Jack’s Blog

The decision from the NFL commissioner’s office on the Brett Favre case was announced and the result was a fine of 50 large.  Roger Goodell assessed the fine based, not on evidence, but Favre’s not being forthcoming with the NFL’s investigation.  The majority opinion seems to be that he got off lightly.

When the NCAA went public with its decision on the Cam Newton ordeal, public opinion was pretty much identical.  I even heard one radio talk show host claim it was ridiculous, that obviously Newton had known and the NCAA should have suspended him immediately.  So much for “innocent until proven guilty.”  Yet that’s the prevailing thought in each case.  And why not?  In both of those instances, common sense would lead someone to believe the offender got off easily.  In fact, if they did what their accusers claimed, the court of public opinion would ring true.

Let’s go back to the origination of each allegation.  In both instances, the “modern” way of life exposed (excuse the pun in the Favre case) the culprits.  For Newton, it was someone who, for whatever reason, decided to “come clean and tell all.”  In Favre’s situation, technology did him in - even though, according to what’s been put out there for the general public, none of the alleged sext photos have been seen.

Back in the day, as the saying goes, none of this would ever have been public knowledge.  Reporters used to travel with teams (on the professional level) and even drink (and participate in other activities unrelated to the playing surface) with the athletes - but mum was the word.

With seemingly everyone having a cell phone or other gadget that enables the user to take and send pictures (or even video goings-on and record conversations), the modern day athlete - with all the perks their predecessors did without (and on the professional level, this includes outrageous salaries) had better understand that a higher level of accountability accompanies those goodies.  Bad ideas, such as Greg Oden’s texting self-portraits, Gilbert Arenas’ bringing guns into a locker room (although he meant no harm) and tweeting absurd messages (too many to begin to list) can derail a career or at least severely tarnish a reputation (or legacy).  That fact is as much a part of the “new” world of sports just as much as world-wide fame and mega-deals which set an athlete and his family up for life.

Athletes claim invasion of privacy and in many cases, they’re spot on.  Unfortunately, with the good comes the bad.  I recall reading an excerpt from a book in which there’s a story about journalists riding to a game on the same train as the ballclub they were covering.  In the middle of their card game, the door to their car burst open and Babe Ruth ran naked down the aisle, followed closely by a naked woman wielding, if memory serves me correctly, a knife.  What one of the sportswriters said at that moment is no longer true - and today’s athlete had better realize it.  And the scene needn’t be nearly so explosive.

The sportswriter was quoted as saying:

“There goes another story we won’t be reading about in tomorrow’s paper.”

John Wall recorded his first triple double of his career last night and even the Wizards can’t mess up this gold mine.  With his youth, naivete, freakishly good skill set and, of course, his Dougie’s, Wall might be not only the face of the Wiz but the cover boy for the entire NBA.

After the summer of “The Decision” and the anti-climatic way it’s played out (so far), the young, hip crowd might just be turning to what has defined the new breed: individualism.  Wall’s enthusiasm and exciting play - he’s more entertaining turning the ball over than many of the so-called stars are scoring - make him a crowd pleaser and “must-see” basketball.  Just wait until the stats come out that show what the attendance figures are when he goes on the road.

Washington is an absolutely miserable ball club, allowing Wall to be at his creative best.  It’s not like a bad game here or there will keep them out of the playoffs.  John Wall’s major problem is not the arenas he plays in but the Arenas he plays with.  It was reported that Wall and Agent 0 have been hanging out 24/7.  Separating them 24/7 would be a far better strategy.  Arenas is more like Agent O (standing for Orange) than Agent 0 (which many feel is the amount of good sense he possesses).

For the past month, every time Gilbert Arenas opens his mouth, it’s only to change feet.  Most in the know have said the only reason he’s still in Washington is because the team couldn’t find any takers.  The hope was, in this past election, he’d be ousted but, apparently, he ran unopposed.  The Wizards next hope is that Turkey calls, offering whatever it takes to bring him in as a foil to their latest treasure.  Why not?  There are so many questions about Arenas and Turkey now has the Answer.

If Wall and Arenas can co-exist on the same team, Flip Saunders ought to be named our next ambassador to the Middle East.  Rather than try to do what everyone believes is impossible (at least I haven’t heard anyone - who’s not crossing his fingers when he says it - claim otherwise), Arenas should, in regard to John Wall, take choice #3 of Thomas Paine’s famous quote:

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”Â

Another in the continuing trips to the Stanford Pain Clinic today.  Blog will continue Saturday.

“I was trying to be a good teammate. Nick (Young) wanted to play, and since we are guard-loaded, I felt I’d take the day off, and I lied to coach and told him my knee was sore so he could start Nick . . . Obviously, no one’s taken it well . . . I screwed up again, so I just want to say, ‘Sorry.’ I messed up again. I’ll never do it again.”

