Have athletes lost their "humanity" in most fans' eyes?
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cobbland
Members Posts: 3,768 ✭✭✭✭✭
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_i4JepJvZ8"It's like a economic threshold you cross, they were throwing out numbers like $50 million dollars, you put that in a paper next to your name and that guy is going to have some serious problems in his personal life...That's what happens when you become successful, your humanity diminishes and you become something else." (Dave Chappelle)
^^^^^^^^This is at the 6:00 mark
I'll use some current athletes in Chicago as examples:
Alfonso Soriano (8 years $136 million dollars, on November 21, 2006)
Luol Deng (6 years $71 million dollars, on July 31, 2008)
Julius Peppers (6 years $91.5 million dollars, on March 6, 2010)
Not a season has gone by in Chicago since Soriano signed with the Cubs, that his contract hasn't been a focal point of discussion (this is usually bought up by irate sports talk radio hosts, callers to those stations, sportswriters for the local papers in this city or sports reporters with the local news programs). He has a bad game: his salary is mentioned and he's called an underachiever/not deserving of the money being paid to him. He has a good game: his salary is mentioned as a reason why he should have a good game/be motivated to perform at a high level. He has a personal tragedy in his family/or an injury, he is told to suck it up due to the money he is due to earn as stipulated in his contract.
I have yet to hear anyone covering the sports in this city just say: "Maybe (insert athlete name here) just had a bad game. He'll bounce back."
What do you all think?
Comments
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Yeah they start to treat them like machines and act like that money should immediately flip a chemical switch in their brain that makes them behave like soulless business tools.
It's kind of like people have this idea that they're buying YOU not your skills. And you're not allowed to have any "human" moments ever again (bad game, bad day off the feild, error in judgments, etc) because they think they've purchased "perfection" from you. -
Yeah they start to treat them like machines and act like that money should immediately flip a chemical switch in their brain that makes them behave like soulless business tools.
It's kind of like people have this idea that they're buying YOU not your skills. And you're not allowed to have any "human" moments ever again (bad game, bad day off the feild, error in judgments, etc) because they think they've purchased "perfection" from you.
truth............................... -
Bumping this based on the fallout from the current lockouts and how the players are taking the blame in many of the fans' eyes.
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Bumping this based on the fallout from the current lockouts and how the players are taking the blame in many of the fans' eyes.
I haven't heard anyone blaming the players in the NFL lockout. -
Bumping this based on the fallout from the current lockouts and how the players are taking the blame in many of the fans' eyes.
Yea the majority of ppl are on the players side that i have encountered. -
yeah they have...just look at the majority of threads on here about LeBron James during the NBA Playoffs
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it goes both ways tho. i think when Favre had that great MNF game after his dad died and when jordan won the title after his dad died, fans almost had a different appreciating for it because most everyone can related to some sort of personal tragedy in their life, and seeing someone overcome that or even be forced to deal with it, does reveal part of their 'human' element.
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it goes both ways tho. i think when Favre had that great MNF game after his dad died and when jordan won the title after his dad died, fans almost had a different appreciating for it because most everyone can related to some sort of personal tragedy in their life, and seeing someone overcome that or even be forced to deal with it, does reveal part of their 'human' element.
but look at the reaction to let's say when Kobe was crying or the Heat were said to have cried earlier this year after a loss...it was "WHy are they crying?" "You're rich, why you so upset"...fans have rarely if ever allowed athletes to be human beings...we've always had these larger than life expectations -
but look at the reaction to let's say when Kobe was crying or the Heat were said to have cried earlier this year after a loss...it was "WHy are they crying?" "You're rich, why you so upset"...fans have rarely if ever allowed athletes to be human beings...we've always had these larger than life expectations
crying over a loss is childish tho -
Yeah they start to treat them like machines and act like that money should immediately flip a chemical switch in their brain that makes them behave like soulless business tools.
It's kind of like people have this idea that they're buying YOU not your skills. And you're not allowed to have any "human" moments ever again (bad game, bad day off the feild, error in judgments, etc) because they think they've purchased "perfection" from you.
spot on.
To me a perfect example of this is the current Derek Jeter situation. Dude is 2 hits from 3000, yet every fuckn day I gotta listen to fans ? about him. At some point, you have to understand, if you're reacting to sports news on a day to day basis, GET A FUCKN LIFE. Analyze a players performance on a week to week scale, or a monthly basis, but stop being over emotional 24/7 sports ? . -
crying over a loss is childish tho
whether or not you see it as childish, it's expressing an emotion and that's something people don't like to see from athletes outside of anger...hell Dwight Howard has been constantly criticized for being too happy his whole career...how you talk bad about somebody because they like to smile? -
whether or not you see it as childish, it's expressing an emotion and that's something people don't like to see from athletes outside of anger...hell Dwight Howard has been constantly criticized for being too happy his whole career...how you talk bad about somebody because they like to smile?
if a player was in an interview and broke down crying b/c of something going on in his personal life, then people could relate and possibly empathize with the athlete. and I think thats happened. Or even if they dont breakdown in front of cameras but their performance does struggle. I think we saw it with someone like Phil Mickelson in golf, I believe his wife and his mother both had cancer at the same time. and at times he played poorly, and golf fans could certainly understand why. -
if a player was in an interview and broke down crying b/c of something going on in his personal life, then people could relate and possibly empathize with the athlete. and I think thats happened. Or even if they dont breakdown in front of cameras but their performance does struggle. I think we saw it with someone like Phil Mickelson in golf, I believe his wife and his mother both had cancer at the same time. and at times he played poorly, and golf fans could certainly understand why.
we saw the same thing with Derrick Fisher when he was on the Jazz going back and forth to NY to take care of his daughter...but we also saw the flipside of stupid criticism that Vince Carter got for attending his college graduation and saying because he stayed in school he wasn't focused on the Raptors...yet people constantly say "Athletes should stay in school even if they leave to go pro early"...those types of things dehumanize athletes... -
Really though, when have blacks had humanity in the white man's eyes anyway? Add into the fact that a lot of ? are house ? and worship house ? like jordan, anything to the contrary would be seen as wrong.
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we saw the same thing with Derrick Fisher when he was on the Jazz going back and forth to NY to take care of his daughter...but we also saw the stupid criticism that Vince Carter got for attending his college graduation and saying because he stayed in school he wasn't focused on the Raptors...yet people constantly say "Athletes should stay in school even if they leave to go pro early"...
those were two examples that I thought of. I think most people felt for Fisher during that time. although some people were critical
and I think Vince was unfairly criticized for attending his graduation. But Vince is an easy target, so alot it has to do with the actual athlete. -
Yeah they start to treat them like machines and act like that money should immediately flip a chemical switch in their brain that makes them behave like soulless business tools.
It's kind of like people have this idea that they're buying YOU not your skills. And you're not allowed to have any "human" moments ever again (bad game, bad day off the feild, error in judgments, etc) because they think they've purchased "perfection" from you.
couldnt have been said any better
