Black Tennis Pros

The above picture shows Marion Jones crying during her press conference subsequent to her plea to two counts of making false statements to federal agents a' la Lil' Kim. Marion Jones is one of those athletes who I had a bit of faith in, and honestly believed that she just happened to be caught up in a sting gone haywire.

As a person, Marion Jones's admission today does nothing toward how I feel about her, the woman, for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. "He who goes without sin, let him cast the first stone." The greatest cost of Marion Jones's lie is to herself. She will pay in humiliation and dignity, and that's a high price to pay. Fortunately it appears that she has loved ones who love Marion, not Marion Jones the runner, and that kind of support is priceless. It will be the rock upon which she can stand throughout the days to come.

As a supporter of Ms. Jones, I'm definitely disappointed. She protested loudly and fervently that not only was she clean, but she also defied the agents to show one ounce of proof that she had been using steroids. Yet today she confesses with tears in her eyes. Why? Were the feds closing in on her lies? Or did they actually have the goods on her and she wanted to be the one to tell us before federal agents did?

Whatever brought Ms. Jones to this point today, at least it's over and she can begin to move on with the rest of her life. She retired from the sport of track and field in her press conference today, apologized and asked for forgiveness. I guess she did pretty much all that she could do in light of the situation.

I hope that her tomorrow is better than today.