Rainey getting redemption

[MahxFahn]

Chris Rainey doesn't remember the first time he was in jail. He'll never forget the second time, his mother said "He cried until he got out," said Valerie Smart, Rainey's mother. "He cried and cried.
"My baby, he stayed out of trouble his whole life. I never worried about him. He was a good boy. He never thought he'd ever be in prison one day. That's one place he planned on never going — prison."
When the Florida wide receiver/tailback ended up there Sept. 14, he broke down emotionally.

His mother knows why: Rainey was born in jail in Lakeland on March 3, 1988, and had vowed never to go back again.
"I was on drugs," Smart said. "I was in prison when I had Chris. I was in prison when he was born. I had to leave my baby at the hospital. When he was four days old, my mother had to come and get him and take him home. She had him for me until I got my life straight."

A good article by Robbie Andreu...
MORE HERE...

 

[DRU2012]

OK. A sad/happy/sad/? tale. Goes a long way towards at least filling in the background and to some extent explaining some of what we've been seeing in Chris Rainey. Gotta wish him all support and good luck ahead.
I for one am no stranger to "screwing up when we are young". I shy away from self-righteousness.
Still, part of becoming an adult is facing your demons and taking responsibility for your actions. As long as Chris continues to learn from what's happened and shoulders the load, he should be fine. No matter what the naysayers and Gator-Haters out there continue to hammer on, he deserves the opportunity to make a good life for himself.