Professional Failure

Whenever I think about who today's kids look up to, I always am drawn back to Charles Barkley's quote: "I'm not a role model...just because I can dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."  While Sir Charles hit the nail on the head, the fact of the matter is that the modern day athlete is a role model whether they like it or not.  And whether parents like it or not, the responsibility of raising a child still belongs in the hands of the parent and not a celebrity, let alone a professional athlete.

I was looking for something to blog about and last night I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 film, Catching Hell. The film told the tale of two events in sports history, the Bill Buckner play in the 1986 World Series and the Steve Bartman incident during the 2003 NLCS.  One of the underlying questions that never really was addressed is that while either incident may or may not have swung the momentum of their games, they were both in a game 6 situation and had a chance to win in game 7.  Not once in the two hour documentary is it brought up that the blame was NEVER placed on the professional athletes who either underperformed or choked themselves when it all was on the line. Instead, it focused on single, solitary incidents that the media and the fans place blame on instead of ruining the fragile images of their idols, their heroes, the professional athletes. 

I have been a Yankee fan my entire life and I cannot think of a single worst sports moment in my life than the ALCS in 2004.  The Yankees had a 3-0 lead and were poised for a sweep of their arch enemies. It was perfect.  The Yankees were leading 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth and Mariano Rivera, the game's greatest closer and the best closer in postseason play, was coming into the game.  I can remember vividly watching the FOX telecast and Joe Buck saying "The New York Yankees are 6 outs from the World Series."  I immediately flashed back to the previous fall and hearing something similar in game 6 between the Cubs and Marlins.  Shortly after that, Bartman happened.  But in 2004, there was no Bartman, there was no Buckner.  It was just Mariano.  Did I have a strange feeling when Joe Buck said that?  Sure, but I was also a mature enough fan to understand that the players play the game, and it all falls on them at the end of the day.  Mariano blew the save in the 9th, Ortiz hit the walk off in the 12th and the rest is history.  Game 5 went 14 and at that point I had a feeling, as a fan, that the Red Sox were about to do something that had never been done before in sports.  Two games later, they did.  At the time, 26 World Series Championships did not make up for the sting that was felt by the let down from athletes that I admired.  It felt like someone had stood me up and was repeatedly punching me in the gut.  For a fleeting moment, I knew what it felt like to be a Boston Red Sox fan.  The only difference was that I was not going to be the asshole and blame one individual for something that falls on the entire team.  Mariano blew the save, but the Yankees blew the series.

So much blame gets placed on a single play or an individual when something happens in sports and there is hardly any responsibility shouldered by an entire team anymore.  The media is in part to blame for this because they make stories out of nothing in order to fill their multiple channels during the 24 hour news cycle.  Nothing makes ESPN happier than non-news.  Whether it be Brett Favre not coming out of retirement, or the landscape of college football not going through the extreme turmoil of conference realignment, ESPN stirs up the emotions of fans and spectators by making something out of nothing.    Being fair, I mention ESPN because they are the 24/7 network of anything and everything sports and poker.  However, local media is not off the hook on this one.  One of the most disgusting revelations of Catching Hell was the media covering Steve Bartman instead of the Cubs collapsing as a team. 


Why as fans do people want to blame anyone BUT the athletes on the field?  There is one sport where it is accepted to blame the individual and that is golf (sorry tennis, no one is watching unless Serena Williams is choking out the umpire).  Tiger is to blame for Tiger's downfall.  It's not his wife's fault. It's not his kids' fault. It's not his caddy's fault. It's his fault, his and his alone.  He is the one swinging the club. He is the one having sex on Ambien and getting girls so into him that they need to call him when he is around his wife so she goes crazy and tries to cut his penis off with a 3 iron causing him to lose sponsorships and the respect of the game.  It all falls on Tiger.  Golf is the only case where this is permissible.  You cannot blame the individual in baseball, football, basketball, or hockey.  And you most certainly may never blame individuals in a college sport.  College athletes are not supposed to be getting paid, therefore they are not supposed to have to put up with the criticism from Uncle Rico. We all know you could have been something, but you weren't.  Stop heckling a teenager.  They are not even allowed to go and legally drink away the depression you have caused them.

