The rubber hits the road screeching to the tune Pacman is singing at his latest interview lobbying why we should be allowed to be himself. "What do you want me to do...sit at home and do nothin...that ain't me?!"
Well let's see, six arrests, three people shot, one paralyzed, two women beaten and spit on, a soon to be felony conviction, and a year long suspension from your job for simply being in a word a "jackarss", all just since you have become a Titan. Yep, you need to sit at home and do nothing, and shut up while you are there, and consider yourself lucky you are not in prison or worse.
THE ENABLERS
There are those that will argue that the Pacman is just being a strong willed black man with a penchant for individualism, and he should not be treaded upon by the misunderstanding masses. There are those that will argue that he has never been convicted of anything so he is innocent and everyone should leave him alone to do what he do. There are those that will argue that if he was white, no one would care about his legal troubles and he'd still be playing football his way.
ITS NOT HIS FAULT, ITS OURS
The trouble began long before Pacman Jones was even born. December 24, 1969, Curt Flood touched off the revolution that is now known as free agency. Along with this revolution came the opportunity for untold fortunes for prospective athletes. What did not come with it was the much needed common sense from American society to throttle the "anything goes" mentality that comes from windfall prosperity.
TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS
As the salaries of the professional athlete rose during the 1970's and 80's, the moral standards imposed upon athletes by society inversely plummeted, deteriorating the very fabric from which sports are woven in America. As sports turned athletes into instant millionaires, conversely society began to turn a blind eye to morals as long as the athlete could perform at his/her sport, and gradually lowered the bar of acceptable standards.
INNOCENCE LOST
It all began innocent enough. We turned our backs when athletes couldn't pass one subject in high school because he was misunderstood or had a learning disability, then we turned our backs when the athlete got into minor mischief. Pretty soon it became "alleged" misdemeanors, and outright "boys will be boys" mentality. Not long after that we didn't even require them to show up for class and began having other people take tests for them, and in (shhhh) extreme cases handing them money and gifts (wink-wink) under the table. Next came felony allegations and spousal abuses, but we neatly swept it under the rug so as not to upset our grandparents.
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
Along comes the sobering moment in 1987 when Southern Methodist University was slapped with the death penalty for cheating. The nation caught it's collective breath, realizing it could never allow a sports program to suffer that sort of fate again, and we did the only thing that could be done to further the manifest destiny of windfall prosperity. We sold our souls to the devil, and in marched the lawyers to make good on that contract. It wasn't enough to keep Pete Rose from being banned for life betting on baseball in 1989, but onward we tread toward the land of plenty, at least for the few and talented, if not morally upright.
FEEDING THE MONSTER
From that point, the salaries got bigger, the athletes got younger, and the cheating and criminal behavior became more blatantly unnoticed until we reached the final checkpoint. On June 12, 1994 it became possible to get away with murder. It has been a nexus of one-up-manship from that day forward. Now we have reached critical mass. In recent years, we have been confronted with our own monsters time and again. Bonds has been accused of being a juicer, Tim Donaghey has been caught cheating, Rafael Palmeiro has been exposed as a cheat and a perjurer, Mark McGwire has taken the 5th amendment, Michael Vick has been accused of abusing animals and profiting from it, Kobe Bryant has settled a sexual assault case, Darrent Williams has been killed, Joe Cullen drove naked drunk through the streets, Vikings players had public orgies, Ken Caminiti overdosed, Terrell Owens pouts like five year old and attempts a $21 million suicide, Tank Johnson is packin heat and the band plays on until we just can't take it anymore. While it is understandable to see how Pacman has come by his mentality, it is just no longer acceptable.
MISSING THE POINT
As an American culture we have completely forgotten what sports are all about. The definable difference between sports and life in general is honor. Sports by definition is about competing against others based on the merits of your own ability to overcome your human imperfections and shortcomings in an honorable fashion to win a fair contest. When you remove honor, and replace it with cheating, and chemical alteration, and misdeeds, it's no longer "winning" and "sports", it's just cr@p, and at the end of the day, nobody will want to pay for cr@p. In short, without honor, you have accomplished nothing and in the end you will be nothing.
THE RECKONING
That is why Roger Goodell is making an example out of Pacman, and Michael Vick, and why Bud Selig should make an example of Bonds et al, and why Stern should have made an example of Kobe Bryant and will ultimately pull the plug on some of his charges. Whether we realize it or not, American sports are edging ever closer to brink of the slippery slope, we're drunk on the money, and that is a more deadly combination than Pacman, Tank, and OJ in a strip club brawl.
