(Yes, I'm aware that every blog and newspaper in America has probably already said all this or at least talked about it, but I'm throwing in my 10 cents worth.)
Once upon a time, professional sports players made a decent amount of money for playing phenomenally without the use of steroids, and the athletes were role models for kids. They had vices like smoking or chewing tobacco or drinking, vices that were self-destructive and made them human enough that parents could tell little Johnny that they were still good men, but that they were hurting themselves.
Skip forward a few decades, and professional sports players make absurd amounts of money for playing phenomenally, often with the help of illicit steroids, and the athletes are worthy of being role models for no one. They have vices like dogfighting or starving, kicking, and shooting dogs, vices that are vicious to others and make them sadistic enough that parents can't find the words to tell little Johnny why these men are still allowed to walk free among decent human beings.
What is it about the NFL and NBA now that seems to breed a callous attitude toward animals (and, oftentimes, other humans) in its players? When I started this post, I was thinking of Michael Vick's 18-page indictment for unspeakable things done to dogs on his property in Virginia. Now I'm thinking of Jonathan Babineaux, Ron Artest, Jayson Williams, along with many, many others. Not only are these athletes abusing the animals and people in their lives, some are being allowed to get away with proverbial slaps on the wrist by the leagues (cough...Babineaux...cough, cough), sending big messages to the kids that idolize them.
In case you missed the coverage of Jonathan Babineaux, he is the one arrested for beating his girlfriend's dog to death (but not killing it quickly, mind you, instead letting it suffer for hours) because he was mad at her after a fight. His girlfriend came home after a movie to find her dog dying, but Babineaux says he didn't have anything to do with it, even though he was the only one home with the dog. Riiiiiight.
Ron Artest was arrested for starving his female Great Dane, leaving the dogs for weeks at a time. He claims that his American bulldog was eating all the food; okay, Ron, but would you leave five toddlers, one of whom is known for aggressiveness, in the house alone for 3 weeks with fifty Happy Meals, telling them to sort out mealtimes for themselves? He claims that he had a dog-sitter that was mishandling the feedings; okay, Ron, is that why authorities had siezed your dogs at least three (and maybe six) times before for the same reason? Surprisingly, a month later he was also booked on spousal abuse charges. And, to ice his cake, in order to get a quote from him regarding his resulting seven-game suspension (seven whole games?), he had to be tracked down on a goodwill mission to Kenya. My favorite quote? ""I am doing many positive things this summer. ... [We] are holding HIV babies and walking around in the slums where kids have no running water or electricity and no shoes on their feet, feeding rice and beans to kids." What a piece of work.
And Jayson Williams? To me, he takes the all-in-one prize for stupidity and cruelty. Jayson Williams bet a teammate that he (the teammate) couldn't drag Williams's guard Rottweiler outside the house. When the teammate was smart enough to figure out that he could drag the dog pretty easily by its back legs, Williams shoots his own dog twice in the head with a shotgun, nearly decapitating it, and tells the teammate to get the fucking dog off his porch or he's next. Surprisingly, six months later, Williams was facing manslaughter charges when a limo driver died from a gunshot wound in his driveway bedroom; Williams denied having anything to do with the death, even though he was found to have staged (quite sloppily) the crime scene to appear as a suicide. We believe you, Jayson; that didn't make you look guilty (or stupid) at all!
Michael Vick, NFL's Golden Boy, should be hung out to dry. I am all for making an example of him. I am thrilled that all of his endorsement clients are bolting; sure, it is good PR for them, but it also sends a good message to all those kids who want to be Michael Vick when they grow up.
I'm just about ready to pronounce professional sports equivalent to organized crime and, if you think about it, terrorism. I think they've done as much to undermine an entire generation or two of young people as most things I can think of. You go, Lori!
Posted by: Blue Like the Sky | August 04, 2007 at 05:30 PM