hanged in his cell. Mysteriously.

But this time, there's not another person coming out. It is just him. He's the only guy in there. Just him. He's in a cell mysteriously, but this time there's not another person coming out. It is just him. He's the only guy in there. Just him. He's in a cell all by himself. Shocking. They give him his own room after he strangles his giant roommate. With a suicide note in his sock.

That's the other thing. Suicide note. He also sent a note to his attorney before that saying, sorry for wasting your time. Right. Because before that they were fighting. He really kept telling his family and everybody else that they were going to fight the the killing of our of soured right and they were going to uh he was they had no case against him and blah blah blah

um there are his family a lot of them thinks thinks that he was possibly targeted by the staff or by possibly other inmates, possibly Sowards, associates, things like that. The letter in his sock said, did you hear the one about the ex-NFL player that hanged himself from the TV mount? That's hysterical. He went out laughing. I like it. I'm in. What a character. If his family says that he was not a jokester and would never write something like that,

I would like to resubmit those letters that he wrote to his coaches. Those were hysterical. That's amazing. The man was so funny. That is amazing. So he kills himself. Actually, his family just donated his brain to the CTE research to see if he had brain damage from blows to the head. I'm going to go with yes.

I am going to put my money on yes on that one. I'm going to bet on... I'm going to say that comes out very soon that he had so much damage. I'm going to go with yes. I am going to put my money on yes on that one. I'm going to bet on... I'm going to say that comes out very soon that he had so much damage. I'm going to bet on Mushy in that one. I'm going to bet on worse than Seau. Worse than... Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Because he was a rager. And, I mean, he might have just... Like I said, it was either the urine or the brain damage. But this was a guy who kind of led with his head. Absolutely. He was an absolute bruiser. And, you know, he... He really blew it.

He really blew it, man. He was... God, when you watch some of the videos of him playing, he was really incredible. And now he really... It's sad to watch that kind of potential go away. But he couldn't handle it, and you can't be strangling women.

No. Or your cellmate. Or your cellmate. Or your cellmate, really. Or NFL. Either are illegal. Wide receivers, cousins. You can't do that either. So Lawrence Phillips at this point remains dead.

Yes. Very recently. Like we said, January, was it January 12th? January 12th of this year. He was killed. Less than a month. The body's barely cold. He was killed. It lasted a month. The body's barely cold. I think it was just two days ago the coroner ruled it a suicide.

It finally officially was put in as a suicide, which I take that for whatever it's worth. But it makes sense. Absolutely. Sorry for wasting your time, Letter. And then this. I would say he probably killed himself. And another sad chapter in the Lawrence Phillips saga.

And it comes to a close. And that's Lawrence Phillips, guys. I mean, it's a trip. It really is. It's one of those stories where Ray Carruth was, Ray Carruth to me was less sad because he was not as good a football player as that is to say but like Lawrence Phillips could have been a great player

he could have been a really he could have helped a lot of people he could have helped kids that grew up in group homes he could have done so much good stuff and he just had to strangle white women he just could not stop strangling women and running people over and doing crazy shit

lots of people have a downfall there's drugs and his is let's raise a glass and raise a glass to laurence phillips insanity salute rest in peace you crazy motherfucker you uh with that we um we will wrap this up and say thank you very much join us again next Tuesday I'm not sure

do we have our next target in line at this point I feel like we did we did we had a couple lined up you know what

let's go forward with with Aaron Hernandez you want to do Aaron Hernandez let's discuss to do Aaron Hernandez? Let's discuss Aaron and his shitty life. He's fun.

I love that man. He's fun, Laurie. He's really fun. We're going to do that. Then we're going to do, I think later on, a couple weeks maybe we'll, you know what? Catchers and pitchers and catchers

are going to be reporting soon. They're reporting soon. So let's dive into maybe a baseball thing after that. We'll get into, there's a lot of crazy shit. There's plenty of that. Yeah, we'll get into all that stuff. But for now, thank you guys so much. Hope you loved Lawrence Phillips as much as we did.

Hope you had as good a time with him as we did. And better time than the women in his life. Thank you very much. Join us next week on the Crime and Sports podcast. Once again, also to Jimmy Wissman. You want to give him your Twitter handle and they can follow

Jimmy Wissman on Twitter? Wissman, at WissmanSucks on Twitter and Instagram. And Jimmy Wissman, W-H-I-S-M-A-N-J-I-M-M-I-E, by the way. It's the fucking worst. Anyway.

And I am at JimmyPIsFunny on Twitter. And please follow the podcast on at Crime and Sports. Very simple. I love it. Can't go wrong there. Follow us to see who's going to be up next on all of our things. And we'll be putting up little fun things, making fun of athletes who are in trouble from now until the future.

That's made no sense at all. Thank you very much. Join us next week. Have a good one, guys. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and add free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

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