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Oct. 26, 2005 Now there’s an oddity in the news; professional athletes behaving like, well, professional athletes! The real story here is not what they are alleged to have done. Rather it is that they were so blatantly stupid in getting caught. If you are laboring under the assumption that this is an isolated incident, then I would be obliged to request two tickets to your world on the next shuttle. In my little corner of reality the term ‘common place’ when applied to this is like saying World War Two was a lover’s tiff. Just think for a moment about the circumstances. A group of young, single (for the most part), recently wealthy young men. All type "A" personalities. All immersed in a testosterone enriched environment. All players in one of the most violent legal games since the Roman’s sold the TV rights to Sunday afternoons in the Coliseum. All on a boat with booze and women. You could remove any 2 or 3 of those elements and it would still add up to ^%*@ happens. And it will continue to happen. The majority, shoot, all but one of the NFL team’s management, have their employees under control. That is not to say that they do not have their share of shenanigans. All that means is that they have the intelligence and enough respect from their players to use a bit of discretion. The Vikings have been out of control for a number of years. A ticking time bomb if you will. The saga of Randy Moss in the Twin Cities is more than enough to illustrate that. Any one of his exploits would have been enough to get him booted from the roster of any of the other 31 teams. But not Minnesota. Randy ran rampant through the North Country for several years before finally moving to Oakland. That organization (Minnesota) has almost always been just pathetic enough to put up with anything if it offered them a glimmer of hope that they might actually win half of their schedule in any given season. The Viking’s have had some exceptional teams through the years, but historically they have never been able to win the one that counts. No one has lost as many Super Bowls as the Minnesota Vikings. They can’t get it done on the field, and now they can’t get it done off the field. The owners had a chance to get rid of Tice last year, and had valid reason to do so. They chickened out when they came to the realization that they may well not be able to find anyone dumb enough to want to straighten that mess out up there. At least no one with NFL type creds. The kind of things that you hear of going on up there are what one might expect from the NCAA. Furthermore, if an NCAA school got the bad press that the Vikings have, that school would find itself on probation for a year, or worse. To its credit the NFL has made great strides in cleaning up its image from ‘back in the day.’ Do you remember the novel North Dallas Forty? That my amigos, was based in fact. The league has not changed in any sort of material of philosophical sense. They have just gotten a lot better at sweeping the trash under the rug before company arrives. The Vikings (no surprise) have apparently degenerated to the point that not even the league can put a smiley face on their transgressions. The people at the NFL of course are not at all happy with this turn of events. I don’t know how the relationship between the league and owners works, but considering the amount of money involved I would have to guess that the league cannot simply give a team the boot, even on a temporary basis. That would send the most powerful message. It would tell all 1800 players, along with all of the support personnel, that running around like a little rich kid with a woody is acceptable, spraying it across the front page like gang style graffiti is not. And that is just the way it is. Professional athletes, as well as most high dollar entertainers, will always have temptation waved under their noses. There is a faction among the rank and file who are above all that. The guys, many of them very good players, that do their jobs and go home. You never hear about them short of charity work they become involved in, or the occasional personal tragedy. The unfortunate truth of the matter though, is that most of the players would rather party. The NFL could try trotting out the Brett Farves to off set this mess. But, people being people, they are not going to want to hear about breast cancer, death and natural disasters. Not when there has evidently been an orgy and the story got loose about it. Oh well, its been a good day in hell, tomorrow we’ll be glory bound. (Don Henley) ------------ About the author Keith Ian Middleton: was born in Portland OR., at age 6 his parents moved back to Upstate NY. where they had grown up. He spent most of his childhood on a farm and started working in sawmills upon graduation from high school. His natural design and engineering talents served him well and he made the rounds through several moves as a troubleshooter and hired gun with a number of lumber manufactures. Keith now resides and writes from Kentucky where he met and married his second wife. Email: kmiddle1957@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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