Football Players, Excuse Me, Athletes Out Of Control

As the saga of Ben Roethlisberger drags on, I am starting to think that Roger Goodell isn’t going far enough in his attempts to bring NFL players in line.  And if you look at the other sports, football is not by itself by a long stretch.You have Gilbert Arenas, Tiger Woods, and the list goes on.  And it happens year in and year out nowadays.  Why does our society look the other way when professional athletes commit crimes and other acts that if others did those things, we would throw them under the jail or make sure that, if they were family, they know that their behavior is totally unacceptable?  The systems are out of control.

It has always baffled me that we wildly support the system that pays ball players these unbelievable amounts of money.  But we don’t seem to lose sleep over the fact that two of the most important functions in our society, those who educate our children (teachers) and those who protect us (policemen, firemen, etc) are so vastly underpaid.

I guess one could argue that this is all entertainment and it provides us that outlet to escape the realities and disappointments of real life. We can escape for a while, even a short while, into watching our favorite athletes go crazy in their respective sport.  But over the years, as the money that ball players get paid has spiraled out of control, more and more of their behavior has as well.  And I find myself more and more disgusted as time rolls on.

Some argue that they are paid for their performance in their respective sport and that they don’t owe us anything as “role models”.  I disagree with that however.  I think that as fans, we ultimately pay their salaries.  And we must decide as a society what we do, in fact, expect from them off the playing field.

If we don’t like it, then we must act on that.  We quit watching on TV, we quit paying those high ticket prices, we stop buying that “official licensed” merchandise.  Only through the money can we make our opinions known.   Sadly, that seems to be the only thing that gets through anymore.

So now I’ve had my rant.  And I hope that Commissioner Goodell and his counterparts in the other sports will continue on this track.  But if we, the fans, don’t speak our mind and vote with our wallets, nothing will ever change.