Disgressions and Death

Lately it seems like everything associated with sports has been negative. We've had a NFL player dead at the age of 26. The most famous athlete in the world leaving a trail of infidelity longer than the Robert Trent Jones trail. Not to mention locally, the best basketball player quitting before ever playing a NCAA game. What is going on? Now I'm sure if we look at the percentages it's not much different than what goes on in the real world. But let's focus on these athletes and try and figure out why things go wrong. I think it there is essentially five deadly sports sins; Money, Fame, Greed, Exposure, and 2nd Chances.
In some cases high school sporting decisions can be attributed to money, but in most cases money starts playing a role immediately after high school. The amount of money involved and that can be made in sports is astronomical. It increases at each level, and the amount of people involved grows exponentially. Look at college, it's obvious that the NCAA is a cash cow that uses the athletes to fatten their wallets. Schools that make it to a BCS bowl game earn somewhere close to 15 million dollars. Can you honestly tell me that some professor has any say or pull in the classroom with some of these higher profile athletes. Let's take Colt McCoy for instance. Do you think in the week leading up to the Big 12 championship game he was busy citing sources for a 20 page econ. paper like the rest of the seniors are doing? Now it would take a pretty strong willed person to overlook that fact and still put in the effort to not only succeed on the field, but also in the classroom. Colt McCoy with one good game makes the school millions of dollars. Do you think that some $60,000/year professor is going to get in the way of that. The BCS as a whole is a system based 100% on financial reasons. There isn't a logical argument to the way it's set up. Every kid with enough talent enough to play in the next level has to make a decision to stay or go. And most of them leave early when faced with that decision. Who are we to blame them? I mean I would drop almost anything at anytime for a shot to make millions to play in the pros.
Once you hit the pros these guys earn more money than almost any other profession. Look at Nick Punto a below average major league baseball player who makes 4 million dollars per year. Look at someone like Kevin Garnett he'll make over 300 million in his career. And it's not their fault. Without us the fans watching on TV, and going to games this money wouldn't be there. So if you come from a poor family what's it like to suddenly be given a contract of over a million per year. Who in their right mind wouldn't splurge. So their isn't much self control, because it's hard to blow the amount of cash that they make. So what do you have to worry about. I would say money is the single biggest issue in most peoples lives. And for these athletes that is something if done right, they'll never have to worry about. Look at baseball, I think you can blame the entire steroid scandal on money. The more steroids the better numbers, the better numbers the more money.
Fame and greed go hand and hand. Once these guys are in the spotlight they don't want it to leave. Look at the number of quarterbacks on TV. Is it because they all love broadcasting. Or is it because they all love being the center of attention? But who can blame any athlete. Look back at high school, the coolest kids were the best athletes. Now multiply this and you have just absolute divas in a lot of cases. They start reading their own headlines and start losing any sense of realism. They lose touch with reality. The get into the best clubs, they can go to any event at anytime. They get endorsement deals, people are just feeding the egos with every autograph request, and interview they do. I imagine it's hard to become unwanted. So you need to take more risks, or cut a few corners to get back in the limelight at any cost. We treat these guys as if their more important or valuable than us. I think in large part we lose track of a true sense of where they belong. Sure if you're a kid, it is a major event being in the presence of one of these super stars, but as you get older you should grow out of that. When I worked for KFAN, there would be lines of 100+ people to meet guys like Brock Lesnar and Marion Gaborik. And the sat part is the majority weren't kids. So how can an athlete look in the mirror and see a normal everyday guy, when we don't even see that.
Exposure is getting worse and worse. Kids are being recruited in middle school. Go to some of these recruiting websites, and you'll see kids that are 14 years old being rated. They are just kids, leave them alone. Look at these college athletes, they can not make a mistake big or small without being scrutinized by the media. Look back at your college years, and think of the crazy things you did. It has nothing to do with your athletic ability, but it is just college age kids having fun, experimenting, and discovering the world one party, and one mistake at a time. So can we give Percy Harvin and Michael Phelps a free pass for smoking a little dope? I mean I think they've done all right for themselves. Adrian Peterson and Bernard Berrian got speeding tickets and that was front page news. These athletes in some cases though create or expose themselves to the exposure. Look at Ron Artest. That guy will do anything to get his name in the paper. He wrote an open letter to Tiger Woods. I mean do you seriously think Tiger who is a billionaire and can hire any PR firm or consulting company to help him spin this, really wants his name linked with Ron Artest? I think in a lot of cases we as fans, and the media need to allow these athletes to be humans. Look at how difficult some players find it to succeed while playing in New York. I also think a lot of these players need to take the turn down the quiet street instead of going full speed down the fully exposed expressway.
Athletes seems to get 2nd and 3rd chances more often than people in other walks of life. The pressure is so high on these coaches and owners, that they are willing to overlook a persons off the field issues if they can perform on the field. I'm sure this has been the case the entire way up. Mr. Star Quarterback doesn't get suspended the 2 weeks for drinking in high school, because they're playing the big rival. It happens then, it happens in college, and it happens in the pro's. Everyone feels bad for Pete Rose, why? He admittedly gambled on baseball, and accepted a lifetime ban. So why is there this belief that he's served his time, and belongs in the hall of fame. If it were that important to him he wouldn't have broken baseball's most sacred rule. How many chances was Chris Henry given? Look how that ended up. What about Michael Vick? Look at Kevin and Pat Williams, they broke a league rule, and used a Minnesotan law loophole to avoid the suspension. And we all applaud it because they're so valuable to the team. The NFL was starting to avoid players with "character issues." But then you get a guy like Percy Harvin or Randy Moss whose on the field performance outweighs the of the field issues. I think there is a difference between a young guy making immature decisions and being over penalized for that, than a grown man making a fully informed decision knowing that he'll get another chance. Look at Michael Vick, look at Kobe Bryant, look at Ray Lewis. These guys all were accused of felonies at one time or another. What happens at you're work if you're convicted of running a dog fighting circuit, or accused of rape or accessory to murder. I'd imagine you'd be let go, and that would be the end of the story. But if you're an all-world athlete you miss more time from turf toe than you do from a felony accusation. Being a professional athlete is a privilege not a right. But for every coach or GM that takes a stand against one of these guys there is another one willing to take a chance to save their own ass.
Now obviously I've generalized a lot of players into these five categories. I think there are hundred of great human beings that use the above five categories to make a positive impact. That is one area I think that doesn't get enough coverage. I think that it just isn't as interesting to talk about the amount of charity work these guys do. Just about each and everyone one of them has their own charity event or cause in some shape and form. But when things do go wrong you can follow the five guidelines I've laid out. They are thrust upon the spotlight and given the keys to a high powered vehicle of life in the fast lane.