Lately, there has been no shortage of headline furor directed at the celebrities that satiate our daily appetites for entertainment/drama, and serve as our national punching bags when they screw up, but the outrage is overrated, and disingenuous to say the least.
A-Rod
This guy can’t get out of his own way, granted, but the sheer amount of criticism he receives, borrowing a quote from Iron Mike, is ludicrous. I make no excuses for his bad choices, his personality flaws, how much money he makes, or the fact that he has not been part of a championship in his illustrious career, however, to act as if his bad judgment has profoundly compromised the “integrity” of the game is hypocritical, at best.
How soon we forget. The steroid era helped MLB reemerge as one of our nation’s favorite past time. Prior to Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa’s epic quest for the home run crown, the league was practically on life support. True, the players method of enhancing their natural ability was CHEATING, AND ILLEGAL, but ANYONE with half a brain knew these guys were juicing.
At the time, MLB turned a blind eye; they did not sound the alarm internally or otherwise. If they took the initiative to clean house, implemented more stringent drug testing, and put the players on notice right off the bat (no pun intended), perhaps they would have been able to redeem the league's integrity, and they would have suffered minimal collateral damage, even if their efforts were leaked afterwards.
Some in the media, and the “regular joes” have been making outlandish accusations. They act as though these players are the dregs of society. They question how much money A-Rod makes, but if they could afford to pay him $25mil a year, the rest of the team, operating costs, luxury tax, etc, the question they should be asking is, how much money are the owners making off the game.
Without a doubt, the players were wrong for using PED’s, but people are making statements as if “anyone” could simply inject performance enhancing drugs, and ta-da, they would become All Stars overnight as well……. WRONG! The players are the performers, they are the ones the fans come to see, and they have every right to a fair share of the revenue the game generates.
I played with guys juicing in High School, and guess what, the guys that did not have the skills to compete at the highest level, sat on the bench, whether they were clean or not. Most of the big names snared in this controversy were great before they started using. They may have cheated but they were NEVER talentless bums.
Without a doubt, the drugs enhanced their natural abilities, but as we can see A LOT of athletes in general, cheated in order to live up to the immense challenges, expectations, and pressures, to remain at the top of their game. Once you’re incapable of performing, they will put you out to pasture, quickly, and no one sheds a tear for them, besides their fanatics.
I long for the day, society in general, will be sincere, and reserve judgment when anyone screws up. Introspect a bit, analyze your life or the lives of people you know and/or love personally, and use that bad example as an opportunity to correct any similar inequities, instead of piling on.
Yes, celebrities make an enormous amount of money, they are privileged, some of them ignorant, and the spotlight is part of the game, but never forget, no matter how god like they may appear to be, at the end of the day they are mortals, and they are individuals, just like every single one of US.
The game of life can be treacherous, and for these athletes, the spotlight is alluring, entrapping, but ultimately, brief. When critics use a celebrity’s demise as an opportunity to totally destroy their character, to me, it only reveals their inner most insecurities, jealous nature, and hateful tendencies.
Just hope and pray that karma does not creep up and expose your shortcomings to the world abroad. Lord knows, we all have flaws, as does every individual on this planet, WE’RE ALL imperfect by nature, and rightfully so, but we all aspire to be great in our own way, but sometimes the chosen path leads us astray.
Ultimately, demonizing icons/celebrities does NOTHING to improve YOUR life. At the end of the day that responsibility is solely up to you, despite your profession, wealth or lack thereof, your background, upbringing, physical characteristics/impairment, environment, etc.
Always remember, don’t throw stones whether or not you live in a glass house.
Yours truly,
Blaq Ops
http://www.themachinenetwork.com/A-Rod
This guy can’t get out of his own way, granted, but the sheer amount of criticism he receives, borrowing a quote from Iron Mike, is ludicrous. I make no excuses for his bad choices, his personality flaws, how much money he makes, or the fact that he has not been part of a championship in his illustrious career, however, to act as if his bad judgment has profoundly compromised the “integrity” of the game is hypocritical, at best.
How soon we forget. The steroid era helped MLB reemerge as one of our nation’s favorite past time. Prior to Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa’s epic quest for the home run crown, the league was practically on life support. True, the players method of enhancing their natural ability was CHEATING, AND ILLEGAL, but ANYONE with half a brain knew these guys were juicing.
At the time, MLB turned a blind eye; they did not sound the alarm internally or otherwise. If they took the initiative to clean house, implemented more stringent drug testing, and put the players on notice right off the bat (no pun intended), perhaps they would have been able to redeem the league's integrity, and they would have suffered minimal collateral damage, even if their efforts were leaked afterwards.
Some in the media, and the “regular joes” have been making outlandish accusations. They act as though these players are the dregs of society. They question how much money A-Rod makes, but if they could afford to pay him $25mil a year, the rest of the team, operating costs, luxury tax, etc, the question they should be asking is, how much money are the owners making off the game.
Without a doubt, the players were wrong for using PED’s, but people are making statements as if “anyone” could simply inject performance enhancing drugs, and ta-da, they would become All Stars overnight as well……. WRONG! The players are the performers, they are the ones the fans come to see, and they have every right to a fair share of the revenue the game generates.
I played with guys juicing in High School, and guess what, the guys that did not have the skills to compete at the highest level, sat on the bench, whether they were clean or not. Most of the big names snared in this controversy were great before they started using. They may have cheated but they were NEVER talentless bums.
Without a doubt, the drugs enhanced their natural abilities, but as we can see A LOT of athletes in general, cheated in order to live up to the immense challenges, expectations, and pressures, to remain at the top of their game. Once you’re incapable of performing, they will put you out to pasture, quickly, and no one sheds a tear for them, besides their fanatics.
I long for the day, society in general, will be sincere, and reserve judgment when anyone screws up. Introspect a bit, analyze your life or the lives of people you know and/or love personally, and use that bad example as an opportunity to correct any similar inequities, instead of piling on.
Yes, celebrities make an enormous amount of money, they are privileged, some of them ignorant, and the spotlight is part of the game, but never forget, no matter how god like they may appear to be, at the end of the day they are mortals, and they are individuals, just like every single one of US.
The game of life can be treacherous, and for these athletes, the spotlight is alluring, entrapping, but ultimately, brief. When critics use a celebrity’s demise as an opportunity to totally destroy their character, to me, it only reveals their inner most insecurities, jealous nature, and hateful tendencies.
Just hope and pray that karma does not creep up and expose your shortcomings to the world abroad. Lord knows, we all have flaws, as does every individual on this planet, WE’RE ALL imperfect by nature, and rightfully so, but we all aspire to be great in our own way, but sometimes the chosen path leads us astray.
Ultimately, demonizing icons/celebrities does NOTHING to improve YOUR life. At the end of the day that responsibility is solely up to you, despite your profession, wealth or lack thereof, your background, upbringing, physical characteristics/impairment, environment, etc.
Always remember, don’t throw stones whether or not you live in a glass house.
Yours truly,
Blaq Ops
http://blaqops.blogspot.com/
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