I’m not feeling nearly as creative and insightful tonight. Maybe it’s because I’m plagued with a winter cold…or maybe it’s because I’ve had an awful past 24 hours in sports. Louisville lost to Villanova, Kentucky won (again), and Lane Kiffin is leaving Tennessee for U$C. The gods of ESPN are not smiling kindly on me as of late.
But, inspiration struck during “Sports Center”, when clips of Mark McGwire’s steroids admission were played over and over…and over. After about the fifth time of hearing him say that steroids are “the most regrettable thing I’ve ever done” while his eyes welled up and his bottom lip trembled, I started to believe him. I mean, the guy’s crying for God’s sake! This got me thinking about athletes and their “transgressions”.
McGwire’s obvious roommate in the doghouse right now is Tiger Woods. In my opinion, the best way for Tiger to get back into my good graces is to give a large, large amount of money to Elin and wish her happy trails. Remember that rock Kobe had to pony up? We’re going to need about 30 of those.
But is a little sex scandal or juicing up going to really ruin anyone’s career here? No way. We look at athletes and scandals as one and the same, and brush them off with a “boys will be boys” shoo of the hand. As one sports writer wrote his headline on Monday: "McGwire Admits to Steroid Use; America Shrugs and Goes Back to Their Lunch". We're no longer surprised by the constant indiscretions of professional athletes.They can cheat and they can lie, but at the end of the day we’re still looking to them for someone to rally behind and cheer for – at the end of the day they’re still our superheroes. While these multi-millionaire all-stars might be role models for boys when they’re in the game, they’re becoming role models for men off the court.
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