So I heard on the radio Saturday that Leonard Little was in trouble again with the law, but I had missed what it was he had done. I turned to my friend and said, "Well, let's hope it doesn't have to do with drunk driving." Later in the day I found out what had happened and I was somewhat enraged (and still am).
At what point does a person "earn" special treatment? What is the dollar amount that must be made in order to get the law to bend for you? I truly wish someone would just make a law that defines exactly at what income amount "special considerations" will be considered. How can I know which laws I can afford to break if someone doesn't tell me how much it will cost me monetarily.
Another set of questions:
When did a guy running around on grass chasing another man with a leather, air-filled ball become reason enough to excuse a person from breaking the law? (At this point, the argument crosses all sports boundaries, but I'll keep the focus on football for the time being.)
When did we as paying customers decide that it was okay for our sports "heros" to behave in a manner that is not only inappropriate and dusgusting, but also illegal?
Like it or not, sports "icons" exist today as the public holds them up on a pedestal. Is it fair to the player to be considered an idol or hero or role model? Perhaps not. Is it the job they signed a contract for? Absolutely not. Are they under a lot of pressure? Sure they are. And they get paid incredibly well to be in that limelight. So it's impossible for me to separate the "professional athlete" from the "public figure", because they are one and the same.
The athletes enjoy the spotlight when it shines brightly on their achievements, but cry foul when it burns severely on their heads when they do something wrong. I, for one, do not believe there needs to be such a double standard. You want to be paid so much to play a game? Fine. You want to mess up your life, and the lives of others in the process? Be ready to pay the piper. And I don't mean pay as in financially. I mean doing the hard time that any other "common" man would be required to serve in a common prison.
Charles Barkley once stated matter-of-factly in a Nike commercial "I am not a role model... Parent should be role models."
I challenge the reasoning behind such logic. Anyone who is seen in public has the potential to be a role model. If I hold the door open for someone, I am being a role model. If I flip someone off in traffic, then I am being a role model. If you play a sport on the professional level, you are a role model. And if you break the law, you should be the role model of a citizen judged justly, sentenced accordingly, and serving completely whatever judgement has been given.
I am nauseated by the consistent special treatment of athletes in judicial matters. I think they should be prosecuted just like everyone else. And although I am a huge Rams fan, I would love to see justice served in whatever form it may be. And whatever contractual issues may exist in releasing Little shoud be considered mute. He violated his contract as a representative of the team and thus, vicarious as it may be, as a representative of our city. If I did something to damage the reputation of the company I work for, I would be released without benefits or severence pay. Here's a guy that has made millions playing a game. I think he should be able to "survive" for a while without any more money from a team he has burned twice now. If not, then shame on him...
And if we let him off the hook again, then shame on us...
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