For some reason, I don’t write or talk about sports as much as I used too.
But today I will digress.
I do not know what it is is, but it really ticks me off when estrogen dominated men criticize athletes from the pedestal of sports talk radio or news. In many cases the folks that talk about sports were not good enough or had enough balls to actually compete and pay sports. Yea, and I know some of yawl would say such, but I never desired to play sports and when I did for the wrong reasons, whether tennis, golf, or baseball: 1. I was good, 2. my friends played/got out school early, 3] we traveled, and 4. women.
The last I heard whether team or individual, it is a sport. And as I said, I have never presented the penchant to be a professional athlete. I still think, like back in the day, they should be paid about $50,000.00 stacks and be content no matter where they are in position. For people to contend that this is a big deal, it is not.
From Barry Bonds, to Jamal Anderson, to Mike Phelps and recently to A-Rod, always got something to say. Like sports aint the same, or like they tarnished the image and like they are disappointed. Man, on the real, if you want to keep it real, sports or anything is like the real world. I don’t know why folk even act is if they are special or different. Truth be told is that they come from the regular world and have the same odds of being criminals as the rest of us. With regards to A-Rod, I have heard it all. Heard one dude say that he doesn’t buy that he don’t know what he was taken. For the record, I bet even Matt Chernoff of Sports Talk 790 the zone, although supra critical, don’t know what is in the prescriptions he gets from his physician.
It is not like you will not go to the best doctor or lawyer or plumber because he is own steroids. The bottom line is skill and competence. So what they take performance enhancing products. No biggy, it is just a sport. My real issue is that baseball and football are just sports; they are not as if sports are like teaching. Ok, me finished. I just want to watch them play, Not take their blood.
33 comments:
Yea I agree..people taking it too the extreme for the status/records or whathaveu..blah I knew it was gonna come out eventually..but I don't watch baseball so I could careless.. Now if the piss tests start coming up cloudy in the NBA i'ma be so perturbed..
Exactly, These high and mighty critics make noise over stuff that the everyday person doesnt care about."Oh no!A Rod took drugs".......I'm not losing sleep over it.But the skinny non athletic sports writer wants to send an hour crying about some supposedly tarnish "image" Its just that an image.I dont believe rappers are really drug kingpins or pimps and sport stars arent gods either.
BacC to reality.
Too true. There's something amiss in the person who equates their self-worth with records and contracts et al. If you know you're cheating (because you are) then you know you're not that damn good-so...your point is? It would behoove them to work harder,take a loss and hold on to their dignity and credibility-y'know make an honest living.
I agree with the salary-as a parent, it's kinda hard to push academia when the "real" money is in the jump shot.
A society pays the most to that which it values most. That's how capitalism works. It's not one of its greatest features but you take the bitter with the better.
I'm with you, although Dave Zirin's books and articles express it better than I can. The sports writers are jealous of the players. Every man in America thinks but for a break here or a break there, he could play pro ball. He can't. That level of ability is insane. Any sport.
And there's a new kind of acceptable bigotry towards Black and Latino players in baseball in which the salaries or some minor off the field pecadillo are used in the way they used to use words like "lazy" or "shiftless." And there's always some useless White utility infielder like Mark Lemke who's held up as the exemplar of all that's light and good in the world whereas David Justice is too "brainy" or Ron Gant is too "moody"...you know the drill.
I like playing sports although I'm no good. I like watching them. I especially like sharing the experience with my son. I've made good money betting on them, so here are my two rules about athletes of any sport.
(1) Because I'm wagering decent sums of money, I will not tolerate point-shavers or dumpers...they have to be trying all the time.
(2) Kids love pro sports. I've got a nine-year old boy who plays them all and has his favorites in every sport. So, I don't care what drugs the players do, how much they get paid, how many broads or how many dudes they get it on with in the their spare time if that's their bag, how much they drink, or whatever. That's what being a young man is all about.
I think they have an OBLIGATION, though, to sign autographs for kids and be especially nice to them. That's it. I took my son to a spring training game once of the Cards versus the Expos and no one can ever say anything bad to me about Mark McGwire, Ray Lankford or Matt Morris. Not only did they sign tons of autographs for the kids, they engaged them in conversation and gave them playing tips. It was really lovely.
Those guys each took a lot of flak in their time: McGwire for the sterioids and being in psychotherapy, Lankford for going to the strippers and the usual knock on excellent Black players "hot dog", and Morris for being too intellectual and stubborn because he'd had a Catholic school education in NYC and a college education.
