Sense of Justice

"You can't let one bad moment spoil a bunch of good ones." -Dale Earnhardt

Medical examiners and other such professionals have found it acceptable to tell the world that Steve McNair was killed by his girlfriend who then committed suicide. All the signs were there and many had speculated about what really happened before this "official" ruling, but still, the actual announcement of it makes it tangible and sad in a different (more real?) way.

McNair was one of the "good guys" - a pro-athlete who did a lot of charity work because he wanted to, not just to make amends or as part of court-ordered community service. He was a family man and active in the city he played for (well, spent most of his career with). And somehow he's shot by his girlfriend (he is or was married), just hours after she's arrested for DUI in a car that both of them co-own. It's sad and it's sketchy and it does taint the memory of a supposedly great guy...

It makes me sad because I feel like there's already very very little incentive for pro-athletes to do good in the world. The norms for pro-athlete behavior aren't the same as in the real world - pro-athletes are pressured to perform in completely different, measureable ways and they are surrounded with more temptation and money and choices than most of us will ever see and yet few of them have a college degree (which is not to say that you need a college degree to make good choices, but the whole college experience - the hard classes and academic hoops, the adventures and good friends, late nights and conversations - is something I believe can help you make good decisions). These guys receive far more air time and endorsement for bad behavior (look at Chad Ochocinco who sits around and thinks of bad things to do to others - frequently his teammates - so that he gets more attention and time on "SportsCenter" and builds his brand, whatever that means). And here, McNair was great as a professional athlete and seemed to be a great guy and what may have only been one mistake (the mistress/girlfriend) cost him his life and his legacy as one of the rare great guys and paragon of wise decisions for NFL rookies.

Maybe that's not the case and maybe the shock of the incident will fade and with that, the faint tarnish on his legacy... I just hope it fades before the whole thing becomes coated with a film of slime.

Athletes Behaving Badly (...or just broadcasting badly)

"I didn't kill nobody, I didn't rape nobody, so that's it." -Manny Ramirez, while explaining why he thought the media should move on from the fact that he was suspended for violation of anti-doping laws

I lied with the title... sort of. I'm actually just frustrated with the announcers for the College World Series. They fawn over various characters on the big stage in Omaha and completely ignore facts and reality. I feel like I blog a bit too much about sports, but I do watch a lot of them and one of the benefits of watching ESPN a lot, for a lot of years at this point, is that I can remember these past indiscretions that these pathetic excuses for journalists somehow forget to mention...

First, Robin Ventura is one of the commentators and has been for years. His colleagues help him re-live the glory days, when he played for Oklahoma State and set records that didn't even have all that much to do with skill (consecutive games with a hit... as opposed to batting titles and RBIs). However, they ignore what Ventura SHOULD be most famous for, which is taking a serious ASS KICKING from Nolan Ryan. Seriously, Nolan Ryan just punches him the head while he has Ventura in a headlock. It's amazing and you should REALLY watch it here on YouTube. And it's the only thing Ventura really did in the majors, but somehow his colleagues spend inning after inning, game after game, year after year, re-living the same minor accomplishments. Honestly, it's not really amoral or anything, it's just part of how I feel like allowing former athletes with borderline narcisstic personality disorders to simply talk for hours at a time is a bad idea.

Second, the bigger problem with athletes today, as spotlighted in the College World Series, is how journalists and commentators ignore enormous indiscretions on supposed role models. Augie Garrido, the coach of the Texas team, currently playing in the finals, is constantly revered for his wins and being a living legend in college baseball. This would be fine if old Augie didn't get a DUI this year. Yeah, he's not the only one to get a DUI - not the first or last famous, infamous, or regular Joe to get one. But the problem is that Augie is a supposed role model. He recruits high school boys and tells their parents that he has a whole program and turns them into model young men. If he's anything like any other college coach, he tells moms and dads everywhere that his program is about more than just the sport, but about learning life lessons and molding these sons into the men they will become. And Augie gets a DUI and a few months later we're all pretending that he's still this great role model for young men, that his actions didn't invalidate the words he's been spewing for years now... shouldn't the people struggling for something to talk about for three or four hours, who are supposed to be journalists, mention this rather than sweeping it under the rug? I thought maybe I'd been wrong about when Augie had this incident, but it was this year, the end of January, as the article is still on ESPN.com here.

I know hypocrisy runs rampant and these aren't really injustices - particularly given that Manny Ramirez gets to go back towards the majors by making a minor league start earlier tonight OR that the governor of South Carolina disappeared, probably to a nudist weekend despite his conservative stance on everything - but it's just frustrating and it's something that annoys me on a regular basis because I just think ESPN should screen and test these people a bit better before giving them three to four hours a night to talk to the nation. But maybe it's just me...