Players-Sb

I was reading our local sports paper and saw that the game is over for "Pacman" Jones. I guess after so many of its players being arrested last year, the commissioner brought down the big hammer. Up to now, many of us probably never cared about that "bad" part of the athlete. We just compared them to the toy soldiers that we kept in the closet and took out when we were ready for them to entertain us.

Sure, we complain about levies that will raise our homeowner's insurance and we sure don't want to pay taxes for education. But we will pay thousands of dollars to see our favorite rock stars, athletes and movie stars. We don't care if they do drugs, get arrested for driving while intoxicated or that some of them are miserable human beings. We just want our entertainment!

You say your favorite athlete can throw a 200 mph fastball? He can throw a football 399 yards? He has a bionic arm and can hit 300 homeruns a season? Well, I won't tell you about the day he got intoxicated and ran over some innocent woman. Who cares if she died and left behind a husband and a son? Just throw 2 touchdowns on Sunday so I can beat the spread and collect my money.

I think you get the point, we forget that they are human and eat, drink and feel pain like the rest of us. I have been a sports fan my entire life. I love to see camaraderie and teamwork in action. When we saw the Buffalo Bills come back and win after being down 35-3 many years ago, we saw the impossible. We saw a team pull together and win. It's amazing what we can do when we work together. The philosophy of sports can be applied to everything we do in life.

I just want you to remember to not put these gifted athletes on a pedestal. If they commit crimes, they should be punished accordingly as we would. They are not better people, just better athletes. It will be exciting to see the NFL demand high quality character in their future players. Athletes also need to remember that pro sports is a privilege and not a right.