I remember when I was just a young boy and my hero was football great Dan Marino, someone who I consider the greatest National Football League (NFL) Quarterback of all time. I remember just watching this pure athlete perform on the field, and appreciating the movement and appreciating the fluidity of this god in a male life form. He was my Hercules. By today’s standards, I can’t say that I can relate that feeling to any athlete that I’ve seen perform in their prime in the past decade. Sport has gone commercial, it is no longer pure; sport married corporate America.
With the influence of the media, advertisements, and everything else that comes with fame nowadays, athletes have turned Hollywood. It’s not rare to see an athlete in a movie, or television commercial. Sport has become a part of pop culture; it is no longer its own culture. I remember my father telling me stories of great athletes, like Willie Mays, Johnny Unitas, and Bill Russell. These men were gods of their time, if they were to try to pull the stunts athletes today attempt, they’d just be another athlete. Sports today are about money and profits; sport of yesterday was about the game.
I compare the athletes of today to pre-school children, they’re all big babies. Sorry to generalize a whole group of people, but hey it’s true. Every time I turn on the television, a new athlete is complaining about his contract. It’s sad; imagine if they had to play for the amount of money athletes made in the 1960’s or the 1920’s. There will never be another Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, or Ty Cobb in Major League Baseball (MLB), because athletes won’t allow themselves to become great. They want money, they want profits. They want to see a Bentley parked in their driveway, but who doesn’t want that right?
I understand that athletes have every right to feel how they do about contracts, endorsements, or however they receive their money. But that doesn’t mean I have to agree or even approve of it. It’s disheartening to know that just a few decades ago sport was so pure. Corporate America took complete control and made sports teams franchises rather than clubs, which disgusts me as a lifelong fan. And of course, like every disgruntled fan, there is nothing I can do but complain like an athlete does about his contract.