Which brings me to the professional athlete and their subsequent let down to society.  Professional athletes have become puppets for the corporations that sign their checks.  They are no longer individuals but more tools for promoting the agendas of their bosses.  Professional baseball players have to hide the fact that they, grown men, are making the choice to use smokeless tobacco during games because of the image it creates.  I say, if you want to chew tobacco during a game, enjoy the mouth and throat cancer. Go right ahead and keep on chewing. It is not your place to parent the children who are looking up to you.  It is the parent's job to educate children and just because your parent's did a terrible job informing you of the risks surrounded by smokeless tobacco does not mean that you should feel guilty for enjoying your habit. 


With regards to incidents like Buckner or Bartman, it is time for the professional athlete to take responsibility for their actions on the field.  If Ochocinco wants to worry more about how many followers he has on Twitter instead of the plays in the Patriot's playbook, then so be it.  However, he should also be held to a standard like any other individual in business.  His tweets are not putting butts in the seats of the stadiums he plays in, the play of his team and his teammates are.  In business, if I were to sit in meetings and tweet my feelings during the workday, I would likely be fired for not doing what I was supposed to.  I only hope that the same could start ringing true in professional sports.  If the athlete is not doing what the athlete is supposed to be doing, they better hope they did not leave college early so they can put their free degree to use pursuing other avenues. 

It is my distant memory and dream that professional sports start treating their blue collar fans with the respect they deserve for paying their hard earned money to sit in the stands. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen as long as their is money to be made and nobody is willing to hold them accountable.

What Happened to Parents Like Mine?

I feel like I need to give a little background on myself for the sake of the reader who does not know who I am.  The short story is, I graduated from high school, got married at 20 (because I knew better than EVERYONE around me), divorced at 24 (because it turns out that everyone around me was right), graduated from the University of South Florida at 29 with a Bachelor's in History and for the past two years I was teaching the current generation of middle school students.  For the stellar work I put in and the positive reviews I received for two years, I am currently on the outside looking in.  I am doing my best not to let this keep me down, but rest assured; it is all not negative for me.  The things that I have seen in the past two years would make any sane, intelligent individual's head spin.  

I will also disclose that I have no children of my own and that this, like most legitimate arguments, does not apply to everyone but it does apply to the majority.

I realize that it is the job of the older generations to look back to the younger generations and complain and say their music is terrible and that they are being afforded opportunities they are taking for granted that their parents never had.  Well, being 31 (and not drastically removed from my youth), I feel that it is safe to say that this current generation of the youth of America are some of the most mindless, sheepish, programmable citizens this country has ever produced and I am placing blame solely on one other group of citizens, their parents. 

Parents of today's youth have instilled upon their children a sense of entitlement that would make any member of The Greatest Generation cringe. The youth of America feel that they should not have to work for anything and they do not plan on starting to anytime soon.  One of the grossest examples of this occurs every day and every year in the current public school system.  It is my hope that not every school district operates this way but given my limited experience, it is all I know, and it goes too far. 

Here is the scenario:  Johnny goes to school almost every day.  There is the occasional time when Johnny's Mom had to sleep one off and she could not get him to the bus on time, nor did she even bother to bring him to school late.  Johnny's Dad may or may not be around, he really does not know because he spends most of his time locked in his room playing XBOX360 and downloading shitty YouTube videos or sending pictures of his pre-pubescent crotch to all his friends in hope that someone will return the favor.

When Johnny is able to take a break from sexting and get to school, he sits in class.  That is it.  He sits in class and does absolutely nothing for 180 days a year.  Johnny turns in no work, contributes very little to the conversation except for the random smart ass remark, which the teachers appreciate on a whole new level because they realize Johnny has a pulse, and he is for all intents and purposes failing.  He is failing every teacher's class throughout the school with percentages that equal scores I have written on a scorecard for a par 5 at the local golf club.

About three-quarters of the way through the year, after countless attempts at contacting Mom while she is sober and comatose, she schedules a parent-teacher conference to find out why Johnny is not doing well in school.  If your head is not spinning just yet, keep reading. 

Mom schedules a conference that she subsequently reschedules three more times because she "forgot" or "could not make it" for whatever reason.  When the conference does take place, she is one of two people.  She is either the deer in headlights, totally caught off guard that Johnny is the student he is, or she is the angry, wild turkey bobbing her head and strutting around placing blame on all of the teachers instead of herself.  Because after all, if Johnny is failing EVERY class, the teachers have it in for him.  Sitting in on this meeting is an administrative figure of some sort that may or may not back up the teacher's position on Johnny's behavior.  They really do not know because they are too busy worrying about the kids that get sent out of class every day for telling the teachers to go fuck themselves.  Discipline in the school system is another topic for another day that is equally astounding.

