How athletes conduct themselves
Sports Beat exists due to the fact that I am a sports junkie, for lack of a better term. It began as an avenue to follow the Steelers three years ago for this publication and continues to add some balance for our readers who might end up becoming sick of reading about politics all the time. Today, even women read the sports pages to follow the Steelers and the Penguins, not to mention the young people who participate in sports in high school.
While many may choose to watch something on network TV (nothing on anymore that I wish to see, although I am a 24 fan and I like Justified and Rescue Me on FX. I also catch CSI: NY when I can). In the evenings, I am either watching some type of sports programming (except the NBA) or an old(er) movie on one of the movie channels (not HBO and the like).
So, Sports Beat is an extension of my love of, and knowledge of, sports. And that is something I do not apologize for. It is who I am and what I do. You name it, I just about follow it to a certain extent. Today, though, it seems sports have become the cornerstone for tawdry behavior by some who think it is okay to act this way because they have money, fame, and some type of alleged power. The money doesn’t bother me. If owners are willing to spare all that money they are making to the players who make them successful, I say go for it. No one complains when Bill Gates is making over $50 billion, or at least that’s what he’s worth.
The news has been flooded with negative news with the recent exploits of some of our more famous athletes. It’s amazing how those who do wrong, or bad, are always getting in the news while those who do good often go unnoticed. For those, they might want it that way. However, that’s our society – negatively sells. Be it newspapers, radio, or television, negativity sells papers and garners ratings for the electronic media.
There is no sense in revisiting those athletes who have brought negative attention on themselves. We all know the stories and who they are. The debate, now, is whether one of those athletes should stay in the area, with his employer, and pay his debt to society and to the league in which he plays, or should the employer look to get rid of him to lift the stain that is now on the franchise. Depending on your point of view, not an easy decision to make.
If the aforementioned individual had not delivered two Super Bowl championships, he probably would have been long gone. Getting rid of a franchise quarterback is not an easy thing to do. I have plenty of faith in the three quarterbacks on the Steelers roster who will be battling for the starting spot for at least the first four games of the regular season. All three have legitimate reasons for starting and all three have the talents necessary to get the job done.
I do not condone, for even a second, what our franchise quarterback did and what he is/was accused of. No charges were brought forward, so now he is subject to even more ridicule in the court of public opinion. In my eyes, he is a bum and an immature brat who needs punished in the highest regard. On the flipside, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
I must also profess that, while I am a Steeler fan and always will be, I cannot wrap myself around this current edition of players like I did those of the 1970s. While free agency has added a different dimension to today’s NFL, I cannot argue with a player moving on to make more money. That is how the system is set up. My problem is that a player gets drafted, plays three or four years, then can move on. You buy his merchandise, his jersey, and you become a fan, then he wears another team’s colors. Also, the behavior of the some of these players, their exploits on the field as well as those off, give me reason not to want to root for and support them the way I did their predecessors.
When I watch the Steelers today, it doesn’t matter to me whether they win or lose. That’s hard for me to say because of what I grew up with, but those are my raw feelings. In addition to that, I find myself becoming even more of a hockey fan and an even larger Penguins fan. Yes, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and hockey in general, bring a level of excitement that not even the Steelers can do for me anymore. I have, on average, even more Penguins garb in my wardrobe than I do Steelers. I do have more Steelers jackets, but plenty more Penguins shirts and jerseys, all of them Sidney Crosby, and with good reason.
Is it an evolution? I love the game of football and find myself enjoying college Saturdays more than NFL Sundays. I have felt that way for a number of years. I also love Friday night lights. The game is still the same, but the level of play and the types of players pro football is producing have caused me to have a sour taste in my mouth. Too many of these prima donnas want to fight their way onto ESPN.
As the hockey season reaches a crescendo and starts to wind down, we will be left with baseball and the anticipation of football minicamp, then training camps beginning at the end of July. I will be prepared for football to begin when that time comes, but I won’t have the excitement I have had in years past because of the behavior of some of these athletes and why they do what they do.
To close this week’s edition, I will give you an example of what is right, and what is wrong, with athletics and how they are perceived. Myron Rolle was a defensive back for Florida State University. He took a year off to study in Oxford, England as a Rhodes Scholar. How many athletes can say they’ve done that? He was drafted late by the Tennessee Titans and the reason why he lasted as long as he did is his commitment to football was being questioned. Excuse me? The scouts and the front office people have the nerve to ask that kind of thing to a young man who wanted to pursue a higher purpose in studying in England while these prima donnas roam their sidelines? You’ve got to be kidding me!
One man decides to better himself intellectually, and as a human being, and he gets criticized and knocked for his commitment to football. For what he brings to the table, not to mention the positive attention he would bring to any franchise, he should have been a second round pick, and no worse than a third. That he slipped to the later rounds (I believe he was a sixth round pick) is a travesty of the highest magnitude and the front office people better take a long, hard look at their approach and their program. We defend an immature man when he patronizes a college bar scene and engages a young woman, no matter how drunk she is, but we criticize a man who wants to become a better human being. No wonder athletics are in the shape they are.
