I was sitting at my computer this week when a thought crossed my mind: I really don’t watch as many professional sports as I used to.
I remember growing up in my Lynn and Billerica, Mass., homes watching the heroes of my youth like Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox, Bruins Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque, Celtics John Havlicheck and Larry Bird, and Patriots Steve Grogan and Steve Nelson. Having the opportunity to meet others like Jim Longborg, Johnny Bucyk, Cam Neely, Rick Middleton, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinsohn, Jim Craig, and Mike Euruzione. Guys that were clean cut and played the games like they were meant to be played without outside controversies. They never negotiated contracts in the paper. They were my idea of true sports heroes. You knew them by uniform number: 33, 8, 4, and 77. You knew they were going to be around year after year.
My father would talk of the days of Ted Williams, Luis Apparicio, Sandy Koufax, along with many others. Sometimes I wish that those days in sports would come back again. Regretfully, they never will.
Why isn’t the athlete of today more like the athlete of yesteryear? Do they have to always be in the limelight? Do they have to be that greedy?
It doesn’t surprise me anymore when I turn on Sports Center, pick up a paper, or listen to the radio and hear about an athlete getting into some kind of trouble. It’s quite tiring to hear of Allen Iverson, Lawrence Taylor, Randy Moss, and Michael Irvin and their involvement with alcohol, drugs, domestic abuse, or troubles with police.
It’s not to say that there hasn’t been these types of incidents at the college level, but they surely haven’t been made as public. Certainly there have been incidents at the collegiate level, some of the most recent occurring at Florida State in their football program, at Indiana University with head basketball coach Bobby Knight, and most recently up the road at Orono with issues surrounding this year’s football team.
Even Little League Baseball had its own black eye just two years ago with the Danny Almonte fiasco. As you may recall, a New York inner-city little league tried to take advantage of its opponents by having a 14-year old pitch illegally against younger players in the post-season tournament.
Just this year, we saw a talented high school basketball athlete, LeBron James, driving around in a brand new Hummer as a result of his newfound national exposure. All this, after being exploited by his Catholic high school that played his games regularly on pay-per-view and a nationally televised contest on ESPN2. If that wasn’t enough, a ticket that once cost three or four dollars to see LeBron’s high school team play now costs 18 to 20 dollars for the average fan. It’s not even as if you are attending a Duke Blue Devils game in Cameron Indoor Arena!
At what point do we say, “enough is enough”? It was one thing when Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant went directly from high school to the NBA. Neither of those athletes had as much attention given to them as LeBron James has.
Isn’t it enough that the ESPN’s of the world give the high school basketball athlete enough coverage when broadcasting McDonald’s all-star games? I think so. Why not leave the broadcasting of high school sports to the local radio and access television stations? What a revolutionary idea!
Many people argued that even Little League Baseball, Inc. is getting out of hand with its regional and Little League World Series televised coverage. Those folks may have a point. It wasn’t that long ago when ABC would only broadcast the championship game.
I am proud to live in a community in Greater Portland where we have two outstanding professional minor league organizations, where we have teams with players that you only read good things about. It is also enjoyable having a strong collegiate athletic program like USM that produced many championship moments and quality student athletes like former Lady Husky Jamie Zahm.
Why can’t the professional athlete be more of an idol to the youngsters that emulate their every move much like I did when I wanted to be just like my heroes? Maybe I am just na?ve as to what I enjoy most about the sports that I watch and cover in both print and radio. Perhaps I am living in a dream world that is unblemished.
And like the Red Sox winning a World Series, it probably won’t happen in my lifetime. But wouldn’t it be nice if it did?
I don’t know. It was just a thought.