If sports, with their respective stars serving as our role models and leaders, are indeed only more interesting microcosms of our society, as many people consider them to be, I’d have to say that we in North America are all in a pretty bad state at the moment.
To say that Barry Bonds' historic accomplishment of surpassing Hank Aaron's all-time MLB home-run record was overshadowed by his alleged use of illegal performance-enhancing supplements would be the understatement of the year. The NFL's "next flagship talent,” speedster Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons, has probably played in his final game due to his involvement with illegal dog fighting activities. The NBA's recent return to respectability, primarily due to super-commissioner David Stern's work over the past decade as well as the sudden emergence of an influx of fresh young talent (Amare Stoudemire, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade), is now suddenly lost in the mix as the rest of the sports world casts a watchful eye over former NBA official Tim Donaghy's courtroom drama following a scrutinizing investigation into the past few years of his once-personal life over the suspicion of illegal involvement within betting circles.
Then there's always the fact that consensus "best basketball player in the world" (Kobe Bryant) is once-again engaged in a full-time media circus himself, involving contradictory & vague off-and-on media spats imploring the LA Lakers organization to trade him at any cost, and NOW. And judging by the Miami Heat's stunning collapse last season (they were swept in the 1st round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs by a far inferior Chicago team, if you’ve already blocked out that memory as I have), its safe to say that neither the biggest figure in the sport, self-proclaimed shogun Shaquille O'Neal (his own article is coming), nor the newly-crowned "second-coming of Jordan" in a humble but dynamic 2006 NBA Finals MVP Dwayne Wade truly has any impact on the game’s image and reputation.
Need more proof? In today's NBA headlines: Former Minnesota Timberwolves Forward Eddie Griffin Dead at 25, Heat's Posey to Plead Guilty to Reckless Driving, Wizards re-sign Blatche Despite His Legal Woes. Does anybody else see a problem with this culture we inspire and immerse ourselves in?
Griffin, who by all accounts was a kind-hearted forward with athletic gifts foreign to most other professional basketball players, died at age 25 after crashing his SUV into a freight train. No identification could be made of his identity from the charred remains found in the totalled vehicle until his lawyer was able to find an elusive set of dental records to match those of the corpse. He had battled alcoholism and had been involved with a long list of legal problems prior to his crash, but despite all of his past colleagues' efforts to support and elevate him, Griffin succumbed as a sombre reminder of our society’s mortality. How was nobody around him able to keep him away from temptation and making poor decisions as a highly-coveted young athlete with millions on the table already, and even bigger money waiting around the corner in his career?
The Michael Vick storyline probably suits this discussion even more, as over the past few years Vick's unique talents & charismatic ability on the field had led many insiders to proclaim the next big star in the NFL, one of the world's most profitable sporting leagues backed by some of the US's biggest media conglomerates. Just how many of you would've given an arm and a leg for the chance to be such an athlete, even for an instance? I know I probably would've.
I’ve built myself based on the old/true-school, so for me I’d choose to trade my set of unique life experiences for a chance to be Hakeem Olajuwon in the '94 NBA Finals, battling long-time nemesis Patrick Ewing in a defensive-minded throwback 7-game series. Shit, I’d give up all of my photography work to again live as “The Dream” for a moment in sporting history, as a jubilant Olajuwon in the prime of his career as he swishes a three-pointer from the corner late in the game to signify a complete and utter dominance of an upstart Orlando Magic squad that boasted a young but inexperienced beast in Shaquille O'Neal the very next year in 1995. (In the 4-game Finals sweep, Olajuwon averaged something ridiculous like 33 points, 12 boards and 6 assists while defending the 300-pound O'Neal each game - on another note, are there still complete, TEAM-oriented players like him anymore?)
But see, this is where the subtle point arises. Would I trade my life for that of an NBA superstar today? I probably still would, but it wouldn’t even be close to being the same discussion in my head if it were about an exceptional athlete and all-around citizen of 10-15 years ago instead (think a young Trevor Linden, anyone?). For, even as a casual observer and distant outsider from the professional sports circuit, I know that the media frenzy surrounding our professional sports is at an all-time high, even if spectator interest in these same sports have actually waned in recent years.
Can you just imagine what it'd be like to have to deal with ruthless media sharks 365-days a year as Kobe Bryant following his legal issues, his former issues with his coaches & team-mates alike, as well as the speculation around his on-going trade-demands? Sure, the money given to athletes nowadays is absurd - but isn't it a telltale sign of problems within when sports announcers actually point out players who are happy to play their sport, who play "for the love", versus the other 80% or 90% who end up as disillusioned "professional athletes" who don't do their respective "jobs" properly?
At a glance it’s easy to point the fingers at these perfect figures we've created in our collective minds, these transcendent athletes with extraordinary physical ability, thrown on a pedestal and worshiped/hated/loved/destroyed. After all, their lives are perfect - so HOW can they screw it all up?! Well, increasingly, it seems that we as an alienated society have forgotten that we are all only human. We all make this mistake in our expectations of public figures, especially wealthy celebrities, but are we now crossing the threshold towards an increasingly-dangerous sporting environment?
The majority of our generation's youth is largely confused by the shiny lights & "trend-setting" marketing propaganda our generation's minds have cleverly thought up, yet, as a collective, it doesn’t seem like we are all that worried. Some of my closest friends (as well as my own girlfriend) are enthralled by The Hills, a “reality” TV show dedicated to following a unique collection of sad mindless mishaps born into fortunate situations. They might as well all be cast of alabaster, plaster or plastic given the level of personality they exhibit anyhow. I’m probably pissing off a lot of people by saying this, but The Hills definitely one of the stupidest TV shows, books, movies, or any other “works of art” I have ever encountered. Oh yea, and it’s ridiculously popular right now too - (dot dot dot, I, in my sane/insane frame of mind, can't explain this phenomenon at all).
My point is, in this type of setting, is it really all that surprising that even those seemingly more fortunate than the norm are struggling to find themselves? Is our way of life healthy? Does anybody even care about the actual welfare of our athletes and celebrities, or even of ourselves?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but there's no need to mistake my angst for righteousness, as I doubt anybody else truly has a clue anyhow. For now, I'll be content to live day-to-day, planning for the future and aware of my past, working as hard as I can along the way. Fitting eh? After all, this is all any of us not with a 3-letter moniker (beginning with G and ending with D) could ever do, anyways. Unless you don’t believe in – AHH, you don’t? (Oh, no - you didn't just do that, Kevin...) Just messing, I guess I’ll leave that as a separate subject to address another time. =)
PS. I haven't written seriously since high school, but I’m glad that words still spill out when they need to, I just hope that most came out in the correct order =) Thank you for reading, feel free to leave me your thoughts/criticisms on both the subject matter as well as the writing itself.
