I posted this in another thread so for those of you who may have missed it, here ya go...
“IMO, like many professional athletes, NFL players have been pampered and primped, coddled and spoon fed starting at an early age since they demonstrated some athletic ability sufficient to become “winners” for what ever team they aspired to. It starts when they are in high school, possibly before. A coach sees some kid with great potential who might help his/her team become winners. The problems begin when said coaches (or others) “look the other way”, give special favors and do whatever it takes to keep that kid playing on their team. The kids get used to the special treatment and begin to think they are better and more important than others. Hence, they begin to test the waters, “flex their muscles of superiority” and over time, get to the pros where suddenly they a “stars” in the publics eye and think they can do no wrong. They have become products of what those who brought them up created, spoiled brats making lots of money. Still believing they can do no wrong, they turn to more serious problems such as drugs, beatings, robbing and even murder. Suddenly they wake up to ask, “What the hell happened? I didn’t do anything wrong”.
Makes sense to me. It actually speaks to one of the reasons I don’t watch professional sports. I learned in Business 101 in 1973 that when you purchase a product you are “voting for it”. Ever since then, I’ll avoid purchasing products or otherwise supporting products I’d not “vote for”. Pro sports is one of them.
I remember getting great seats to watch a Seattle Supersonics game about 18 years ago. A friend knew one of the players and that’s how we got them. Before the game, the entire basketball court was filled with Seattle police officers standing at attention. I whispered to my wife (all those men who work day in and day out in a dangerous job, don’t make as much money, COMBINED, as one of the players on this team. It insults my intelligence.
We left after the first quarter. It simply wasn’t fun to watch.