Professional sports has always been an escape for all of us, its been
an arena for all of us to forget our daily troubles and fantasize about
being the hero of the day. As as we have seen Sports has become more and
more about drug use, gun violence, assault charges, broken contracts,
trash talking, and other illegal activities making it more about our
society's problems then actual wins and losses. The topic of the day and
what seems to be a perpetual obsession with this subject is steroids in
baseball, we have been talking about it for a number of years at this
point, but there are actually bigger problems than that in sports. The
NFL the originators of steroid use, and who have managed beautifully to
erase that fact from their history, have a much bigger and more deadly
problem than any sport has ever faced. GUN USE...Gun violence in the NFL
has become epidemic. It seems that having a gun is a must in the
NFL...A right of passage. No gun no fun. Most of the time the players
guns are not even legally owned. The violence and deaths caused by these
gun owning players and other arrests for assault, rape etc. have made
the NFL's logo in some circles stand for National Felony League. Aaron
Hernandez's arrest for murder is just the latest example of violent
crimes committed by NFL players. Not long ago the Cincinnati Bengals in
one season had 11 players arrested on felony charges. Since the end of
the 2013 season 28 NFL players have been charged with felonies.
Unfortunately many of the crimes that these players commit are murder.
Just ask OJ, Ray Lewis or Jason Williams to name a few. Wife beatings,
assaults and rapes only add to the problem. The problem may start as
early as when these players hang out with gang members while playing in
the league, or come from that background originally. Maybe it is the
steroids kicking in over time. It really doesn't matter how the problem
started the issue at hand is that these players are literally locked and
loaded and ready to rock n roll is always a bad combination. Mix in a
street gang mentality and it's only a matter of time until someone's
laying stiff and cold on the ground. Guns are a problem in our everyday
society, in the NFL they have become a way of life. What's the most
remarkable thing about this is that the league has been able to continue
to wave a flag of marketing heroism, ignoring this problem and avoiding
the reality that the victims lives have made so apparent. Steroid use
in baseball and other sports is a terrible thing for the integrity of
the games, but it's not a life and death result when things go wrong.
I'd rather have steroids running through my veins then lead running
through my body. The NFL cannot hide anymore. Criminal records and gun
possession should not be part of a prospects resume, the NFL needs to
enforce stricter background checks and personal interviews to eliminate
some of these issues before other people die. Coaches, General Managers,
and owners need to take responsibility for this epidemic. Gifted
athletes have always been given a pass, passing on this issue now, only
means more funerals.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Locked And Loaded
Professional sports has always been an escape for all of us, its been
an arena for all of us to forget our daily troubles and fantasize about
being the hero of the day. As as we have seen Sports has become more and
more about drug use, gun violence, assault charges, broken contracts,
trash talking, and other illegal activities making it more about our
society's problems then actual wins and losses. The topic of the day and
what seems to be a perpetual obsession with this subject is steroids in
baseball, we have been talking about it for a number of years at this
point, but there are actually bigger problems than that in sports. The
NFL the originators of steroid use, and who have managed beautifully to
erase that fact from their history, have a much bigger and more deadly
problem than any sport has ever faced. GUN USE...Gun violence in the NFL
has become epidemic. It seems that having a gun is a must in the
NFL...A right of passage. No gun no fun. Most of the time the players
guns are not even legally owned. The violence and deaths caused by these
gun owning players and other arrests for assault, rape etc. have made
the NFL's logo in some circles stand for National Felony League. Aaron
Hernandez's arrest for murder is just the latest example of violent
crimes committed by NFL players. Not long ago the Cincinnati Bengals in
one season had 11 players arrested on felony charges. Since the end of
the 2013 season 28 NFL players have been charged with felonies.
Unfortunately many of the crimes that these players commit are murder.
Just ask OJ, Ray Lewis or Jason Williams to name a few. Wife beatings,
assaults and rapes only add to the problem. The problem may start as
early as when these players hang out with gang members while playing in
the league, or come from that background originally. Maybe it is the
steroids kicking in over time. It really doesn't matter how the problem
started the issue at hand is that these players are literally locked and
loaded and ready to rock n roll is always a bad combination. Mix in a
street gang mentality and it's only a matter of time until someone's
laying stiff and cold on the ground. Guns are a problem in our everyday
society, in the NFL they have become a way of life. What's the most
remarkable thing about this is that the league has been able to continue
to wave a flag of marketing heroism, ignoring this problem and avoiding
the reality that the victims lives have made so apparent. Steroid use
in baseball and other sports is a terrible thing for the integrity of
the games, but it's not a life and death result when things go wrong.
I'd rather have steroids running through my veins then lead running
through my body. The NFL cannot hide anymore. Criminal records and gun
possession should not be part of a prospects resume, the NFL needs to
enforce stricter background checks and personal interviews to eliminate
some of these issues before other people die. Coaches, General Managers,
and owners need to take responsibility for this epidemic. Gifted
athletes have always been given a pass, passing on this issue now, only
means more funerals.
The Blind Reality
When did our society begin to lose its grip on common sense and start to
let reality become a secondary factor in our lives. That specific date
could be hard to pinpoint but it's clearly on exhibit at Wimbledon with
its current tournament seedings on display. As a society we have become
dependent on computers for information , data and other technological
information that helps us evolve technologically to a supposed better
place. That is all fine and good to a point but when we allow
computers to make the decisions strictly on binary numbers in their
database as a society we are in big trouble. The movie "Fail Safe " was a
example how life threatening letting computers make our decisions and
run our lives can be. I understand a tennis tournaments seedings is not a
life or death situation or even something that people should possibly
stress over but it still is an example of have ludicrous computers can
make our reality. Rafael Nadal just won the French Open by beating the
top player in the world Djokovic. He is clearly one of the top two
players in the world and has been for a number of years but because he
hasn't played a full schedule because of injury and his point total in
the computer is not at the top level he was seeded 5th in the
tournament. Two of the people he beat in the French Open to win the
title are seeded ahead of him, in particular the person he beat in the
semi's and in the finals. The best match of the tournament and in
essence what could be considered the finals very likely could be played
as a quarter final match. This does a disservice to the players , the
patrons, the sponsors , and the tournament in general. It also
represents and un even playing field and ultimately makes the
credibility of the tournament a joke.. Computers are our friends they
are not supposed to be our masters. The tail is not supposed to wag the
dog. Not to digress too far but maybe the BCS National Championship game
would have been competitive and not a joke competitively if the people
in charge were not controlled by the computer rankings.. Enough said now
I have to let my computer help me send this to you.
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