You Don't Know Jack...

Welcome to my new column: You don’t know Jack.

(Sidenote: I was debating between Jack in the box, Jacked up, and Jack off; before going with ‘You don’t know Jack’. Because you don’t. He lives in Connecticut.)

Jack said...

Thank you for your insightful response. The truth is, many fans can't stand from an objective point of view. i.e. I hate Kobe, but I would never claim that he sucks simply because he doesn't. I can appreciate his talent, but I don't like his character.

A friend of mine was appalled and disgusted by Paul Pierce's comment and made it known on facebook. His facebook status now tallied over 60 comments and counting.

Within those comments, we touched on a subject that falls under a grayscale and I would be interested to see your point of view on this one.

Do you think an athlete should be judged by their athleticism alone, or does their moral character play a role? i.e. the Tiger Woods scandal.

bypremier responds...

Ah, the age old question…does character matter when we judge star athletes? It’s a tough question to answer, because the honest answer should be, “No, it shouldn’t”. Athletes are human just like anybody else. They are not perfect. They make mistakes. And in the famous words of Charles Barkley, “I am not your role model.”

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. As a society, we look up to our favorite athletes. We believe that with that god given talent and fortune, they have a greater responsibility to the world (or at least…to us fans, that root for them). They are supposed to play exceptionally well, carry themselves with a sense of dignity and sportsmanship, be charitable, respectful, save lives, rescue cats stuck in trees…basically they are expected to be perfect. Much like how we hold our Presidents to a higher standard (helloooooo, Bill Clinton). But then we find out that they cheat on their wives or girlfriends, take performance enhancing drugs, that they curse, spit, buy expensive things with their money instead of helping out the needy, drink, smoke, fight…basically all the bad things they teach you in church. And suddenly, it’s like they did these things to us. But is that fair? Who are we to judge? Most of us are no better and are guilty of the same things. So where does that leave us? Depends on which side you fall.

In one corner you have the athletes: The ones who never asked for that responsibility and just want to play sports.

Then you have the fans in the other corner: The ones who wished it was them that were on that court/field/ring. The ones who pay good money…hard earned money…to watch these athletes. Who bring their kids to watch them too. And they want their money’s worth and then some. And those kids…they want to believe that these athletes are everything their imagination leads them to believe.

So who is right? You’re not going to like my answer…but I say the athletes are. They should have the right to choose to do what they want and we have the right to like them or not. We should only judge them for their ability to play and perform at the highest level. We watch Tiger, so we can see greatness on the golf course. So what if he cheats. Statistics say a majority of people cheat as well. That makes a majority of us hypocrites. Is Tiger stupid…absolutely! Did he lie and ruin a good thing…sure. But who cares. It’s his life. He’ll still be considered one of the greatest golfers ever. Same goes with Kobe, Big Ben (although he belongs in jail…if he actually raped that woman), and all the other villains the media writes about everyday. If you don’t like it, then don’t be a fan of theirs and don’t buy their merchandise. And if you choose to turn off the TV or stop following them, well…all you risk if missing out on greatness. But at the end of the day, as the great NFL writer Peter King once said, “The criteria for the NFL Hall of Fame is for what they did on the field, not what they did off of it.”

Sure, there are exceptions. Some people relish that responsibility and do good deeds with their fortune and fame. Think of the Tim Tebows of the world. But then again, a lot of it is media created. The 24/7 news cycle forces people to create an image and try to maintain some sort of privacy in their lives. But this part is a whole nother argument for another day.

Jack, hopefully that answered your question. And I hope you don’t mind me shamefully using you as material for my blog.

In closing I would like to say…WTF??? 60 comments? I wish I could get 60 comments to something I write. Heck, I’d settle for 6.