[Rant] Seriously, athletes, what the fuck?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Talk about a total waste of a life. Aaron Hernandez has been taken into custody in the murder of Odin Lloyd. Not saying he's guilty, but after the shooting that happened in or near a car he rented after they had gone to a club Hernandez destroyed a cell phone and his security system and hired a cleaning company to scour his house. Sure looks guilty, huh?

But that's neither here nor there. What the fuck is up with these athletes? Here's a dude that makes millions and he throws it all away...and for what? To go to a club and get shitfaced? Dude's got kids, man. I keep seeing people like this throwing away the fucking world for the stupidest shit.

I know what the answers are going to be about how they are coddled and allowed to do anything they want for their whole lives and think they are untouchable, but don't you think that they'd figure out that people around them can be toxic and that their actions will come back to haunt them? They see it all the time in the media where these idiots lose everything.

I just don't get it.
 
DarkAudit

DarkAudit

That's 29 NFL players arrested since the Super Bowl. The Commissioner needs to come down hard and make sure he wins the PR battle too.
 
drawn_inward

drawn_inward

I think it's probably part environmental and part internal. The "environment" for sports is toxic IMO. Kids have some much pressure on them to be the next Lebron or Tebow (teehee). They get it from parents, schools, peers when they are in H.S. Heck, they cover H.S. sports on the local news here in OKC. H.S. kids on sports news! Then, college is even worse. Professors that let them slide, coaches that use them for personal gain w/o thought to their health or future career, boosters, the nutso fans. Then the pro-leagues must be like a crack-cocaine meth sandwich when it comes to all the above.

Our mentality of treating the kids as gladiators and then paying a few hundred dollars for tickets needs to stop. And, I love college ball (football), and some pro sports.

HOWEVER, there will always be a few bad eggs no matter what.
 
Tress

Tress

drawn_inward said:
I think it's probably part environmental and part internal. The "environment" for sports is toxic IMO. Kids have some much pressure on them to be the next Lebron or Tebow (teehee). They get it from parents, schools, peers when they are in H.S. Heck, they cover H.S. sports on the local news here in OKC. H.S. kids on sports news! Then, college is even worse. Professors that let them slide, coaches that use them for personal gain w/o thought to their health or future career, boosters, the nutso fans. Then the pro-leagues must be like a crack-cocaine meth sandwich when it comes to all the above.

Our mentality of treating the kids as gladiators and then paying a few hundred dollars for tickets needs to stop. And, I love college ball (football), and some pro sports.

HOWEVER, there will always be a few bad eggs no matter what.
Click to expand...
Not only that, but these athletes are specifically taught they are special, and they are above the rules. So it's no wonder that they don't understand the concept of law and rules when they turn pro.

It sounds like Hernandez has been a shady fucker this whole time, and New England was doing a good job managing him. Now he's in the shit so deep that it's all coming out.
 
Tress

Tress

1st degree murder, five gun charges, no bail.

[DOUBLEPOST=1372275002][/DOUBLEPOST]ESPN pointed out something interesting earlier:

32 teams in the NFL
Roughly 90 players per team (including practice squads)
32 x 90 = 2880 players

27 out of 2880 is less than 1%... so it's not the epidemic the press is making it out to be. But that's still higher than anyone wants it to be, especially the league.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
They have a shitload on this guy. Video of him with guns getting the victim, DNA to place him at the place of the murder, GPS tracking of both he and the victim, etc. etc. etc.

Hernandez is fucked.

And this is exactly what I'm talking about. Here's a guy who is making $40+ million and has everything going for him, yet he goes to clubs, acts like a thug and then kills a guy (allegedly)? What the fuck?
 
Tress

Tress

Dave said:
And this is exactly what I'm talking about. Here's a guy who is making $40+ million and has everything going for him, yet he goes to clubs, acts like a thug and then kills a guy (allegedly)? What the fuck?
Click to expand...
Keepin' it real, yo.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Dave said:
Here's a guy who is making $40+ million and has everything going for him, yet he goes to clubs, acts like a thug and then kills a guy (allegedly)? What the fuck?
Click to expand...
Some people just have to unlock ALL the achievements.

--Patrick
 
Covar

Covar

Tress said:
1st degree murder, five gun charges, no bail.

[DOUBLEPOST=1372275002][/DOUBLEPOST]ESPN pointed out something interesting earlier:

32 teams in the NFL
Roughly 90 players per team (including practice squads)
32 x 90 = 2880 players

27 out of 2880 is less than 1%... so it's not the epidemic the press is making it out to be. But that's still higher than anyone wants it to be, especially the league.
Click to expand...
Shush, that's a horrible narrative.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

People are more inclined to forgive crimes that arise from need. Lots of people would forgive the man who steals a mouthful of bread to feed his sister's starving child.

But when you have one hundred million dollars for being good at throwing a big orange ball into a hoop, or kicking a ball around, or tacking a guy who's holding an oval-shaped ball, or gliding around ice while whacking a small plastic disc, then can't you just buy some bread?

So yeah, the overall crime rate in professional sports might be no higher than the overall population, but people are less likely to forgive the rich millionaires for their crimes.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Gared said:
Apparently Hernandez is now also being investigated in connection with a double murder last year.
Click to expand...
I was just coming here to post this. Apparently, the vehicle in connection with those murders look to have been rented out to Hernandez. Holy shitballs.
 
Zappit

Zappit

Staff member
It's just how sick our culture has become in regards to sports. From a young age, athletes that show promise are marked for special attention and privileges. Grades are forgiven, or boosted even at the protest of the teachers that refuse to go along with the farce. College recruiters treat them as precious gems, given that the NCAA is a billion dollar business. With that business at stake, those athletes are just a cog in the economic engine, some never required to attend the classes their scholarships paid for. Adults much older than them sneak them gifts, make excuses for their transgressions, and actively work to bury evidence and knowledge of those transgressions.

When you spend half your life unable to do wrong, it twists your perspective on the very concept of right and wrong, that the rules of society apply to others and not you. So what happens with that conditioning? O.J. Steubenville. That drug dealing Bengal whose name escapes me. Hernandez. The list goes on. Since the Super Bowl, twenty-nine NFL players have been arrested. It's not changing unless we realize how much damage the sports culture does to young and impressionable athletes. It will only get worse. We forgive egregious acts. We have parents fighting in the stands. We have one hockey dad beat another one to death. We see Brian Stow nearly beaten to death. Too many people place far too much emphasis on sports, and it warps us.

That's the problem. Hold the kids accountable. Hold yourself accountable. Above all, focus on the notion that sport is not everything. We held athletes to a higher standard; now we breathe a sigh of relief if they don't get arrested, and that's a damn shame.
 
jwhouk

jwhouk

I take some umbrage with the "whack a rubber disk with a stick" part. Said sport is so difficult, takes so much time and money to master, and is so physically demanding that it is incredibly rare that someone in said sport has enough time to do something as bad as this.


Dany Heatley to the contrary, of course.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top