That was Gilbert Arenas’ apology for faking an injury and not playing in the Wizards’ exhibition game.  A noble idea, maybe, but this is a guy who showed he does not get it after he brought a loaded gun to the Wiz’s locker room and then, after that idiotic act was discovered, making a mockery out of the situation by pretending to shoot his (equally moronic) teammates in the huddle.

You’d think after a suspension for such an insidious decision that Arenas would be on his best behavior this season.  The problem is that he actually thinks he is on his best behavior.  The poster boy for the pampered AAU star who gets drafted in the second round, then beats the odds and eventually signs a contract which pays him enough that neither he nor his heirs (for a couple generations) won’t have to work, he expressed remorse after last year’s “incident.”

His reason for lying was that he was trying to be a good teammate.  Does he really think that lying to the coach makes a player a good teammate?  Unfortunately, in the case of Gilbert arenas, that answer is, and probably always will be, “Yes!“  Hearing him say, “Sorry. . . I’ll never do it again” only shows us that what my mentor and former boss, George Raveling, used to say is oh, so true (so much so that I last used it in my 9/23/10 post):

“Some people don’t know and some people don’t know that they don’t know.”

Gilbert Arenas pulled a gun on a teammate, says he’s taking responsibility for his actions (must have been after an exhaustive search to try to find somebody else who would or could assume that responsibility came up empty) and calls himself a goofball. 

In July of ‘08, the owner of the Washington Wizards, Abe Pollin, who died this past November 25, offered a maximum contract to Arenas.  Arenas actually took less than the maximum.  $16 million less.  He did so because it would enable the team to have extra money to sign quality players who would surround him, Antwan Jamison and Caron Butler and give the Wizards an opportunity to win a championship.  So he settled for only $111 million over 6 years - which averages to over $50,000 per day! 

Too bad the extra $16M couldn’t have bought character, common sense or proper decision-making skills.  Those, unfortunately, aren’t for sale.  Neither are championships.  It could be because of the internet (after all, years ago, someone like me couldn’t reach basically everyone in the world to let them know my feelings about this; an invention to force to read what I have to say hasn’t been invented yet - thankfully), but it seems like our athletes have a much greater sense of entitlement in today’s sports world.

This has to come from several different sources since I sincerely doubt people are born that way.  The list of culprits are numerous: parents (and relatives) of the athletes, their coaches, trainers and “mentors,” fans (every level on which they play) and, ultimately, those who control the purse strings or amke the monetary decisions (GM’s, VP’s, presidents, owners). 

A separate category has to be reserved for agents, people whose very livelihood depends on a very small percentage how much they can wrestle away from an organization (or sponsor).  How many critical comments do you think athletes hear from their agents?

This sense of entitlement has grown to epic (epidemic?) proportions.  Whether the indiscretions deal with harmful areas to others (infidelity, lying, failing to act in a professional manner) or illegal acts (DUIs, drugs, PEDS, unlawful possession of firearms), shouldn’t something be done to increase awareness in these people?  Or does Agent 0 stand for the amount of common sense he possess?  It’s easy to criticize others, but the level of frustration is mounting higher and higher. 

What’s this country coming to?  I know upper middle class people who live from paycheck to paycheck, folks who’ve lost their homes and were forced to file for bankruptcy, decent people who are out of jobs or in debt over their eyeballs.  Yet we see multi-million dollar purses for athletic events and those in team sports receiving $57 million for three years of work (whether they’re healthy or not).  Granted, these are a group of highly skilled performers in their field, but I still ask, “Where is the money to pay these people coming from?”  Although I’m not in favor of socialism, what we currently have doesn’t seem to working so well.

Especially when self-proclaimed goofballs are pulling down better than $50K/day.  Wonder what Arenas would think if he was reminded of what Abe Pollin said to him when he made that contract offer (taken from Ivan Carter’s 7/4/08 Washington Post article): 

“You’re the face of the Wizards. When you’re out of the country walking down the street, I know that I have a fine young man representing me, this organization and the city of Washington to the fullest.”

After seeing a section devoted to athletes who “left money on the table” in the 3/9/09 issue of ESPN Magazine, I did a blog last night on the “sacrifices” of Reggie Miller (who took a “cut” from his demand of $10M/yr to a 4-year contract worth $36M) and Gilbert Arenas (who, after the Wizards had offered a 6-year, $127M deal, had them reduce it to $111M for 6 years so the team could sign Antwan Jamison).  When I hit the “Publish” button, something that said “Ooops, . . . “ (I can’t remember the phrase that followed) popped up.

Admittedly, I’m a computer noob, knowing next to nothing about how these things work, but even I know “Oops” isn’t a good thing - no matter what comes after it.  Result: today’s blog (on the greater danger of athletes - not making sooooo much money - but the fact that they make it so soon, and therefore don’t understand the value of it) is somewhere “out there” in cyberspace, or wherever it is that missing blogs go.

One stat I do remember was Arenas’ major sacrifice - for the good of the team, mind you - was that the reduced contract was forcing him to get by on $50,685 A DAY, every day - for six years!

Maybe the whole blog wasn’t necessary.  That number says it all. �