The Media may not like Pro athletes, but people do

Sports have always been an outlet for me, like most people I tend to look to sports to get my mind off of the more serious things going on around me like school and work, this is why I am so upset with the direction professional athletes have taken lately. Obviously the first headliner that comes to mind is the Favre scandal, I had many mixed emotions about this but after reading a few articles from espn to the daily news it really got me thinking. The first thing that went through my mind is how early we are into the season, we are only coming up on week 7 and there have already been charges brought against Favre (QB), Braylon Edwards (WR), and Ben Rothlisberger (QB). And that’s just this season; other names that come to mind are Michael Vick (QB), Plaxico Burress (WR), and Seau (LB). Now I understand that these players aren’t guilty of doing anything that non high profile athletes aren’t also guilty of but we aren’t talking about your every day low lives here. Professional athletes, more now than ever, are looked upon by most people as “super people”, people who, whether they like it or not, are role models for a good chunk of the population. Now, I can’t help but feel like our star athletes have been doing us a disservice lately by not being active enough in programs designed to help our earth grow and prosper, and if they are it is not what we are seeing. We are seeing athletes in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and it needs to change. I do believe that these men and women (professional athletes) have a direct effect on today’s youth and people’s behavior in general. The masses tend to look into things and generally believe almost anything they hear and see, this is a flaw in society, but it is something that needs to be in the back of everyone’s mind, that you just can’t believe everything you hear because it’s on fox 5 news. It’s funny though because professional athletes (like they do in most cases) receive special treatment in that department as well. For some reason although most people will go their whole entire lives without ever meeting one professional athlete they always want to give them the benefit of the doubt. They don’t want to believe that their favorite quarterback since they’re 10 years old is a pervert who prays on young women, they don’t want to hear that their wide receiver is getting busted for drunk driving, or that their star quarterback is sending inappropriate pictures to a former sideline reporter etc. But just because it is harder for us to swallow doesn’t mean that we should go on pretending like it never happened either. It seems that the NFL sure is, and it’s despicable. When Favre was asked his feelings on the recent situation he has found himself in, this past Sunday, this is what he had to say… “ I don’t expect anything, I’m concerned about the next game.” It is like he isn’t even fazed by his lewd behavior, not to mention the fact that he has yet to take any responsibility for the event. Goodell claimed on the Today show that “ we apply the “policy” (personal conduct policy) whether you’re a high profile athlete or not.” We have yet to see any proof of this. Anyway, this is not a bash on the NFL association nor is it a bash on NFL players as a whole, it is just very disconcerting to watch as high profile (mostly NFL) athletes are allowing themselves to be portrayed in the media today as careless, selfish, criminals. It’s time that these athletes use their fame to help better the place in which they live.

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