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.
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