If your not familiar with Jameis Winston, let me fill you in. He is the star quarterback (as a freshman) who not only led the Florida State football team to a National Championship, but he also won the Heisman Trophy to boot. Without question he's a rising star who'll probably be throwing footballs on Sundays in the near future.
About 6 months ago, this young man was being investigated for an alleged sexual misconduct charge. The case was dropped and he went on to have a tremendous season. But the outlier here is that this is the second incident for him, and he hasn't even got through two years of college yet. He's been suspended from the FSU baseball team for now, but the school should be looking into this latest escapade with a little more scrutiny. A few years ago, Florida State was embroiled in a scandal involving the football team being given free athletic shoes. That earned them the nickname "Free Shoes University" - today they've got a new one: "Free Shellfish University." Pretty catchy, no?
So back to my quandary. I thought if it worked for him, it might work for me. I went to Publix, scooped up a few pounds of crab and walked out the front door. I didn't make it to my car before I was arrested and shoved into the back of a cruiser. At the station I attempted to tell the officer that I made a "terrible mistake," and asked him if I could I just pay for the crab and go home.
"Did you win a Heisman Trophy?" he asked. I said that I hadn't. "Are you a member of the FSU football team?" I responded negatively to that as well. "Well, hell, did you even go to FSU?" I said that I didn't; I was from Massachusetts and went to school there.
"Massachusetts! You a Yankee?" Nope I'm a Red Sox fan I told him. "Well, that won't cut it. I'm afraid you/'re gonna have to spend the night here until we take you to the courthouse for your arraignment in the morning.
But, hey, look on the bright side my friend; we're having crab legs for dinner!"
Just kiddin'; I'm not really in jail, I'm just being a smartass! But there are thousands of people who are in jail who never got the benefit of being a "privileged athlete." We look the other way for people we tend to consider as heroes because they can run, pass, hit, score or whatever. Please don't get me wrong; I'm an avid sports fan, and I spend a great deal of time following sports on all levels. I watch tons of baseball games, college and pro football and pro hockey as much as possible, and I love it!
I'm not solely picking on Jameis Winston, although he deserves a bit of shame for his actions. Another recent example of "sports gone wild" is the sad case of Donald Sterling, owner of the NBA's LA Clippers. This man has shown himself to be a bigot before, but his latest actions are those of somebody who just doesn't give a damn what anybody thinks about him. He is empowered by the fact that he's a multi-billionaire, and obviously doesn't seem to feel that he needs to justify his actions to us or anyone else.
We scream loud and long about how much money big business CEO's are taking in salaries and benefits, and yet we continue to pack arenas and stadiums across our country, dishing out hundreds of dollars to buy a seat that allows the men and women playing a game for us to earn millions of dollars per year for their services. The insane amount of money being given to athletes is reflected in our ticket prices and concessions. Twenty-five million for a top-line pitcher? No problem; we'll raise admission and charge $10 for a draft beer!
The average guy can't afford to take his family to any sort of professional game today, but the prices keep going up. Where will the greed and craziness lead us? It will lead us back to the college players who are the next generation of stars. As a society, we need to stop pampering and giving these kids whatever they want; all it's accomplished is taking the fun out of everything and turning sports into a money-eating monster!
Make the stars of tomorrow (and the billionaire owners) accountable for their actions. Instead of a "terrible mistake," call it what it is: a robbery! The only mistake here is that he got caught.
On a lighter note, as a writer I find myself not wanting to use the same words repeatedly, but I also don't want to use "big words" that make me look like I'm inflating my sails. So here's something from comedian and actor Will Ferrell that made me chuckle;
"Sometimes, I use big words I don't always fully understand in an effort to make myself sound more photosynthesis." Exactly!
Mark T. Bradbury, Author
For information on my eBook, Serpent's Curse, please follow the link:
For those of you who would like to try the first seven chapters of my book "Serpent's Curse," please click on the link below:
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