The Bigger Problem

I can't help but look at this whole situation with Alex Rodriguez and think, maybe it's not his fault.  Maybe, it's ours.  

Not for doing steroids.  No, that's certainly his fault.  Not for the "pressure" to do steroids, because I don't buy any of that garbage.  No one had a gun to his head, he decided to ruin his legacy, not us. 

What I mean to say is, maybe it's our fault for even taking him (and other celebrities and athletes, for that matter) so seriously.  What makes Alex Rodriguez a role model?  The fact that he can hit a baseball a long way, the fact that he can range to his left and has a cannon for an arm?  I understand how society is set up, and that as a guy in the public eye, making as much money as he does, there are expectations people like he and Michael Phelps need to live up to.  But, maybe that's the problem.

We seem to be constantly in shock and surprise when our favorite athletes and musicians and actors/actresses get caught for doing the wrong things.  Whether it's domestic abuse, or cheating in the sport they play in, or drug possession, or saying racist things, these guys aren't perfect.  In fact, they're just like us.  Some of them are good guys, some aren't.  Some you'd be friends with, others you'd never want to even talk to.  So why, because they play basketball or can rap or play a guitar should that elevate them so?

I happen to be a fairly fortunate sports fan.  Growing up, my favorite player was David Robinson, whose only crime was that he was a bit too religious early on in his career.  Following Robinson, I idolized Tim Duncan and Warrick Dunn and Derek Jeter, all players that have (thus far, fingers crossed) stayed far away from negative press and quite in the positive realm.  That's just one person's experience.

Yet, there has to be at least one Albert Belle fan out there.  One Vince Coleman fan.  One Rae Carruth fan.  One Notorious B.I.G. fan (guilty).  Point is, we've all liked celebrities that we may not have liked personally.

But, that's OK and that's how it should be.  What we pay to see is what they do in between the lines, on the CDs, in the movies.  That should be it.

Don't you think it's a bit odd that even President Obama commented about A-Rod?  Or that the government seems to be knee deep in this whole investigation?  Shouldn't we have more pressing issues to concern ourselves with (ahem, government)?

In no way am I excusing A-Rod of what he did.  It bothers me to no end, as a Yankee fan and as an idealistic fan of baseball.  But, if I stopped rooting for players or musicians based on what they did in their personal lives, I'd really be at a loss.  I couldn't listen to any Kanye West songs, three quarters of the NFL and NBA I'd have to ignore.  It would be awful. 

Would it be great if every player was like Tim Duncan (OK, more exciting than TD, but you get the point)?  Sure.  But, that ain't the way it goes.  

Some are jerks, some are not.  If anything, this whole episode should prove that we need to stop putting these athletes and stars on such pedestals.  All they seem to do is let us down.  

Hump Day Headlines: Afternoon Edition

In this week's Hump Day Headlines, we discuss Barry Bonds' latest mess, Michael Phelps potential criminal charges, David Beckham's failed soccer experiment, and LeBron reaches 12,000 points...

