Sports, Ethics, Etc.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5708800.html

An interesting story popped up in the Houston Chronicle indicating that Miguel Tejada (insert Oakland A's chant here) is actually two years older than he reported when he signed to the league back in 1993. Wait, What?!

Yes, two years older. What's up with foreigners lying (or being mum) about their ages (see Dikembe Mutombo, Yi Jianlian, and probably Yao Ming). Tejada cites that he was a poor 19 17 year old kid that needed the money.

I suppose that's a valid excuse. I didn't grow up poor, but we were far from well-off. So I can understand the allure of being a professional baseball player, the money that comes with it, and getting out of a bad situation in general. I also understand what can happen in two years of life (see: Maurice Clarett). Obviously a lot can happen, and the money yielded based upon your talent may not be there once you're of age. [Note: sorry, I forgot the part where I transition to this section. What I neglected to include was that when you're in a desperate situation, it will make you do things that may not be in (in some persons' minds), your best interest, but when the situation is so dire, you will do things that some consider unethical or stupid (skipping college to go straight from high school; challenging a rule of age limits in the NFL) out of necessity.]

Critics will say that the talent will still be there, that it can be time spent perfecting your skills. But in all reality, poverty stricken individuals may have to resort to other means of survival. It happens all the time. College stars (or quasi stars) resort to selling drugs and committing crime for one reason or another.

Some will look to morons professional athletes like Jamal Lewis or Michael Vick who had all the money they could ask for and still resorted to crime. Some may disregard it as you can take the kid out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the kid. But that is a straw-man argument. For every criminal athlete, there are those who turned their athletic talent into a way to make an honest, albeit overpaid, living.

One of my favorite stories has become the life of Caron Butler, SF for the Washington Wizards. Butler grew up in poverty in Wisconsin, and despite juvenile convictions for drug dealing and weapons possession, managed to turn a new leaf. With the help of a local dealer (and a break from a cop), he managed to come up with the tuition to escape the harsh confines of Wisconsin and enroll in a prep school which later got him notice from Jim Calhoun (head coach of the UConn Huskies). This in turn resulted in his entrance to the NBA. Butler now gives back to the community, even showing up at a 16 year old kid's birthday party.

But these are the stories that are far below the radar of national headlines. We'd rather chastise the Vick and Lewis type of players. Making a spectacle of their sins; seldom looking towards the good that so many others do once they make it.

While the means of getting to the professional ranks should be viewed with a degree of scrutiny, let's remember a lot of it is what they do after they get there.