The Athlete That Doesn't Exist
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by user Ufgators
As a sports fan, I need insight, I need objectiveness, and I need athletes who are honest. Not one of the aforementioned needs will ever be met, because the athlete I just described...does not exist.
Think back to the last interview you saw on ESPN, where someone was interviewing a player. Did you gain any knowledge of the status of the team/player, or was the interview a complete waste of your time? More than likely, it was the latter. I want the athlete who tells you straight up that things aren't going so well, the team is fed up with losing. I don't want to hear a player from a last place team talk about how the GM made a great move in acquiring a 3rd string center, and how it puts the team in the right direction for the future. How many years have the K.C. Royals, Tampa Bay DevilRays, etc. been in the rebuilding process? It is only a legitimate excuse for so many years.
Next, I hate the fact that players will leave a promising team who offers him, for example, a 6-year/42 million dollar contract, for the team that offers him a 6 year/49 million dollar contract. Can someone please explain to me what difference 49 million dollars will make as opposed to a few less million? Will Latrell Sprewell suddenly be able to support his starving family? Will Mike Vick suddenly be able to buy that new cadillac he always wanted, but couldn't afford on his past salary? Do you think that Bill Buckner would have fielded the infamous ball that rolled through his legs, had he been paid a few extra million? Would Kevin Dyson have made that extra one yard push in Super Bowl XXXIV had he been paid 15 million extra? NO! Has A-Rod, who left the Mariners to sign the most lucrative contract in sports history at the time with the Rangers, played much better after doing so? No, he hasn't. His OBP was .420 in his final year with Seattle. His OBP hasn't reached .400 since. This is a perfect example that giving more money to a player doesn't make him better, nor will it prevent a player from making a monumental blunder, or give him a one yard boost. We have proven over the past years that the more money you give a player, the more it corrupts him. The athlete that doesn't bolt from the team that he developed on, the team whose fan's love him, just for a few million, simply does not exist.
The next athlete that doesn't exist anymore is the athlete that plays through pain. Cal Ripken played in a record 2,632 straight games, spanning sixteen seasons. Mark Prior has been on the DL seven times. We have players who can't play because they sprained a toe, broke their hand punching a wall and got frostbite in August. On, July 27th, 2006, Bears RB Thomas Jones injured his hamstring during a physical at the Bears' summer camp. Yes sir, I hear those physicals are tough as nails to pass. Then, you have players who flat out don't want to play on certain days. Cal Ripken, on away games, used to stay in a different hotel than the rest of the team, just so he could concentrate on the upcoming game. Shea Hillenbrand didn't play because no one congratulated him on adopting a son. Roger Clemens has so many stipulations in his contract that he can pitch whenever he feels like it, and still get paid more than players like Francisco Liriano.
I hate hearing athletes preach to us that drugs are bad. Rafael Palmeiro even wagged his finger, looked us straight in the eye, and said he didn't use steroids.
So much for that. I don't care if you use steroids or not, but just don't tell us how you are such a great athlete, how you can still succeed without taking the easy way out, and then five months later get busted for high testosterone levels. Close your mouth, play the game, and entertain me with your record-setting performances.
Have athletes become so far removed from reality that they are too scared to give a straight up answer about the team? Are they so valuable that they can compromise their morales, lose the respect of everyone, and sign a contract for a few extra million? How can they look us in the eye and tell us something is bad, and then get busted five months later?
I need insight, I need objectiveness, and I need athletes who are honest and have morales. Not one of the aforementioned needs will ever be met, because that athlete doesn't exist.
Date
Tue 08/01/06, 9:00 am EST
