In the last year, we have witnessed a steel-headed quarterback do some pretty stupid things, a frosted-flake golfer unveil his personal life in a way neither he nor we wanted, and the return of a dog-killing phenom. What a year!
It is no surprise that these events made major headlines. After all, we live in the days of useless journalism. We no longer can say that the youth are disinterested in the news because we so-called adults don’t really follow much real news ourselves. The fact that there hardly is any news could be the cause. Between homicides that do not shock us, politicians we cringe to trust and world events from which we are terribly isolated in our personal securities, there just isn’t much to read in the papers or on-line in this the tenth year of the twenty-first century. One would think that readership of literature would be on the rise, but with Facebook and Twitter and MySpace being so grippingly fascinating, well, you get the point of sarcasm, don’t you?
The three biggest news stories of 2010 involved sports figures who did wrong and tried to rebound. What to do, what to do? We can’t stop the machine that is media. Even if we turn our televisions off, they (those guys who sell advertising) will still know what we would have watched had we been watching. They are that good!
We could quit watching sports. Stop! Don’t be so silly. Why would we do that? This is life. Without sports we would simply have…well, a life.
Listen, I am as big (no fat jokes, please!) of a sports fan as anyone. I enjoy the games and I buy into the hype. I allow advertisers to throw money around to support the media monolith of our times. I play my small part. I am aware that the NFL has had all kinds of tragedies and assorted flaws – from linemen who have killed innocent drivers in off-field mistakes to tacklers who have paralyzed other players in on-field collisions.
Regardless of events, we take football too seriously and we react too emotionally about athletes and their downfalls. As if we should be surprised! Aeschylus (classic Greek playwright – Google it) taught us the dangers of pride and its eventual destruction some 2,500 years ago, and yet we find ourselves surprised when it happens with each generation.
Take for instance The Big Three of 2010. Ben, Vick and Tiger…were you really surprised? If so, you haven’t paid attention to history.
Michael Vick offers us some sort of hope, though. You may recall that Vick led a dog-fighting ring that was atrocious, violent and just plain wrong. Fair enough – he did a really bad thing. There is no single argument against that. He screwed up. However, he also served his time and was released back into society. He followed the laws that We The People have instituted within our American landscape.
I have heard a lot of people make proclamations that they will never root for Vick or any team that signs him. Again, fair, everyone has their right to their opinion. Everyone also has the right to be brought back into perspective.
Whether you like it or not, our rules state that once you have served your time, you deserve a second chance. After all, society is bigger than football – despite what you might think.
The would-be haters return with comments that no other regular guy would get his job back after going to jail, and that they would be forced to work from the bottom. While I can’t disagree with you, I have to be realistic in my reaction. Mike Vick is not a regular guy. You and I are regular guys. Michael Vick did not make the NFL the Empire that it is – we did.
The NFL runs on the simple logic of Supply and Demand. As long as you demand football, they will supply it, and they meet your demand by paying top athletes a lot of money to entertain you. In short – get off your high horse. Do not tell me for a second that you wouldn’t take the same deal Michael Vick did in order to return to a job that would pay you more money than 99% of the world population will earn over an entire lifetime.
It is the very time you spend, the jerseys you purchase, the television you watch, the fantasy football you play, the ESPN that you follow, the tailgate parties you enjoy, the ticket lists you enroll on, the tickets you beg, borrow and steal for, and the Vegas odds you digest that make the NFL what it is – a Billion Dollar Industry. I repeat, Billion! Any industry pays its employees what the market deems they are worth. I teach; the education sector deems I am worth enough to get by on a modest living in the suburbs. I like to think my profession is noble, but I am sure we have recuperated killers amongst our ranks somewhere. I just hope they don’t run my Super Bowl poll.
So, the next time you scoff at Michael Vick, take a look in the mirror. That authentic rip-off jersey you had to have may well have paid his salary.
As for the other two stories of 2010, only time will tell whether those two silly boys, Tiger and Ben, will change their stripes, so to speak. Both Roethlisberger and Woods are playing the media frenzy well. They are both saying the right things and promising to behave wisely, etc. I just wonder, when 2020 rolls around, which of these athletes will we remember? Probably all three, though Woods will be the one to have done the most. His legacy as a golfer is already set in stone. Ben has done his fame due diligence – two Super Bowl victories will have him part of the discussion for decades. The historical jury on Vick will deliberate longer than his trial jury did. What he does will go a long way to deciding his fame and his fate.
Until then, don’t blame the guy for taking the job, you would and so would I. I would even wear Eagle’s green for that kind of green.
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Well done! I will return later to post snarky observations...
ReplyDelete"there just isn’t much to read in the papers or on-line in this the tenth year of the twenty-first century."
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree. There is more to read now than there ever has been. The difference now is we have so many options that no one can tell us what to read. If you want to know more about anything all you have to do is look. Their is no need to be sheltered from a topic if you have genuine interest in it.
AS for reading literature, I don't think reading has to do with any type of social media. I think book sellers need to adapt to now. I read more now that I have my Kindle than I have in the past few years. Why? convience. I don't have to run out and buy books, I have access to everything and amazon learns what I like and will make suggestions for my next read.