It has been hot here in NY. So hot that I had to actually turn on the air conditioner - which in turn, gave me a cold. The kind of cold where you're hot and yet your skin is cold and clammy. With all the other health stuff I've dealt with this summer, this was the last thing I need. Then again in the grand scheme of things, this is no big deal.
The last time I wrote it was about things that made me go "Grrrr". I thought I was done, no such luck. I'm hoping you can help me understand the following:
Men playing sports, getting paid a lot of money and then throwing it away. WHY?
I was asked if I thought Michael Vick being reinstated by the NFL Commissioner was fair especially since Pete Rose is still fighting to be instated into the Hall of Fame. Since I like sports I figured I would try to tackle this.
Let's begin with Michael Vick. He did a stupid, vile, unimaginable thing. Ok, I said it to get that out of the way. However, he went to prison and served his legal debt to society, and I think he should be allowed to try to put back together his life. Our prison systems have always said that they were creating a place where prisoners could be rehabilitated no matter what their crime. Not all can be, but at least they are given the opportunity to be. If we don't allow people who have served their time back into society, they'll just remain predators. Do I have a very decided line on hardened criminals (sexual predictors, murders) yes! Do I think Michael Vick falls into that category, no. He was just stupid - and acting stupidly is his crime.
What the commissioner has done by having him reinstated, represents the league (all of them). Now, if no team wanted to sign him because of the issues that will come with him, that's one thing. However this is purely a business decision - you know dollars/cents. The Philadelphia Eagles see him as an asset. He came cheap, and yes he has the skill to bring them a much needed/wanted title. It's just like having a 'normal' job - as long as you produce, make the boss look good, prove your worth, you're wanted. The moment you no longer can produce to benefit their profit margin - "see ya, wouldn't want to be ya."
Michael Vick, Plaxo both have to realize that they are not finding a cure for cancer, they are playing a sport. To be able to do what they do is a privilege not a right. Maybe they won't be as cocky. Maybe they will appreciate the talent they were given. Maybe they won't think the but for them goes the team. Vick the world is watching, and Plaxo...you'll get your turn in a few years. Do your time, learn your lesson and please don't do it again. If either of you do - they you absolutely deserve what you get.
Pete Rose, this is a totally different ball in play. It may sound crazy but, baseball has a "morality code" written in the bylaws for consideration that 'a player's personal conduct should be considered not just his abilities as a player'. To the best of my knowledge, football doesn't have such a clause - it's just about how you play and how many games we can win. Rose committed the ultimate sin in sports. He bet on his own game. Even people who don't follow sports understand that the integrity of the game was marred when he did that. If players and managers are betting on their sport, their own team (either for/against) then you can't be sure they aren't fixing things to win those bets.
We as a society want to hold celebrities and sports personalities up to a standard of almost demi-god. When they fall from grace, then we treat them a lot like gum on our shoe. We are as fickle as we are loyal to our team. Like people in Europe, you are 'born into' a team and heaven forbid you decide you don't like them anymore.
People, we are the ones that are paying crazy money for tickets to see players/these games and we should no must, hold players, managers, teams and the league accountable. There can't be any doubt in the integrity of the team or its players. These are the people that young boys (and girls) hold up as heroes. Maybe their parents should be the real hero, but that's another story. I'm all for giving opportunities and having people being proven guilty vs. innocent, but come on! If you were 170 at the end of the season and after 4 months off, you are now 260 - either you need to push back from the table or those "vitamins" that you are being injected with are not what they seem.
Barry Bonds, Clemens, McGuire, Sosa, A-Rod - all of these guys 'allegedly' use steroids in one form or another. I tell you, I want to reach through the tv and smack them when they say "he just gave me a shot - I thought it was a vitamin". HOW DUMB ARE YOU?? They were good ball players to begin with and just threw it all away. You just didn't think you would get caught. You thought your 'name' made you 'untouchable'. Hmmmm talk about ego!
I once has a boss who said ALL THE TIME "There are no tears in baseball". I'm not sure what she meant by it, but I do know that Plaxo, Vic and Rose (and a lot more players before it's done), will be shedding tears. I don't think so much for loss of their 'star' status as much as their 'star paycheck'.
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