• As we have mentioned in past Hump Day Headlines, we've been waiting a while for the day to come when Barry Bonds would finally get nailed for cheating his way to baseball's all-time home run crown.  Despite everyone's best efforts to discredit the hundreds of pages filled with evidence damning Bonds in Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada's Game of Shadows, and the fact that not enough has been made of the fact that Bonds has already admitted to steroid use but says "he didn't knowingly take them", we now know that the proof is in the pudding, or urine sample.  The Federal Government has decided to unseal evidence against the slugger that includes multiple positive drug tests.  Bonds attorneys will try yet again to discredit these drug tests, which date back to 2003, but how a jury could actually be convinced that Bonds didn't know that he was taking steroids yet was consistently failing drug tests would really be a miracle.  Then again, O.J. somehow got away free.
• Now that Michael Phelps had been caught in a photo smoking marijuana from a pipe at the University of South Carolina, he could face criminal charges for his actions.  The Richland County Sheriff's department is investigating the situation, and apparently has a very tough stance on drugs (then again, who doesn't?).  The photo was revealed in "News of the World" a British tabloid, and can also be seen right here on this very site, courtesy of Scott's recent post.  Unlike Scott, I don't think you can give Phelps a pass for this act despite the fact that he's 23.  I'm 23, and Scott is 22, and if either of us were caught smoking pot we'd get into trouble.  Granted, many could chalk it up to us being young and dumb, and for that opinion those people would be right.  But neither of us is making monopoly money for endorsements with countless companies or is expected to be a role model for kids across the globe.  Phelps is a moron for rolling the dice with his reputation, especially after he had already been picked up for an under-age D.U.I.  I say Phelps deserves whatever prosecution he gets, and it's a shame he would be so dumb.  I guess he's not the wholesome kid we all hoped he might be.
• Remember when David Beckham came to the U.S. to play soccer for the Los Angeles Galaxy as a way to popularize the world's game in this country?  That experiment surely failed.  He's barely through two years of a 5-year, 32.5 million dollar contract that was going to pay him far more cash in endorsements, and he's trying to get out of his deal to remain with Italy's A.C. Milan, the team he has been playing with for the last month and a half.  His lawyers are currently talking with the Galaxy to see if he can get out of his deal.  So basically, David Beckham's career in the states was short, filled with injury, and unimportant.  It was a novelty at the beginning, but fizzled quickly, like when Katie Couric got the CBS News job and people tuned in for the first week and then went back to their regular destinations.  That ends the argument that soccer could ever be popular in America.  If David Beckham can't do it, no one can.
• With his 33 points in last night's 101-83 win over the Raptors, Cavaliers forward LeBron James has eclipsed the 12,000 point mark for his career.  He is the fastest player ever to reach that scoring total, faster than Michael and faster than Kobe.  At 24 years, 35 days old, he passed Kobe who reached 12,000 at 25 years, 220 days old.  Said Cavs coach Mike Brown, "He's still going to get better, that's the scary thing."  There's an understatement.  The way LeBron is going, there's no telling what kind of statistics he can amass as his career moves along, and he could finish with the best statistics of any player in NBA history.  But until he wins a bunch of titles, and makes his team a champion around him, he'll never get to where every new NBA star has to get to, and that of course is Michael's standard. 

OH MY GOD, Michael Phelps is a Human?!

Take a deep breath, everyone.

No, not you Michael.  You've done enough heavy breathing recently.

Unless you've been in a post-Super Bowl coma, you've likely heard about the news that pictures of Michael Phelps smoking from a bong have been circulating all over the web.  Smoking? Marijuana?  Good lord.  How dare he?!

Now, I'm not saying it's OK to smoke weed.  I recognize that it's illegal, that Phelps is being paid trillions of dollars by every company known to man and has a responsibility as something of a role model.  I realize all of this.  But, I also realize that he's only 23.  And, by and large, 23 year old people do stupid things.

Let's not condemn the kid for doing something that it seems like nearly every person has at least tried by the time they've turned 25.  And, if you haven't smoked weed, which is obviously fine, there's no way you haven't done something alarmingly stupid.  That's part of growing up, part of being a twenty-something.

Sure, are the stakes higher for Michael Phelps, record setting Olympian, than Scott Spinelli, live at home part-time employee?  I'd imagine so, if only slightly.  But, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's hypocrisy.

I hate when people are all up in arms when they find out that a college athlete didn't go to class or take his school work seriously, when we all know what really goes down on college campuses more often than not.  I hate when we find out that an athlete smoked weed and we pretend that A) it doesn't ever happen and B) get on our collective high horses to preach down to them about how bad it is, when, most of those people have done it.

Again, don't get me wrong.  I'm not advocating smoking pot.  All I'm saying is, before we crucify the kid, just be fair about it.  He's just that, a kid.  A kid that made a mistake and apologized for it.

Live and let live, I say.