The Tiger Woods Effect

After over 3 months of silence, Tiger Woods finally addressed the whole wide world. So how does “The Tiger Woods Saga” affect my blog about Athletes: responsibility and reputation? The answer is simple. No other athlete has been able to successfully divide the public’s opinion and capture its attention about his recent actions and its arguable, suitable, and justifiable “consequences”.

I will start this off by saying that what Tiger Woods did to his family alone was wrong by all means inexcusable. Now I know you people will start saying, “well who are you to judge him?” or “well how do you decide right from wrong?”. But that almost always points back to my argument all along that the beauty of being an athlete is you get to make so much wealth of all kind, that you also become a public figure that is open to all kinds of criticisms. I am sure that you guys remember that famous line from the Spider Man movie that goes” of great power comes great responsibility”. Doesn’t that fit perfectly for athletes because in way we idolize and aspire to be like them so they must observe some sort of public responsibility? It is like saying that you owe to your fans to set a good example.

Still not convinced? An even simpler example all leads to the much awaited Tiger Woods press conference. I am sure that you guys saw the conference, ok maybe a part of it, ok maybe heard of it at least. If at least one of those things happened then that’s a proof that you do live in this world. So where am I going with this? Simple, when Tiger Woods finally decided to hold a press conference very single newspaper, sporting channel, television news, talk shows, and form of entertainment media all hyped up the upcoming event. And on the day off the press conference the whole world stopped turning and stood still for almost 13 minutes to listen. To listen! But it doesn’t stop there because after, after everything you would think ok turn the page and move on. No! the world started saying this, started saying that, was it enough? Is it too late now? was he sincere? I mean come on give me a break. Exactly the point I am making.

Bottom line, Tiger Woods and his press conference really put an icing to my blog. He just proved that athletes do have power and power does come with responsibility whether you like it or not. Sometimes it seems too unfair for athletes to be demanded perfection in every single way, but that is the price that comes from doing what you love most for so much in return. We live in a world full of audiences that await all our actions. When you think of it athletes are no different from every one else, TTC drivers are now taking heat for employee actions and people that make so much money in their respect/job are also expected to uphold a degree of responsibility and reputation or they will lose that power.

Cheers!

Inconsistent Message

Alright it is the second week that means its time for my second blog. First of all, I just finished watching the Superbowl so therefore sports, athletes, reputations, and responsibilities and everything else are still fresh in my mind. So in line with last weeks topic of reputation and responsibilities of athletes for their actions, I am going to continue this by talking about the consistency of the punishments different athletes get around different professional sports and leagues

(For arguments sake, I will not dwell too much on the facts of these incidents, ethics of the athletes, and what is right or wrong in what they did)

Ok so first off is GUNS. NFL Superbowl champion wide receiver at the peak of his career, Plaxico Burress, is sentenced for 2 years in jail on top of his indefinite league suspension. He is going up against Gilbert Arenas, NBA all-star with superior basketball skills at the peak of his career, is facing a one-year league suspension from his league. Where is the consistency? What message are we sending here?

Ok so next up is DRINKING AND DRIVING. NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth faced a 30-day jail time and I believe a league suspension. Oh, I forgot to say the most important thing about this, in his drinking and driving case, he actually hit someone and that person died. Oh, and plus he also got a lifetime driving ban. Donte Stallworth is going up against future hall of famer, all time great NBA player, Charles Barkley. Honestly, I do not think Charles Barkley got anything for what he did; he probably issued a public apology in his NBA TNT network show. However, yeah I do not think or maybe I am mistaken but Charles did not get anything major.

Bottom line, what I am trying to get at is the inconsistency of punishments served to different athletes for the different things they did. I know it is arguable that these cases are all different from each other and every single one has its own degree of complexity. However, if you think that to this point I am comparing athletes with their co-athletes and the different messages their different punishments got, then you got it all wrong. Because the bigger and the most important comparison and inconsistency happening is what athletes get when they do something and what the AVERAGE JOE GETS! Seriously, what are we sending our fans and the public if we give athletes exceptional star-treatments? Not only are these guilty athletes affected but also the role models, their leagues, their families, and their fans. At the end of the day, it all comes down to ATHLETES: REPUTATION AND RESPONSBILITY.

Athletes, Role Models?

I'm a big sports fan myself, and what bothers me the most is hearing different athletes getting caught in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Trust me, media loves it when they could bash athletes when they make mistakes. Because in their mind, athletes are suppose to be the super human, perfect examples, and the ideal role models and there's absolutely no room for error especially when they make so much millions.

So is it right, fair and just for us fans to criticize them when they make mistakes? By the way when I say mistakes I mean off court actions that they do, not missing a game winning free trow, or taking the wrong shot, or dropping a go-ahead touchdown pass. What i mean by mistakes is having your gun in nightclubs, drinking and driving, illicit affairs, mistresses, and drugs.

Bottom line, we as fans, haters, and supporters watch and idolize different athletes for their exceptional talents that make their sport so much more exciting, but at the end of the day YES we do have every right in my opinion to criticize them as what kind of role model they are. Once they become athletes they also become public figures that hold a certain sense of REPUTATION AND RESPONSIBILITY AS ROLE MODELS! We cant just turn on and off when we want to have them as role models.

I'm ending this post by citing this video Cheers!

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