I was driving today when I heard the breaking news of Jameis Winston being suspended for the first half of the Florida State-Clemson game this week. Full disclosure, I wasn't even aware at the time of what he had done. It was obvious that it went to the degree that the university felt the need to issue some type of punishment. Now the debate has begun as to whether a suspension was even warranted or if the suspension was severe enough. I didn't care about either of these issues. My immediate thought was what would happen when Winston took the field for his first drive of the second half. The answer is obvious: 80,000 plus fans would rise to their feet, cheer wildly and reinforce the idea to Winston that he didn't do anything wrong. Then I started getting mad. Luckily for me I was driving in the middle of nowhere Nevada and was in no danger of road rage.
What made me upset wasn't this specific situation. It was this and all the other occasions that empower athletes to behave how they want. Player behavior is obviously a big topic right now. The NFL is dealing with several issues in regards to what their players are doing off the field. The players, the teams and the league itself are taking a large amount of heat for how they are handling the situations. This got me to thinking of why they do this and the answer is simple, us. Fans. Our attitude...our need to identify with sports teams and athletes fuels their arrogance. Everyone remember the reaction at Ravens camp when Ray Rice came out to practice after his initial 2 game suspension was announced? He was given a standing ovation! He was their player and he had those fans' support no matter what. He is still getting support from Ravens fans. Fans in every other city turn their noses up and say what a disgrace he is to the league and how awful the Ravens organization has been. And they're right. But what if it was your team. How would you, or the fan base of your team react? Most likely just like the Ravens fans. When it's your guy the feelings toward behavior seem to be very different. Excuses are made. Acts are rationalized. All in the name of trying to win some games.
I hadn't written on this blog for quite awhile...2 years in fact. But when I came here to do this tonight I laughed as I realized what I was thinking were very similar thoughts to what I wrote 2 years ago. We enable. We enable and empower the athlete's, the teams and the leagues themselves. We give them the arrogance that we are now acting upset with. We tell them whatever they do is ok as long as they win games. Just as long as it is our team doing it and not our rival. When it's happening for another franchise we point fingers and tell them how awful they are. It's time to change our own attitudes if we expect them to change. It's time to boo the players on our own teams, not just for poor play, but for being bad people. Tell the team and league that employs them that you don't support them no matter what. Tell them you don't want them representing your team, your city or your school. If you don't, you're no better than the people you're throwing stones at from your soapbox.
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