Rules Are Made to be Broken by Athletes
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by user LastRow
With Maurice Clarett’s name being in the news again for all the wrong reasons…This on top of the Floyd Landis controversy, when will all the bad pub end for athletes in sports? That’s easy, never. Trouble & sports go hand in hand…Some athletes go looking for it and self induce it upon themselves, while for others trouble just seems to pop out from behind a bush and grab them for unknown reasons. Now, I’m not afraid to admit at times it’s funny to see these sports icons get a dose of the real world for once as so many of them think they’re invincible to the laws & that they too need to abide by them…It’s like how do you like it. Although, to bad that little slap on the wrist won’t result in anything.
Baseball players get into big trouble, so too do basketball leapers and hockey smashers. Rap sheets for college athletes, sadly, are not rare. But it's the NFL that seems to generate the biggest, nastiest cases. It can be sweet banter to suggest who might become the next Walter Payton, Joe Montana or Lee Roy Selmon, but we wince at wondering who could be the next Rae Carruth, Lawrence Taylor, Maurice Clarrett, etc….The combination of youth, ego, money, fame, alcohol, testosterone, drugs and arrogance are no less dangerous than striking matches while pumping gasoline.
Sports franchises hire cops, snoops and psychologists, but keeping full rosters of athletes out of trouble is a challenge that seems most effectively calmed through upgrading character, recognizing pitfalls, enhancing peer pressure and adding a touch of fear. Well, unless you’re the Cincinnati Bengals or Portland Jailblazers. "This whole business of one, two, three, four chances -- however many athletes are given now -- it makes a mockery of the system," said former NFL coach Ron Meyer, now a CNN/SI commentator. "Players must be held to higher standards."
With gifted athletes, problem seeds are planted early. They can be coddled as early as Little League, certainly in high school and to deeper degrees in college. If they become pros, the mixture can take on quick wealth, fast cars, big houses, hot women at their beckon call, shady friends, harsher narcotics and a warped sense of reality….This combo while often the life everybody would like to live is not always what’s it cracked up to be. And for that, my heart pumps piss for those who seem to have difficulties handling this cushy way of living.
For every success story, where a troubled athlete transforms to well-corrected posture, like Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss…Yeah, that’s funny. Mark McGwire bringing baseball back in 1998, funnier. Barry Bonds head blowing up to obscene proportions. Let’s not forget Floyd Landis who actually thinks he didn’t do anything thing wrong…Very humorous, Floyd! There are multiple and recurring flops such as Lawrence Phillips, Dwight Gooden, Daryl Strawberry, Mike Tyson, Marcus Vick….Need I go on? I just wonder what would’ve of happened if Clarett didn’t think he was above the NFL rules and would’ve stayed & played at OSU….Would his pathetic life turned out differently, yeah perhaps he wouldn’t have been a Hitman? No pun intend of course! Got to bounce…Need to call my friend Tom to see if he wants a drink? I’m feeling the need for a shot or two of Jack, followed by a couple of Gray Goose. Hope it doesn’t raise my testosterone?
LastRowSports.com Fantasy League needs 8 more teams. All the fantasies will come true Saturday Aug. 26th @ 8:30. Can you beat my Pink Ponies>
Date
Thu 08/10/06, 7:24 pm EST
