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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2009 > February > 11
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Athletes, who are afraid to admit their mistakes, are headed for much worse fates
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
No question, Alex Rodriguez did the right thing by admitting he used steroids. Still, he really is A-Fraud. That’s because, when it comes to the particulars of his swinging and juicing his way to baseball stardom, he isn’t telling the whole truth.
Neither is Michael Phelps, the celebrated Olympic swimmer who was fingered for the second time in five years for resembling something less than his previous designation as the All-American boy.
They confessed, though.
Sort of. Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks has it about right about Rodriguez. Said Hicks, “I certainly don’t believe that if he’s now admitting that he started using when he came to the Texas Rangers, why should I believe that it didn’t start before he came to the Texas Rangers?”
Makes sense to me. The same goes for the thought that if Phelps was busted for that DUI at 19 before this marijuana thing, he isn’t what he suggests that he is: Your average guy with a bunch of gold medals who just happened to make a couple of huge mistakes in his life.
Whatever the case, they are taking their lumps, and will continue to do so over the next few weeks and months and become less vilified than if they had mimicked those other guys. You know, those typical guys who are blatantly guilty but who try to convince you that a bowling ball is really a tennis racket.
So, why don’t those “typical guys” become as atypical as Rodriguez and Phelps and just say they blew it and then move on with the rest of their lives before what traditionally has been a forgiving public?
“We also see this of people in other areas of society, such as a man who cheats on his wife and denies, it,” said Dr. Patrick J. Devine, a professor of psychology at Kennesaw State University and a former Braves team psychologist. “You’re really embarrassed by what you did. You knew when you did it that it was wrong.
“Now you’re in the process of getting caught, and you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh. I knew I shouldn’t have done this. I knew there were risks. I knew this day could come. But I don’t want to admit to myself that I was sort of the village idiot in this. I’m going to deny it. As long as I deny it, I don’t have to deal with it. I don’t have to face it.’ “
Exhibit No. 7: If Michael Vick confesses at the start of his canine mess, he likely gets a break and spends much of the last two seasons running and passing for somebody in the NFL instead of working for Uncle Sam at Leavenworth.
The other thing is, during Vick’s sentencing before a federal judge, he was chastised for lying. If you’re convicted of such a thing, it’s called perjury, which is why Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are just trials away from following Vick’s path to the slammer. In other words, Clemens and Bonds are in self-inflicted trouble for lying, not steroids.
See a pattern here? Don’t lie.
Mark McGwire got a break, but only regarding that prison thing. He barely kept from perjuring himself in his testimony before Congress with his “I’m not here to talk about the past” mantra when asked about his possible steroid use. Even so, he zapped his name from consideration for the Hall of Fame by hiding then what he continues to hide now: That he cheated his way to many of those home runs.
If McGwire confesses back then before Congress, he’s in Cooperstown now. Folks have short memories, especially if you come clean — or at least less dirty.
Yes, Phelps lost endorsements for admitting the obvious: He was at that party in South Carolina, and he was in that Internet picture with his mouth on a bong allegedly smoking pot. And, yes, Rodriguez will have those — including me — who won’t dare place a check by his name on their Hall of Fame ballot.
That said, if Rodriguez and Phelps were into stonewalling to the bitter end, their plights would be considerably worse, and they know it.
Too bad others don’t.
Actually, they don’t care.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment | Categories: Braves/MLB
To Obama and the rest: Just say no to sports, OK?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
According to Edolphus Towns, the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Congress will not request that Alex Rodriguez come to Capitol Hill to discuss his steroid issues.
Good.
Towns added this: “The American people need leaders who will focus on stemming job losses and getting credit to flow in the marketplace before hearing from yet another person who cheated both himself and the game of baseball.”
Uh, yeah.
Hopefully, this is a sign that politicians finally get it, but probably not. Here’s what they should get: Except in rare cases (and I can’t think of any right now), politicians should rank pontificating on sports no higher than about 111th on their list of 100 priorities for this country.
In other words, when it comes to speaking loudly and boldly about such things as punting, passing, kicking, dribbling, putting, pitching, skating, rowing and driving in public settings, they should do the Nancy Reagan: Just say no.
Are you listening, Mr. Obama? Then again, I’ll give the president a pass for his remarks about baseball’s steroid epidemic during his first prime-time news conference on Monday night. He was asked the question. It also was fresh in the news. So the president had to respond, and his answer was fine. He talked of how the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes sends a wrong message to kids.
That said, the Commander-in-chief keeps yakking too much about his desire for a playoff system throughout all of college football. First, there shouldn’t be such a playoff system. Second, well, see everything I just wrote.
The president isn’t the only politician going down this silly road. Members of the Utah state legislature just voted to force college football to approve a playoff system for the big boys — not that the Utah state legislature has a say in the matter, or absolutely nothing else to do.
Elsewhere, a Texas state senator and a member of the state’s House pushed for a ban that would keep all of the state’s football teams from participating in any postseason championship game that didn’t involve playoffs. And remember this? Georgia’s House embarrassed itself last year by voting 151-9 in favor of a resolution to support the NCAA creating a playoff system in college football.
So what is Georgia’s unemployment rate again?