But buddy those are three gentlemen.
Pay them $50k...
sporting organizations make too much money off of athletes now to say that you're going to pay them that much and just let it be.
People should lay off. It was a different time back then and all players were taking something. With that said, using an enhancement is only really going to be effective if you have the raw talent and skill in the first place. Otherwise, if you suck you will just suck less on these enhancements. People playing at this level are in a different place.
Wow a sports post..gee it's been ages! LOL!
I agree and disagree. Sports has become the new slave trade. Owners of teams/franchises, media, fans have all be duplicitious in this freakish desire to be superhuman. AND to win at all costs.
Keslo, DEAREST, I disagree...I do care what athletes do. My kids enjoy sports and I don't want them to undermine my belief that you play for enjoyment...not to win. Winning is a great thing...we all want to be winners. But you first have to have a love of the sport...in your heart.
I do think that athletes are being unfairly singled out. The drugs in question weren't even illegal at the time these athletes were using them. And the fact that the testing/questionaire were supposed to be anonymous and the fact they were leaked and leaked to the press is FUCKED UP! and now they are subpeoned and have to be turned over to the high courts is a betrayal of trust and civil liberties.
I think there are folks who are opportunist. I think there are folks in the sports industry that have no regard for athletes and have an agenda that speaks to greed and avarice. The scouting of athletes on ALL levels...starting at the grade school all the way to college programs ahs got to be looked at and dealt with.
I think the sports industry both professional & collegiac has to do a better job of protecting athletes. And Empowering athletes to want to be the best on their own merits and natural physical ability and not feel pressured to succeed at all cost and by any means neccesary.
I don't know what to think. I know it brings dishonor to the world of sports to have such a rise in drug use lately but on the other hand I feel compassion for them I can see how troubling it must be to feel like the whole world is depending on you. I don't know. I don't think they should have special privileges just because they are celebrities but I also do not think people should be make examples out of them just because they are famous. It is a hard one to call. They need to be looked at in the context of their lifestyles. It was wrong. It was illegal but it is more different when you are in such a bright spotlight.
To your point, RDB, I don't get people who talk sports. Some of the most opinionated ones wouldn't last a second on anyone's field or court.
For me, the dishonesty bothers me more than the actual steroid use. The indignant, "I have never..." then 2 or 3 days later, "I took...and it was a mistake, blah, blah, blah..."
50 K that's it. Forget that pipe dream. I know a gy in my city personally. He owns the Stanley Cup hockey team and a maor league baseball team here. Owners make billions of dollars. Forget all that 50k donate and read tp the kids. I agree with what professional players get paid.
They need to get paid more.
Most sport writers and critics are speaking nonsense. They either could not hack it or are mainly bitter. God forbid someone more youthful make sure his family is taken care of for generations (if he takes care of his money).
I know some pro ball players personally some family/ some friends. I look at it like they are normally people who get to do something they love. They get paid more than most teachers.
If we look at it, many Americans spend in a day, what people some people all over the world make in a year.
I understand why enhancement drugs are used in sports. Just look at the length of the season. Baseball use to be played over the course of the summer season. I remember my folks watching the World Series by September. Now it is played in October. The schedule is physically demanding just like the pressure to perform is mentally demanding. It is not surprising to me that A-Rod took enhancements to make it. He is not alone in that class of players.
It is good that he went ahead and owned up to what happened. Trying to keep on denying that he had taken the drugs wasn't going to work.
There's a lesson to be learned in this situation.
Either keep clean and play or prepare to have your poop fly back at you if you don't.
i AGREE! tot he fullest. honestly, who cares if phelps did some weed. he's earned some weed. shoot, he has enough money to hook the rest of us up with some weed. who cares. no one asked to make him an example of virtue so people need to stop acting surprised when they find out he's human too.
Professional athletes are placed on a pedestal high. And I agree, who really cares what they do, they are regular people too. The sad part is that our kids look up to them, even if we don't want them to.
I love MLB.
I look forward to spring and the start of baseball season. I like the Yankees but I like the Brewers and the Red Socks too.
There's something pleasurable about going to the stadium on a warm summer day, kicking back with some park food, spending 3 hours rooting for your team and hanging out with friends.
But I have to say, as the salaries get bigger (A-Fraud gets $250 million to hit a ball with a stick?) and the American people suffer more, it just ain't the same for me.