The conclusion of the meeting is simple.  It is the conclusion that has been put in place to make sure that "No Child is Left Behind."  Johnny will stay after school a couple days a week and be given a packet of work for every class that he is failing in order to make up the credit for all of the work he did not do in the first place.  Johnny must successfully complete the packet and earn no less than a 70% in order to be given credit for the course.  Johnny shows up sporadically to the after school sessions, goofs around because he has just spent the entire day doing nothing and he has pent up energy, and the due date quickly approaches.  Johnny asks for an extension and is given one.  He eventually turns in a half-assed effort and imagine to all of the teacher's surprise when Johnny earns above a 70% on every single packet (wink-wink, nudge-nudge...do not ask any questions because your questions do not matter).  Johnny's mother is ecstatic because her baby is going to graduate 8TH GRADE!!!  She is SO happy because this will likely be the last time her child graduates anything short of being promoted from working the fry-o-lator to assistant manager at McDonald's.

The aforementioned story is in no way embellished and in no way fabricated.  It is merely an amalgamation of several occurrences during my time in the public school system that most people are unaware of.  These students exist and more importantly; these parents exist.   I pushed it to the extreme cases, but the parents of this generation are guilty of, what the late great George Carlin called, "Child Worship" and it is ruining this country right before our very eyes.

At about 3:00 of this video, the most frustrating aspect of today's society rears it's ugly head.  "In today's America, no child ever loses. There are no losers anymore.  Everyone's a winner. No matter what the game or sport or competition, everyone wins. Everybody wins. Everybody gets a trophy."

What I am thankful for is having parents who instilled in me a sense of individual thought and respect.  To know the proper time and place to question authority is lost on this current generation.  The amount of disrespect among the youth in this country is growing faster than the national debt.  Human decency and kindness are a thing of the past and it is creating angry individuals like me who feel the need to blog about it in the hopes that people read it and say, "you know, the angry asshole has a point."  My hope is that this does not create more anger and frustration but merely serves as a wake-up call to the parents and future parents out there.  Not a week goes by that people I graduated high school with are posting that they are pregnant.  Face it, people having sex and having children is not going anywhere.  It is my hope and sincere request that you become more like my parents and hopefully your parents and not like Johnny's parents.  Teach your kids to think for themselves and respectfully question things they find askew in the universe.  Teach them that not everyone is lucky to have parents like you and not like Johnny's.  Teach them to care about something other than what their friends are telling them to care about.  And for the sake of future society, please talk to your children and not let this instant gratification of a digital age raise another generation of mindless disrespectful sheep. 

And so it begins...

I have been toying around with the idea of starting up a blog but I did not want it to be like every other blog out there.  The most important thing that I wanted to make sure was good was the title for the blog.  The title sets the tone. It gives readers an idea of just what they are in for when they click on the link to a particular post.  It is for this reason that I settled on Reprehensible Harm.

For those who may be unclear, you may have heard the word but reprehensible is defined as "worthy of or deserving blame or condemnation."  The two word term, reprehensible harm, is often used when describing the tobacco industry in the United States.  People want to damn the tobacco industry for causing reprehensible harm to the people who get cancer from smoking cigarettes.  Those same people say nothing about the millions who WILLINGLY go and buy cigarettes knowing full well the effects of smoking.  It can't be their fault, can it?  NOOOO...it is the tobacco industry and their catchy little ads.  Personally, I blame it on Mad Men.  Those guys have made smoking and drinking before noon cool again.  Do they get chastised in the media?  No, they get Emmy's.  (note: there will be plenty of sarcasm laced throughout my posts...try to keep up.)

For the past few years I have noticed a downturn in the way we handle things in society. Individual blame has gone out the window and it is always anybody's fault but their own.  It is the fast food industry's fault that we are an obese society; not that we are a society driven on this "go go go" philosophy leaving people little time or energy to actually cook a home cooked meal.  It is Hollywood's fault that parents and their children do not have much of a relationship; not that the parents could only care about what interests them and instead of trying to connect with their kids, they just buy them flat screen TV's and PS3's and cars that have DVD players built in so a parent can go through their child's life without ever having to speak to them.

My aim with this blog is not to come across angry at society but merely open a few eyes to some of the everyday problems that are right in front of us.  I plan on covering current events and offering my humble commentary.  I hope you give it a chance and follow along.  Let's have some fun!!