You had me until the last paragraph. What could Stern have done? Kobe was accused, but the witness declined to testify. It was settled without anyone admitting guilt...I am still on the fence with him. He prolly took advantage of a starry-eyed girl who is obviously sleazy.
very nicely done. You make some great points but be careful about jumping the gun. As dangerous and problematic as these guy's may be...convicting before being proven guilty...as in the court of public opinion...may not be much better. And also, I think Goodell has something tangible to work from. There is physical evidence against these NFL'ers. Kobe is guilty of being a #### and a guy who will cheat on his wife but I'm not sure Stern could get away with being the moral voice for Bryant. And as much as there may be issues in MLB, nobody should let Selig be the moral arbitter there when his morals and ethics have been proven to be a little ...okay...alot on the shady side. Maybe it really is up to the fans to institute changes...by turning away from the trouble-makers. Quit purchasing paraphenalia with these guy's numbers or images on it. Boycott or sit-in against teams that allow these problem players to run around un-checked or un-supervised. This may sound a bit extreme but sometimes forcing change requires extreme behaviors. How sad is it that we should have to force change to take us back to where we began...so to speak.
It's been a long time forgotton fan. Very well done. Now I remember why you were one of my favorites when this site first got up and running.
I agree with the VAST majority of what you said. The saying "We reap what we sow comes to mind." Society has definitely played the role of enabler for athletes. We spoil them, make exceptions for them both academically & morally and reward them as millionaires by the time they can legally drink. We then wonder why so many are out of touch with reality when they act crazy.
We can't forget personal choice though. As much as we have helped to "create" them, the Pacmen of the world still know right from wrong.
though it's always "innocnent until prove guilty", it doesnt help when we keep bending the rules until the offender IS "innocent". doesnt sound right to me.
Marty & Underage- Appreciate it and thanks for the compliments.
gcoach- A celebrity gives up the right to innocent until proven guilty in the court of public opinion when they settle a civil suit, take the fifth, stonewall or evade, IF and WHEN they themselves use the media to intimidate, coerce, spin, or redirect. Furthermore, an athlete with a multi-million dollar contract who does not spend ten to twenty thousand to fight to protect the image he has worked all his life to build, is either GUILTY, or a complete fraud. You tell me.
rivjo- Great to hear from you again. You are absolutely correct about personal choice and knowing right from wrong. That's why they SHOULD be held accountable. If you set a standard, it will be followed. No standard, no wonder.
Rev- I hear what your saying about the horse being out of the barn...In Bonds case, if you are Selig, you wait it out...but WHEN the indictment is handed down...lower the boom...HARD. In my mind, Bonds has committed public relations suicide anyway...let it play out.
slshusker- Its a tough thing about due process. I believe in innocent until proven guilty, but I also believe in common sense. Common sense wins out. I'll give a guy the benefit of the doubt as long as the story is reasonably plausible because we don't always get the whole story. BUT when your entourage all take a plea deal...your in bad shape...With everyone.
What would be the difference between suspending Kobe and suspending Jones? If you could do one you could do the other. I don't know that I would agree with either, but I don't think your idea is that illogical when you put it in context with Jones' suspension.
Forgotten, I'm not the least bit worried about these alleged criminals and innocence.
Too many facts point right at them.
Public opinion forces societal changes.
Accountability for actions: A unique concept for athletes.
ALL- I had the distinct honor of attending Sunday's Astros-Brewers game for the Craig Biggio 3,000 hit celebration and ceremony with my fifteen year old son. And though I will be blogging about it in the next couple days...I wanted to share this with you. The ceremony chronicled Biggio's 20 year career with the Astros (his only team), his accomplishments, his charity work, his community service, complete with hall of fame guests, family, teammates including Jeff Bagwell, friends, etc...all the while, as my son is taking it all in it occurs to me that Craig Biggio has been playing longer than my son has been alive. As the ceremony progresses, I am just beaming with pride that my son's boyhood hero is headed for the hall of fame, and he needs to issue no excuses, no regrets, no what ifs...in short he needs no character redemption. Biggio has demonstrated to my son one of the great lessons of life. YOU WILL NEVER BE SORRY FOR DOING THINGS RIGHT. That is what sports are ALL about.
Dudski- Well, I believe neither should be playing, but I don't get to make those decisions outside not buying a ticket or memoribilia. I can tell you this, I wouldn't pay 50 cents to see both play at the same time because they hold no value to me. None. Obviously, there are thousands or even millions who disagree with my assessment, I can't stop what happens today, but collectively we can change tomorrow.
slshusker- I agree except for this...I think public opinion has been fed up with the spoiled athlete for some time...the problem is getting coaches to set aside personal goals for the common good, and because you will never get them all to agree on a standard, change will be terribly slow. It has to be changed from the bottom up. Schools have to begin to hold their high school coaches accountable, and it will work its way up the ladder in time.
Last edited by Forgotten_Fan on August 13th at 7:54 PM.
Outstanding read and perfect flow. I appreciate the work that you put into this post. You had me the entire way, including the final paragraph. WHAT could Stern have done? He could have disassociated Kobe from the NBA while he was under investigation for a rape charge. I am not convinced that Kobe did NOT rape the girl, but apparently we will never know.
In view of all that is going on in our world, our politicians lying, stealing and sending our military personnel to their death, mines caving in - sports just doesn't seem to be important in the bigger scheme of things to be concerned about. It is only about money and HUGE egos, no moral codes and badly flawed personalities of spoiled "stars" in all sports. Don't care what color the players are - overrated and overpaid.
Last edited by armchairopinion on August 23rd at 11:16 AM.
