Sunday, June 15, 2008

Why I Have Little Respect for Professional Athletes

I spent the better part of this Father's Day evening glued to my television watching the U.S. Open. Tiger Woods, playing in tremendous pain in his left knee at the beginning of the round, almost miraculously appeared to get better as the day wore on. Tiger, as usual, threw clubs during his round, muttered his usual curse words after missing a shot, in short, behaved as a petulant child. After making a 15 foot putt to force a playoff, God's gift to golf had the following exchange with Roger Maltbie of NBC Sports:

Maltbie: Now, I have to ask you about the knee. It seemed like it bothered you early on and then it seemed like it didn't bother you as much as the round progressed, different from other days. True or not true?
Woods: Uh, true. Um, took some things to kind of relieve that.
Maltbie: And adrenaline, maybe?
Woods: [smiling] That helps, too.

OK, Tiger, what did you take? If it was 800 to 1000 mg of ibuprofen that's one thing. However, if the "things" that he took included a substance such as hydrocodone, isn't that something else entirely?

Also, what about all of the children who look up to Tiger as a role model? They now know that the means justify the ends. It's OK to take whatever you need to in order to achieve your goal.

Finally, the gentleman's game of golf has been reduced to the ash heap that is professional athletics.

Do you think the major sports outlets will cover this or demand an explanation? Not a chance. Tiger will never have to answer one question. But the children will remember!

I guess there is no professional sport left that values honor and integrity over results.

4 comments:

The Shrinking Cleric said...

Chris,

Thanks for your post. Unfortunately, I don't publish comments with profanity in them.

RTJ+

The Shrinking Cleric said...

Chris,

One more thing: The words that you mentioned in your comment were not mine. You should note that these were written by Professor Paul Myers who used them in his own blog entry that I quoted in full. You should also note that I warned any of my readers that Professor Myers' piece contained language that I would never use on my blog.

If you have a problem with the language, I suggest you take it up with Professor Myers.

RTJ+

Anonymous said...

Okay, my mistake, sorry for that.

Chris

The Shrinking Cleric said...

Chris,

Thanks for the apology. I appreciate it.

I really thought long and hard about putting Professor Myers' entire post on the blog, mainly because of the language involved. However, I thought that it was important for people to have an unvarnished appreciation for the professor's writing. It says a lot about who we're dealing with.

God's blessings.

RTJ+