Luke Scott: Why Fans Shouldn't Give OF's Obama Comments a Second Thought

Apparently, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Luke Scott won’t let proof and fact get in the way of his half-baked beliefs about the president.

Just a week after President Obama presented the media with a copy of his birth certificate in an attempt to dispel the rumors that wasn’t a natural-born citizen, Luke Scott told USA Today that he’s not buying it.

Scott told Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star that he believes the very real birth certificate is a phony.

Scott said:

"

(President Obama’s) birth certificate has yet to be validated. If they can counterfeit $100 bills, I think it’s a million times easier to counterfeit a birth certificate, if you ask me. Let’s just see if it’s real. Anybody can produce a document, so let’s check it out.

"

This isn’t the first time Luke Scott has given us his brilliant political analysis.

Last December, he openly stated that the president was not a natural-born citizen, so this is the axe that Scott has been grinding for some time. It’s unlikely he would back down from it now, even with concrete evidence.

What a shame that in a world where we believe Internet rumors about celebrity hookups and take athlete trick-shot videos (even when skill blatantly defies logic) at face value, when it comes to matters that really have an impact, we dismiss the truth—even when presented with proof.

Scott is clearly entitled to his beliefs, and sadly, he is not alone in them. But the bigger question remains:

Why do we continue to care what athletes believe?

Rashard Mendenhall had to write a blog defending his comments about Osama Bin Laden’s death as well as quickly remove tweets questioning the legitimacy of 9/11.

Whether or not we agree with these comments is irrelevant. The question is why does it bother us in the first place?

Do Rashard Mendenhall or Luke Scott have any better or more advantageous social perspective or position than we do?

Clearly not.

Are we to believe we behaved terribly in the wake of Bin Laden’s death because the guy who cost the Steelers a Super Bowl believes it was wrong?

Should I care that a guy who’s never sniffed .300 or played a full season of games thinks that Obama spent last week forging his own birth certificate? No.

Even if it was Albert Pujols, I shouldn’t care. He is a non-factor.

Furthermore, I’m not sure that these athletes get that the public doesn’t care. No one (and I mean no one) cares what athletes believe about 9/11, the environment or national health care. They confuse hatred and nasty feedback with actual interest.

They are simply poking the bear that is the Internet community. Its viciousness knows no reason; it reads and it reacts.

The Twitter followers, autograph seekers and adoring fans feed athletes’ egos into thinking that their perspectives are wanted or needed.

Personally, I couldn’t care less what half my family thinks about Obama and I love them. I certainly don’t care what a guy who looks like the other doctor on House thinks of Obama. As a matter of fact, I might care more about what the House guy thinks—at least he doesn’t play for a team that hasn’t won a World Series in 30 years.

Luke Scott can steer his blind and misguided ship in any direction he wants: Dinosaurs never existed, the Revolutionary War was a sham and Two and a Half Men is a funny show. He can take it wherever he wants.

I’m done paying attention.