Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Does Every Action Hero Have to have an Asterisk?

Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Marian Jones, Justin Gatlin (Washington Post 8/23/2006: Amy Shipley), Michael Irvin, Floyd Landis and myriad athletes who have come before are (and have been for years) tearing the very fabric from which their super hero capes are made. Whether it is drugs or money or sex or cheating or betting, isn't there a school that these super athletes attend that should indoctrinate them to the unwitting special trust and confidence that we parents put in them? Like Uncle Ben says in SpiderMan, "with great power comes great responsibility." Shouldn't there be a place where these grown up kids learn that?

Yes. At home. At church. At school. At little league. At Pop Warner League. At Babe Ruth League.

People are trying, but it takes some effort and for a lazy society, that means inaction.

We have a epidemic going here and it is spiraling out of control.

Boom out.

2 comments:

Henry Plantagenet said...

All of the sports shows, which seem more prolific than TV that offers genuine debate about real issues, discuss the salaries of these athletes ad nauseum. The athletes seek competitive advantage because they are paid outrageous sums of money to win. Spectators pay for their fantasies to be acted out by the pros, and the pros cheat to provide the dream for their customers.

Boom said...

Back to the Chicken or the Egg thing aren't we?

How 'bout we take a 2 year hiatus, wipe the slate clean and start all over again, knowing what we know now and benefiting from it?

In the meantime, let's make little leaguers (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, T+F, Lacrosse...) our heros and the objects of our cheers.

Wouldn't that be better?
Hell, maybe we'd NEVER go back to the NFL (National Felons' League)!

Ranting.

Boom