Let’s talk about football and how young boys from the time they get into Pop Warner are made to feel special and entitled.  The big guy on campus is always the quarterback on the football team, not the guy who aced the SAT’s with a 1600 score or the violinist who won a scholarship to Julliard.  No! It is the kid who won the big game and prances around campus like a peacock.

Many times, I’m not saying all the time, so much emphasis is put on sports and not on academics.  Many of the team members  don’t have the grades to get into the more well-known colleges, so they and their parents count on full sports scholarships, whether it be football, basketball, baseball or any other kind of ball. 

The attitudes of entitlement and grandeur escalate because, as we all know, there is big money in college sports. We have all heard about the expensive cars, fancy apartments, girls galore and huge signing bonuses dangled in front of the athletes as they contemplate which school to choose.   

If the college players are treated like the end all and be all, do you really think they change their attitudes when they sign with the big leagues?  Of course not, it only gets worse.  How many of these players are guilty of abusing their wives and girlfriends, raping girls, doing drugs, driving under the influence, and even shooting people? Some of them have gotten away with these crimes, but due to the power of social media these crimes are being publicized and the guilty are finally being punished.  Many of the players have no respect for anyone or anything. Their world is all about them.

 In my opinion, I don’t feel that athletics are the gods they think they are.  They should come down a few pegs and join the human race, and be thankful for the huge amounts of money they are being paid to play the game and entertain the people who support them–the fans.

Let’s go back to the days when all people were respected for who and what they were, for what they did and their contribution to society.

I don’t really care how fast someone can run to the end zone or swing a bat or get a basket. At the end of the day it is who they are that counts.