JAG’s Sports Blog

Barry Bonds, Ray Lewis, Kobe Bryant, The Duke Lacrosse team, and any number of athletes, they all have something in common with each other. They have been accused in the past for serious problems that reached the media, therefore the general public and the reaction was the same…they’re guilty!! Why are athletes and famous people in general assumed to be guilty without a trial?

I think the general public tends to believe anything negative about the famous because they’ve put them on a pedestal and will not accept any behavior that doesn’t live up to the expectations everyone has for them. Whereas the public puts athletes, entertainers and politicians on that huge pedestal, they feel they can take you right back off of it just as quickly with their opinions. More often than not, finances play a part on the presumed guilty for anything bad we hear about you too. Making money puts a different burden on the way you behave. Of course that’s a stupid theory because the amount of money you make doesn’t and shouldn’t make you a different person than someone with a lack of money. I think the key point in all this is not putting yourself in negative situations to begin with.

Ray Lewis got into his murder situation after attending a nightclub and partying the night away. How many fights have started at nightclubs that wound up with gunplay or other violence? The Duke Lacrosse team was having a heavy night of partying and apparently picked up a stripper and decided to have fun. Was she already drunk and beaten up before she ever got there, who knows. Kobe Bryant was in Colorado to get surgery on his knee and decided he needed a tour of his hotel room from a desk clerk and the rest is a matter of who you believe, consensual sex or rape. Barry Bonds has bulked up more than a Mr. Universe bodybuilder, but says he didn’t know he was taking steroids. Reports have Bonds knowingly taking steroids because he was jealous of the attention Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were getting during their epic home run race in 1998. Both McGwire and Sosa clearly bulked up just like Bonds from their younger days, so Bonds might have figured why can’t he do it if no one said anything about McGwire and Sosa.

Ray Lewis got off on his case as he accepted a lesser charge and testified against his buddies. The testimony wasn’t even that damaging, so he kind of kept his street credibility and not viewed as selling out his boys. Kobe Bryant got off on his case because his accuser had a shaky past and seemed somewhat star struck in meeting a great basketball star. She had the tables turned on her when Bryant simply treated her like a “trick” (in street lingo) and just throwing her over a chair and basically kicking her out of his room when he was done. Many people figure if he cheated on his pregnant wife, then why wouldn’t he have thought he was so special that he just did what he wanted and assumed it was ok. Bonds really does have a paper trail that says he probably has taken steroids and the government seemed reluctant for the longest time to go after him for perjury in the BALCO case that gave other athletes a chance to testify with immunity from prosecution. The Duke Lacrosse team is certainly a case of young men underage drinking and getting out of hand, but is there truly proof that anyone raped her or was she already abused before she had gotten there.

I don’t want to sit here and pass judgement on any of these people purely off of the fact they are athletes, but there’s nothing wrong with investigating and making sure. I really believe that sometimes people/fans rush to judgement because they believe the justice system works if the courts are willing to burn someone famous. Michael Jackson is looking like the teflon man as he continuously gets off (figuratively and literally) in the courts after all of his escapades with young kids. This just makes the next athlete a negative target to the public that they don’t appreciate what they have and keep exercising bad judgement and testing fate when they run out to rough clubs and other situations that have trouble written on them. It doesn’t mean they did anything, but being in the public eye sets you up for scrutiny.

I hate to judge to early because it can also hurt them financially in the case of professional athletes. The court of public opinion tends to be much more severe than the actual courts and the initial opinions of fans tends to stick longer than the actual facts. I certainly don’t feel sorry for anyone making $10 million + a year in terms of losing out on endorsement deals, but if they’re found innocent, you can only treat them how the court says to. I know most people have forgotten about Ray Lewis’ involvement in the murder case, which goes to show you can recover from presumed guilt. Eventually it’s the performance on the field fans care about once the damaging information fades into the night.

Each person or people I mentioned could easily be guilty of the charges that have been pressed against them or in progress, but it doesn’t mean they did it. If this was Joe Schmo, would anyone care what they did? I think not, but along with fame and fortune, comes extra scrutiny for everything in your daily lives. If you try and not set yourself up for failure, you’ll more easily avoid it. One question I do have on this subject myself is curious to me. Why is it that women athletes seem to avoid all of the heavy duty trouble that men do? The worst you seem to see from women is confessing to being lesbians. That’s more of a joke in the sports world than anything, so why do women seem to stay clean? I will say that athletes shouldn’t be held to a higher standard because in the end, they aren’t any different than any of us. They are better known and wealthier, but that doesn’t make them any better or worse of a person and shouldn’t be judged so.

Holla back and give your opinion on why they’re held to a different standard than the average person.