Last year, I went to see the Rochester Red Wings about 6 times. Double A baseball is just as fun and the coin is only $8 for a ticket and $5 to park vs. $75 for the Yankees and $50 to park.
yeah...i just wrote about phelps myself (http://omidele.blogspot.com/2009/02/just-legalize-it-already.html). being in baltimore i've been hearing it non-stop.
to me, all this speaks to the schizophrenia and hypocrisy around drugs and drug policy in this country, and the complete failure to realize that what we do around those issues is NOT working.
I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS...
*inhale*
I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS, I HATE SPORTS...
Boxing is cool...and martial arts...
flux all that team bs...one man/woman getting all the recognition when there was a team effort...no one really cares about Scottie Pimpin's ass, just Jordan...
one on one contact sports are better...eliminate the middle man...
Do politicians have to take drug tests?
@ MIKE:
I agree with you. As does Veeck v Treasury Dept Of The USA.
Bill Veeck took the IRS to tax court claiming that his players were not only his employees but also the principal product he was selling and therefore he should be able to deduct their salaries as current expenses and then capitalize their contracts, discounted to present value and depreciate that value according to an appropriate cost recovery schedule.
The court ruled in his favor and it has withstood all appeals since it was brought in 1976.
The material meaning is that as long as the team or the corporate entity which owns the team has sufficient earnings to offset against the double write-off, THE PLAYERS ARE PLAYING FOR FREE. YOU'VE READ THAT RIGHT.
The New York Yankees just in merchandise sales, licensing and their piece of the Manchester United FC have enough revenue to cover the write-offs on their entire roster and then some. That's exclusive of tickets, concessions, parking, etc.
CC Sabathia is playing for free when viewed through the owner's lens which is the lens most fans use. Why is that when they come to watch they players play a game not to fret over the owner's net worth?
There are team owners who are perfectly fine, intelligent, and pleasant people like Mark Cuban. There are team owners who are Nazis like Alex Spanos. And there are all kinds in between. Bud Selig in his role as defacto owner of the Brewers as well as Commissioner Of Baseball is as miserly as Ebeneezer Scrooge and the losing of a single penny or the single opportunity to save a penny makes him heartsick. Yet, there are very few more poltically progressive people in the world of sports than Bud Selig is outside of his baseball business. He's generous and big-hearted and has put his money where his mouth was backing all manner of projects meant to better the lives of the residents of inner city Milwaukee with no strings attached and no preaching. Go figure.
The point is that none of that means anything to be beyond fun facts. I like watching the games. And I figure any of these guys can worry about their own money. I don't have to worry about it for them.
There are four sports, however, which are desperately in need of reform: NCAA Men's Football, NCAA Men's Basketball, the ATP and the WTA. And it's all about money.
Never mind Karl Marx, I'm sure Milton Friedman didn't dwell too often on big-time NCAA sports. The players not only receive no compensation for the billions of dollars their work brings the schools, the NCAA and most of all the networks. Moreover, they are subject to schedules whose rigors very few people have to endure and are examined, poked, probed, and tested daily in a life devoid of any privacy. The schedule is so demanding that the promise of a college education as compensation is a sick joke.
NCAA players should receive compensation and bargain for it collectively as well as bargain collectively for a benefits package any worker doing a highly physical job would receive. I think they should receive a deferred scholarship should they want to get their degrees in the off-seasons or after their careers are over.
Now, the most corrupt two sports in the world are not boxing and standardbred racing. Not even close depsite their reputations. The men's ATP tennis tour and the Women's WTA tennis tour are by far the most corrupt big time sports maybe in the last 200 years.
The problem is that tennis is the most physically demanding big time sport there is and the differences between the great, good and adaquate are at the level of rigid stratification of championship chess.
Add to this that a player has to give over his or her whole life just to spend 7 years preparing for the junior tours. The prize money is minute and the endorsement money is as well.
In this environment, however, exists vast international gambling markets on outright results, totals of games, anything you can think of, plus there are options and futures exchanges on which one may buy or sell derivative securities in huge amounts based upon the play of the first round, say, of a 32-draw midsummer tournament in Poland with a WINNER'S PRIZE OF $50,000.
The cheating is beyond rampant. I have my doubts whether Nikolai Davydenko or the Williams Sisters or Alejandro Falla or Justine Henin ever played ONE straight match that wasn't fixed in some way. I'm exaggerating of course but if you read the British Horseracing Boards study of the matches and the market patterns over 10 years of men's and women's tennis, you'll be like me and never watch a tennis match again.
The problem is that the prize money is way too low given how difficult it is and there's very little sponsorship money because the sport just isn't that popular for spectators outside of the majors and Davis Cup and those tickets are prohibitively expensive.
