The world of athletics has changed tremendously in the past century. The Olympics were at one time the province of the amateur athlete. Today professional athletes ply their trade in their professional sport. I really do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I just know it is different than when I grew up. Betting and bookmakers were kept from sports other than racing in the United States. Where a ballplayer could be banned for life for betting on his or her sport, today retired players – not to mention the leagues themselves – plug on line betting and gambling. Everyone, even apparently high school athletes, want a piece of the action.
I won’t even get started about sportsmanship and athletes being role models. I do believe that Charles Barkley’s famous dictum that he was no role model and that athletes should not be role models has truth in it. A strong case can be made that role models are people who make the world a better place to live. Athletes and entertainers probably do not fall into that category. I agree they do much to help us pass time and in that sense make the world more enjoyable and livable. Making the world a better place though, may just be out of their reach through their profession.
So what can one think about the Super Bowl? It went from a game where the tickets could be bought for $12 ($95 in today’s prices) and there was plenty of room in the stands to become an over-hyped, over-sold, over-valued monstrosity where the tickets cost over 100 times their 1967 cost. (A ticket for the 2022 Super Bowl can still be had for over $4000. Some of the tickets are over $100,000). The stars today seem to be not only pampered but also inundated with pampering plus obscene amounts of cash. A top NFL player makes more in his 3 – 5 year contract than 75% of Americans make in a 30 year career. Is it any wonder that some of the biggest stars also seem to be some of the biggest jerks? Maybe it is more of a wonder that not all of the biggest stars are also the biggest jerks.
At last we come to Matthew Stafford. Twelve years spent with the Detroit Lions – I always have liked Detroit because of the color of their uniforms and George Plimpton’s book, Paper Lion – with no play-off games won and only three experienced. He is traded to the LA Rams and finds himself in the Super Bowl. He may not be the greatest or nicest of players. I really cannot speak to that because I do not know him. I do know, however, that he has not bad mouthed his time in Detroit nor Detroit, his team mates, nor the team owners. I do know the men he played with at Detroit are almost as excited for him as they would be excited for themselves if they were in his place. These facts impress me. Perhaps, the reason for this phenomena is a quality of leadership we do not seem to value enough – humility. I know because of Matthew Stafford (Vonn Miller’s presence also helps) I will be rooting for the Los Angeles Rams. I always hope the under appreciated come through.