Have things changed or are they now getting uncovered?

July 28, 2009

Been thinking a little about athletes in general across the sports spectrum with the recents brushes with the law and related problems. It occurred to me that things haven’t changed much since I was a rookie in 1994. The things that have changed are the instant gratification of blogs like these, the phenomenon of the internet and paparrazzi infused sites that promote nonsense. You could have closed you eyes at a NFL depth chart in the early 90’s and easily pointed blindly to a player with a run in with the law. Whether it was a DUI or some other infraction it did not make headlines. Can we really know what happened all those years at the infamous white house the Cowboys partied in? I think not. We had people in our own security staff on the Vikings at the time quelling a lot of those matters before they became news. Not today where news trumps all. If you happen to go to a lunch with a business associate who happens to be of the opposite sex in a group setting people are still assuming you are cheating on your significant other. That’s the physique that permeates todays society with all of it mistrusts in government/financial officials and people with privilege getting the upper hand on the masses. It will always be a problem for athletes staying out of trouble. When you are put up on a pedestal your whole life for your physical prowess and given exceptions in life making things easy in every way, there is going to be a entitlement mentality. This mindset believes that no matter what the circumstance presented with, they will come out unscathed. Thus giving rise to the various problem that happen every year like clockwork to athletes across the sports platform. Whether it Micheal Phelps smoking into a bong or Dante Stallworth killing a man in the wee hours after partying with teammates drinking and smoking. The harsh realities should and I hope bring players back into focus on how vulnerable they are. Just ask Mike Vick if he would change things if he could? The benefits and rewards of being a pro ball player are immense but so are the entrapments that lurk seemingly everywhere. If you relax at any minute those traps don’t seem so bad and the entitlement mentality gets you when you least expect it. All in all as the bible reads “to much is given much is required”. In how I translate that phrase: You are blessed and exalted by GOD and man respectively, with that comes a lot of responsibility.

2 Responses to “Have things changed or are they now getting uncovered?”

  1. P-Air-> on July 31st, 2009 1:08 am

    From a different perspective, you realize that you are rather large within the world you live. When your path crosses society however, instantly you are subjected to scrutiny and chaotic nature of random “people”. It’s curiously belittling! Take for example the William Gates issue. The President decided to have a sit down with the two knotheads involved and have a beer, and the only thing the public can concentrate on is the beer. The intent is completely lost on them. Then the attacks come, when the idea was both moral and with good conscious. How can a good deed make for such exploitation of a vulnarability. We have a responsibility unto ourselves to walk a straight path, but the journey sometimes takes us through lands where we could never prosper if delayed within them.

    P->

  2. alotoclicsrof on February 12th, 2010 4:57 am

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