There's no way to stop the trading because money is fungible. There's not enough money out there to augment the purses to compensate for the stratification. They really should leave it a scholastic, club and international amateur sport. And then like all such things it's caveat emptor in the markets.
As it is, the pro sport is a disgrace. It might as well be WWF.
Who is Arod and why does everyone keep mentioning him?
hope you are coll hun :)
Long time no read brother! What's going on.. I'm just trying to get comfortable in my new spot at wordpress.
But yeah you are talking about the sports commentators right( hopefully that's spelled correctly) but I guess they feel like they've been there done that so they have the right to judge...lol
Go B.
I think many of them are WAY TOO overpaid. It just makes it so unfair to those players who are JUST AS GOOD, but maintain a lower pop-culture "image" and get WAY paid less or can't even hold a spot on the team. Its crazy.
i might be of the majority,, but i kind of expect them to ,, after all performance is what it is all about,, and without a spectacular performance,, why play?? they gotta do something special to make them worth all that money....
Politicians should take drug tests. If they test positive, I'll know I like them. Any politician who passes one is probably Richard Lugar or Orrin Hatch!
I don't think The Big Dog could have passed a drug test on a single DAY of his presidency. And forget it on his Boys Nites Out with Jesse Jackson, Vernon Jordan and Ron Perelman. Jesus, can you imagine how much fun those guys must have had?
Congress should have more pressing issues than whether or not Bonds doped, before it was illegal for the sport.
Ridiculous.
Congress should have more important things to do, i think.
Hey, you should do a post on this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Police
well i cant say that i completely agree...if my livelihood was that of a professional athlete and i worked hard...was great at it, but another athlete was doing better bc of a drug, i don't think i'd find that fair.
now it isn't the entertainment/sports industry's job to raise children...but unfortunately we live in a society that is inundated and obsessed with "stars". you put yourself in the limelight you should be accountable for your illegal actions.
should congress be so involved, i agree that we have better things they could be putting their time and energy into.
Ms. Lovely
i want my kids teachers to be what im worried about and safety - they just entertain
NightFall914
mane u aint never lied
T.Allen-Mercado
yep low self esteem and worth
KELSO'S NUTS
what the romans call them, uh "BLOOD SPORTS"
Keli
WELL COLEGE MAKES JUST as m uch loot as pro sports for their organizations - we dont fuss then
its big biz also
Ingie
yep and u cant hit the quaterback no more - i miss real sports, this new shit, my contract over my sport - glad physicians aint like that
Lovebabz
long time a coming ay?
Kiarah C. W.
all im saying is that we dont say it for other folks, who use them to heal - and perform, why not all drugs then
E. Payne
yep, not to mention it was not illegal
Mike
again - college athelets make organizations rich too - but they dont get jack. no profit sharing at all
msladydeborah
w or wo the enhancement it is still a sport
[Emeritus]
thank u sister
Nina
i say scholars before atheletes period
Christopher
me and u both and will always love it
ms. bliss honeycomb
i will check it
Cheron L. Hall
LMBAO
Angel s
LOL
go b.
u blocked me from your page folk
Princess Katrina said...
yep, super crazy
paisley
true, so true
KELSO'S NUTS
Bravo as usualy great senator
Keli
my point exactly
Craigjc
they waste enough of my loot already
Jillian
well said, our priorities are all backwards
I'm with you. I'm tired of them placing celebs and athletes on pedestals as if they're not normal people. And I do believe that some of them don't know what they're taking because I believe most times the doctors don't know what's in what they prescribe, they just know what it does. They're not pharmacists, they're doctors.
I am so sports challenged it is shameful :P
2sweetnsaxy
u and me both folk
Sheliza
dont worry all u have to do is be a fan
The only issue I have with this post is your non-issue with these athletes' use of performance enhancing drugs. Unfortunately, we have young athletes out here that look to these professionals as role models. So, it is important that they live the lives of 'clean' athletes. 'Skill and competence' are the foundation of any profession. If one must take drugs to do their job, perhaps that is not the job for them. As far as the rest of your post, I totally agree that commentators who have never played a sport professionally certainly can't speak on the pressure that these coaches and players feel while performing. They have no idea what those players and coaches are dealing with behind the scenes [in this business of sports] that affect their performance. Personally, I don't chime in on things that I don't have a clear understanding of and would rather ask questions than contribute an uninformed and uneducated opinion. A little different from your normal post, but I liked it!
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