Fall is a beautiful time of year. Not only are the leaves serenading us, making us feel the colors that they bring, the air is brisk and warm simultaneously, school is starting, sweaters make their way out of the back of our closets, and football season begins. With a new season there is always controversy: trades, cuts, management issues; this year, however, has been especially scandalous. With the return of Michael Vick, the sentencing of Plaxico Burress, the rape allegation surrounding Ben Roethlisberger, and the most recent incident involving Shawne Merriman choking Tila Tequila- the NFL is starting to resemble something of a Soap Opera. In my opinion all this drama is distracting and ultimately antithetical to the image the NFL should be seeking to maintain—and it hasn’t always been this way. Athletes in previous years were fairly low on the TMZ style news radar. It has not been until recently that athletes have become so widely and publicly notorious.Let’s look at Shawne Merriman in particular. The San Diego Charger’s defensive player is young, handsome, Black, and rich—apparently a perfect recipe for the ultimate in Tomfoolery. Shawne is 25 years old and he makes millions of dollars yearly. He wants for nothing and is surrounded by people who are constantly offering him disingenuous praise and a never-ending flood of “Yes”. He was recently featured in the Keri Hilson/ Kanye West “Knock You Down” video, and he was even a judge for the Miss USA pageant. While these are impressive resume notes, they have nothing to do with FOOTBALL.
For whatever the reason, this young man got himself involved with reality TV dating show star, Tila Tequila. While there is little information regarding the nature of his relationship with the former MySpace sensation, Merriman was arrested for choking and restraining the petite Hollywood hopeful. How is it that a person with all the choices his financial resources have presented him, can find himself in such a situation? I contend it is simply stupidity and a lack of passion for his athletic gift.
Athletes need to stop trying to be celebrities and need to start perfecting their athletic skill. Michael Jordan was a celebrity, not because he was out on the town canoodling with one of the Kardashian sisters. MJ was a celeb because MJ was an athlete—and a damned great one. I remember sitting in front of the television with a bucket of Rainbow Sherbet from Baskin and Robbins, my dad adjusting the rabbit ear antennas as we watched Michael Jordan in awe. Even though I was really young, it was like I knew I was witnessing something other worldly. Nowadays we catch rare incidence of athletic greatness.
To the beloved athletes, here’s some advice. Stop trying to be featured in Kanye’s new video, stop sleeping around, take care of the children you have and don’t bring any more illegitimate children in to this world, get your finances in order, make some reasonable investments, become a genuinely involved member of the community, and get serious about your game. Here’s a thought, why don’t you start training in the off season? Not those wimpy workouts that are required by the team; I’m talking Walter Payton style. I want to see you run up an eighty degree hill with a back pack and sweat socks. What happened to the REAL athletes?
Michael Jordan was great because he practiced harder than all the other players on the court! Maybe more practice would lend itself to less free time. Less time to go to the club, less time to possess illegal weapons, less time for bank rolling illegal activities, less time to chase women, maybe even less time to assault, choke, or rape women. Athletes just seem to be drifting further and further away from being positive examples of what hard work and determination garner; and closer to being examples of what money ignorance, and unbridled power amount to—usually jail time.
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