So, I'm stuck in traffic yesterday (on a side note can someone PLEASE do something about Piedmont Rd. from Peachtree to Lenox?) listening to ESPN Radio and I hear about Michael Vick's indictment on FEDERAL charges. Ok, now I am fired up! This is getting ridiculous with athletes. Black, White, Latino, I do not care! Some synapse is no longer firing in their brains that allow them (and yes it is still a minority of them) to do stupid shit. By stupid I don't mean ignorant, I mean plain out stupid. From firing AK-47's in the air (yes, a Sophomore on my beloved UF team did that this summer) to making it 'rain' in Vegas and the 12 other incidents involving Pac-Man to the latest with Vick it is reaching epic proportions. What is at the root of it? Personally, I think it is the way the gifted athlete is now coddled in our society that allows these guys to think they are 'untouchable'. Do you realize that USC just took a verbal commitment to play basketball from an 8th Grader...huh? An 8th Grader? Forget all the other things this means, right now this kid will live in a sheltered bubble for the next 4 years and have his every 13 year old whim attended to. Do you think at the end of his ONE YEAR college career (if he gets that far) and signs his first 7 figure NBA Contract this kid will have ANY moral compass?
I was also thinking about the background that most athletes today grow up in and how that effects their behavior until I ran across the dear Senator from Louisiana last night? How can you lump in background issues when the White, Upper Middle Class does something even dumber and on top of that HYPOCRITICAL.
Have you heard about Senator Vitters? He's the guy that took the seat of another CHRISTIAN CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN who left his Office in shame for marital infidelity. The guy he replaced railed on Bill Clinton (which is fine) and led the effort for his impeachment hearings on the grounds of infidelity all the while he was having an affair...really...how do you look in the mirror sir? So, along comes Vitters and he has all the same 'family values' as the last guy. He's big on life, big on family and has a 'strong moral compass'. That is until his phone number turns up on a DC Madam list. Now this guy is in REAL trouble and I don't mean lose his job and be shamed trouble. His wife is on record, when discussing infidelity in the Clinton White House, as saying that if her husband was unfaithful he should be prepared for a 'Lorena Bobbit' like incident. If I were Mr. Vitters I would remove all sharp objects and worry about his 'pound of flesh'.
No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. Fortunately, most of live out of the public eye so our mistakes are only seen by a few. If there is a lesson here, at least with the good Senator, is to practice what you preach. If you like to pay for sex, that's your business, but don't come our railing against infidelity and standing on family values. Seems like common sense to me but maybe I'm the stupid one.
G
1 comment:
Yes, that soap box of Vitter's certainly did get knocked out from under him. So the obvious moral of the story is one should not preach that which one does not practice.
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