To not see other possibilities, however, – that maybe he wasn’t so selfless – is impossibly shortsighted and naïve. The man made an easy buck in a tough town and that just doesn’t happen. Few probably care that there was gambling in Ford break rooms in the 1980s and 1990s, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a criminal enterprise. He was who he was.
Maybe he was motivated by the hope he could one day launder some money through the players when they eventually made the league. That’s what the federal government alleged in their indictment and that’s how Webber always described the money he received – a loan that was to be repaid. Or maybe Martin thought that he could get a cut of their future earnings outright, or a kickback from someone. Or maybe he just liked clinging to stars.
No one knows for sure, but in the end you have one extremely savvy adult, armed with cash and gifts, with a clear motivation to use these kids. And then you have the kids, in Webber’s case just an eighth-grader, in the cross hairs.
That isn’t a fair relationship. That isn’t a level playing field. This isn’t a consensual situation. It’s predatory.