Imagine that you are a football player for the Miami Dolphins.
You get up early for team workouts. You train your butt off all day as you help your teammates try and turn around the leagues worst team.
Then, you turn on a TV and see your teammate dancing around on ABC trying to get his face out in Hollywood, even though he is getting paid millions of dollars to be practicing and playing with his teammates.
This is what is wrong with professional sports—the athletes forget that they are getting paid to play.
I don't get why so many athletes are infatuated with becoming actors, musicians, or anything other than being an athlete. It really cheapens the game. Can't Jason Taylor wait until he is done playing football to pursue acting?
The Dolphins have paid him a lot of money to be at training camp with his teammates. Any respectable man would feel an obligation to show up and do what he can to improve the franchise.
I don't think Jason Taylor cares about his teammates or his franchise. His only agenda is money and fame. His teammates, and the Miami Dolphins' franchise, come in a distant second.
These types of athletes are in pretty much every sport.
If you listen to LeBron James speak, it is obvious he has a pretty large god-complex. You don't even have to walk into his house and see the statues he has had made of himself lining his entryway. Or, see his two-story 3,600 square-foot closet to know that he has an ego.
When asked what his goals are, he says he would like to be the richest athlete in the world. He wants to be the first athlete/billionaire. You'll hear nothing about basketball, winning championships, or being a good teammate.
The egos of athletes have extended far beyond the playing field. It seems like it is a contest of who can get their face in the most places. Players who make $10-15 million a year complain about their contracts. They even hold out and refuse to practice because another player is making more money than them.
For example, Chad Johnson said that he wouldn't play for the Bengals, even though he was under contract. He then took every interview he could get, and he made no sense at all with any of the random comments he made.
When Roger Clemens put the Red Sox, Yankees, and Astros into a bidding war halfway through the season, one couldn't help but to feel disgusted. He showed his team that he would put in the time it took to win when he flew off to play golf during some of his team's away games.
As long as he wasn't pitching, he didn't need to be there. It's not like he could give the young pitchers on the team any insight or knowledge during the game. He's only getting paid twenty million dollars.
I am pretty sure that it will just get worse in the years to come. As salaries skyrocket and the fame of athletes rises, commercialization will take over all of the old values and morals that shaped sports. Sitting down for a game will be nothing more than watching an over-glamorized TV show.
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3 months ago
"flied off" ?... do you mean "flew off"?
Other than that a pretty good article which I completely agree with...I don't understand why these people realize that great athletes make ungodly sums of money but people actually vital to the country's continuance make less than a pittance in comparison.
again, good article
3 months ago
This article actually sucks and is very elementary.
Sports are nothing more that entertainment. We fans spend more for entertainment than food, lodging and gas combined. As long as people are willing to pay to be entertained the money will be available to pay the entertainers that draw the crowds. It's that simple folks. Deal with it.
As far as expecting an athlete to be loyal to team, remember, loyalty is a two way street. When was the last time you saw team management loyal to a player?
As far as JT goes, his team mates have supported him throughout. I do believe however, that it is time for JT to S... or get off the pot.
Leon
from 3 months ago
"This article sucks"? That is an elementary statement. Don't you think you should actually write an article on here before you start bashing other peoples articles and opinions. Yes, sports are entertainment. But the fact that sports are real and not staged separate them from other forms of entertainment. People pay money to see the athletes do what they are paid to do. They don't pay to see them showboat and try to be actors and musicians or whatever. Loyalty is a two way street. Organizations are loyal to the athletes by giving them millions of dollars and helping them to make a name for themselves in professional sports. Do you think that just because a professional athlete is famous it automatically gives them the right to use their fame to become musicians or actors.
For every athlete who puts out an album or stars in a movie there is someone who actually has musical or thespian talent who doesn't get the chance to pursue their dream because some athlete uses his fame to get his foot in the door when he really doesn't have any talent towards what he is trying to pursue. You sound like a WWE fan. News flash bro. It's all fake. I bet you wish professional sports were more like pro wrestling. Staged, with all of the athletes getting all the airtime they can and bragging about how great they are all the time. You should stick with watching wrestling. Leave the real sports to the real fans.
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