Need to see how far American culture has fallen? Start with Sports

I know I'm probably to young to write this, but I've heard stories. 

Stories of journalists keeping a player's alcoholism or drug use under wraps as long as it didn't affect his or her play on the field.  Where has that gone?  The respect for an athlete's private life has disappeared in the age of the Internet and 24-hour sports channels.   

I know some players make it easy.  I know I enjoyed Roger Clemens' fall from grace after the Mitchell Report was released.  His arrogance only made it easier to root against him.  Much like Barry Bonds. 

I'm not condoning the actions of athletes who think they are above the law.  Think about all the NFL players that have been arrested in the past 3 years, all the college football players arrested in that same time, all the baseball players that have been busted for steroids or amphetamines.  That's a hefty list, isn't it? 

I could do without the stories of so-and-so getting arrested for the umpteenth time this week.  Does the public need to know everything about their favorite sports star?  It's almost like we've become obsessed with who is going to fall next?  Why not hear about all the good things athletes are doing?  Our culture has place athletes on a pedestal for many, many years.  Somewhere during that time we went from admiring them to trying to pull it back out from under them.  Why?

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