While many may choose to watch something on network TV (nothing on anymore that I wish to see, although I am a 24 fan and I like Justified and Rescue Me on FX. I also catch CSI: NY when I can). In the evenings, I am either watching some type of sports programming (except the NBA) or an old(er) movie on one of the movie channels (not HBO and the like).
So, Sports Beat is an extension of my love of, and knowledge of, sports. And that is something I do not apologize for. It is who I am and what I do. You name it, I just about follow it to a certain extent. Today, though, it seems sports have become the cornerstone for tawdry behavior by some who think it is okay to act this way because they have money, fame, and some type of alleged power. The money doesn’t bother me. If owners are willing to spare all that money they are making to the players who make them successful, I say go for it. No one complains when Bill Gates is making over $50 billion, or at least that’s what he’s worth.
The news has been flooded with negative news with the recent exploits of some of our more famous athletes. It’s amazing how those who do wrong, or bad, are always getting in the news while those who do good often go unnoticed. For those, they might want it that way. However, that’s our society – negatively sells. Be it newspapers, radio, or television, negativity sells papers and garners ratings for the electronic media.
There is no sense in revisiting those athletes who have brought negative attention on themselves. We all know the stories and who they are. The debate, now, is whether one of those athletes should stay in the area, with his employer, and pay his debt to society and to the league in which he plays, or should the employer look to get rid of him to lift the stain that is now on the franchise. Depending on your point of view, not an easy decision to make.
If the aforementioned individual had not delivered two Super Bowl championships, he probably would have been long gone. Getting rid of a franchise quarterback is not an easy thing to do. I have plenty of faith in the three quarterbacks on the Steelers roster who will be battling for the starting spot for at least the first four games of the regular season. All three have legitimate reasons for starting and all three have the talents necessary to get the job done.
I do not condone, for even a second, what our franchise quarterback did and what he is/was accused of. No charges were brought forward, so now he is subject to even more ridicule in the court of public opinion. In my eyes, he is a bum and an immature brat who needs punished in the highest regard. On the flipside, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
I must also profess that, while I am a Steeler fan and always will be, I cannot wrap myself around this current edition of players like I did those of the 1970s. While free agency has added a different dimension to today’s NFL, I cannot argue with a player moving on to make more money. That is how the system is set up. My problem is that a player gets drafted, plays three or four years, then can move on. You buy his merchandise, his jersey, and you become a fan, then he wears another team’s colors. Also, the behavior of the some of these players, their exploits on the field as well as those off, give me reason not to want to root for and support them the way I did their predecessors.
When I watch the Steelers today, it doesn’t matter to me whether they win or lose. That’s hard for me to say because of what I grew up with, but those are my raw feelings. In addition to that, I find myself becoming even more of a hockey fan and an even larger Penguins fan. Yes, the Stanley Cup playoffs, and hockey in general, bring a level of excitement that not even the Steelers can do for me anymore. I have, on average, even more Penguins garb in my wardrobe than I do Steelers. I do have more Steelers jackets, but plenty more Penguins shirts and jerseys, all of them Sidney Crosby, and with good reason.
Is it an evolution? I love the game of football and find myself enjoying college Saturdays more than NFL Sundays. I have felt that way for a number of years. I also love Friday night lights. The game is still the same, but the level of play and the types of players pro football is producing have caused me to have a sour taste in my mouth. Too many of these prima donnas want to fight their way onto ESPN.
As the hockey season reaches a crescendo and starts to wind down, we will be left with baseball and the anticipation of football minicamp, then training camps beginning at the end of July. I will be prepared for football to begin when that time comes, but I won’t have the excitement I have had in years past because of the behavior of some of these athletes and why they do what they do.
To close this week’s edition, I will give you an example of what is right, and what is wrong, with athletics and how they are perceived. Myron Rolle was a defensive back for Florida State University. He took a year off to study in Oxford, England as a Rhodes Scholar. How many athletes can say they’ve done that? He was drafted late by the Tennessee Titans and the reason why he lasted as long as he did is his commitment to football was being questioned. Excuse me? The scouts and the front office people have the nerve to ask that kind of thing to a young man who wanted to pursue a higher purpose in studying in England while these prima donnas roam their sidelines? You’ve got to be kidding me!
One man decides to better himself intellectually, and as a human being, and he gets criticized and knocked for his commitment to football. For what he brings to the table, not to mention the positive attention he would bring to any franchise, he should have been a second round pick, and no worse than a third. That he slipped to the later rounds (I believe he was a sixth round pick) is a travesty of the highest magnitude and the front office people better take a long, hard look at their approach and their program. We defend an immature man when he patronizes a college bar scene and engages a young woman, no matter how drunk she is, but we criticize a man who wants to become a better human being. No wonder athletics are in the shape they are.
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