We are seeing the underbelly of American sports
American sports have been depicted in movies, for the most part, as something noble. Field of Dreams, Brian’s Song and even the recent release of the movie The Blind Side all play into this depiction. Now, for better or for worse, we have an opportunity to see some of the ugliness that is associated with our professional and collegiate sports.
James Craig was a great football player for SMU. He was half of the Pony Express which was the feared running attack that SMU had in the early ’80s. (Eric Dickerson was the other half.) He had a solid career in the NFL playing for the New England Patriots and is currently a college football analyst at ESPN. His son, Adam, is a wide receiver at Texas Tech. His son claims after sustaining a concussion that coach Mike Leach locked him in a closet during practice. After some type of investigation by Texas Tech, head football coach Mike Leach was fired. Coach Leach then went on ESPN and basically trashed Adam James, his work ethic and his character.
The NBA is just recovering from their own bit of badness. The rape charges against Kobe Bryant hurt the game and the sport for quite a while. Charles Barkley getting arrested and actually having to do time didn’t help the NBA either, even though he’d been retired for more than five years. But it was the fight in 2004 in which Ron Artest went into the stands and got into a fight with some fans that brought the NBA to its knees. Commissioner David Stern suspended nine players for a total of 143 games. Commissioner Stern made it clear that he was cleaning up the violence in the NBA. This brings me to a recent transgression. Gilbert Arenas, for reasons that are still unclear, brought loaded weapons and kept them in his locker at the arena. There is some question about his getting into a disagreement with Javaris Crittenton, a teammate. There is a question of not paying bets. Commissioner Stern is not happy, again. None of these reasons sound good. Arenas has been suspended and the investigation continues.
The problems in the NBA reflect, to some extent, the problems in the black community. I know that Americans have no desire to deal with the problems of inner-city when they have paid to see a basketball game. Not only have they paid, they have paid a lot of money to see a basketball game. Look for Commissioner Stern to have absolutely no tolerance for anyone who brings a gun to the arena. I would not be surprised if Gilbert Arenas is suspended for more than a year.
The Texas Tech incident reveals many problems that we’ve seen in the college football game for years. First of all, some “old school” coaches treat all players the same. John Smith, the sixth string defensive back, does not bring the fans into the stadium. Someone who is an impact player, like a star quarterback or flashy running back, can help pack the stands. So a coach can’t treat high profile players like everyone else. Some coaches are very good at this and some are terrible. Also, the game of football has changed. The great Woody Hayes would hit players when he disapproved of their play. Those days are gone. My old high school coach used to call us mullet heads. He would go on and on about how stupid we were. You could do that back in the ’70s. You can’t do that anymore, especially at the college level. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. I’m figuring that Coach Leach is about to be steamrolled. I also think that Adam James’s reputation has been permanently damaged and if he had any thoughts of going and playing in the NFL, that’s been ruined forever.href=”http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/charles-barkley-goes-to-jail/busted/” target=”_blank”>Charles Barkley getting arrested and actually having to do time didn’t help the NBA either even though he’d been retired for more than five years. But it was the fight in 2004 in which Ron Artest went into the stands and got into a fight with some fans that brought the NBA to its knees. Commissioner David Stern suspended nine players for a total of 143 games. Commissioner Stern made it clear that he was cleaning up the violence in the NBA. This brings me to a recent transgression. Gilbert Arenas for reasons that are still unclear brought loaded weapons and kept them in his locker at the arena. There is some question about him getting into a disagreement with Javaris Crittenton, a teammate. There is a question of not paying bets. Commissioner Stern is not happy, again. None of these reasons sound good. Arenas has been suspended. The investigation continues.
The problems in the NBA reflect, to some extent, the problems in the black community. I know that Americans have no desire to deal with the problems of inner-city when they have paid to see a basketball game. Not only have they paid, they have paid a lot of money to see a basketball game. Look for Commissioner Stern to have absolutely no tolerance for anyone who brings a gun to the arena. I would not be surprised if Gilbert Arenas is suspended for more than a year.
The Texas Tech incident reveals many problems that we’ve seen in the college football game for years. First of all, some “old school” coaches treat all players are the same. John Smith who is the sixth string defensive back does not bring the fans into the stadium. Someone who is an impact player like a star quarterback or flashy running back can help pack the stands. So, a coach can’t treat high profile players like everyone else. Some coaches are very good at this and some are terrible. Also, the game of football has changed. The great Woody Hayes would hit players when he disapproved of their play. Those days are gone. My old high school coach used to call us mullet heads. He would go on and on about how stupid we were. You could do that back in the 70s. You can’t do that anymore especially at the college level. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds. I’m figuring that Coach Leach is about to be steamrolled. I also think that Adam James’s reputation has been permanently damaged and if he had any thoughts of going and playing in the NFL, that’s been ruined forever.
