Professional Athletes

 

For years, I had dreamed of becoming a professional athlete when I grew up.. There are so many things that I could do and places I could go, I couldn't think of any other job – if one could call it that – I would rather have. This column is truly based on wishful thinking, as you will see shortly.

And I should also qualify my definition of 'professional athlete': I suggest to you that the main five sports (hockey, football, baseball, soccer, and basketball) are under discussion here. What is not under discussion include the following: golf, tennis, lacrosse, and wrestling.

While I admit that there is some effort and ingenuity involved in those four, there is no way they can be in the same league, no pun intended, as the other five. I think that the individual prowess, the team skill, and the season length are only some of the many reasons for my rationale. You may disagree with my viewpoint, and in all sincerity, I don't care. (Well, actually I do, but I'm trying to sound assertive.)

Professional athletes do their thing for exorbitant salaries that most of us would do for free. They travel all over North America, stay in very good hotels, eat out all the time, accept the adulation of their frenzied fans, then justify their out-of-control wages by playing their sport for fifteen to twenty minutes per game.

Do I sound envious? Maybe a little bit, but I am not too seriously pining for their "jobs." The shelf life of a mediocre athlete is very, very short – part of the reason while their agents demand such disgustingly high contracts. Like a model who is popular until she pops her first wrinkle, the professional hockey player, for example, is only secure until some faster punk takes his place.

While I have a bias towards hockey – even though I have never played it myself – I know the rules of durability and disability also apply to the other big four. I bring up the example of hockey because of the current NHL play-offs, you know, those post-season games that the Vancouver Canucks are playing in (and the Calgary Flames aren't.)

I do have issues with professional sports, and in the long run I would not choose to be a career athlete, even if I had the ability. I think all that travelling with a bunch of guys for a big chunk of the year is not healthy for family life. I hear of the rampant indiscretions on the part of NBA players, for example. Repeat freedom from the necessary parameters of accountability are not good for any profession – including many other walks of life.

Another struggle I see is the energy of moment that is followed by the paralysis of the decades. That's quite a statement, so let me explain: For a few fleeting years, there is the rush of the challenges, crowds, and camaraderie, and then the player's services are no longer required. He is cut loose, and unless there is a game plan – this time, pun intended – for the post-sports years, there is potentially serious emotional, social, and financial problems.

As created beings, we are not wired to accept the praise and worship of fellow-humans. Someone much bigger than us holds that privilege. Ironically, in the cult of professional sports, with the star athletes playing the role of a messiah, such adoration is unspeakably unhealthy. Such worship messes with the minds and consciences of athletes, creating a sense of power, infallibility, and recklessness.

One of the sad ironies of this discussion revolves around the word "discipline." On the ice, court, or field, most of these guys are the epitome of discipline; but after hours, away from all necessary restraints, the opposite holds true. Drug abuse and promiscuity are but two examples of their undisciplined lives.

So perhaps professional sports isn't quite what is appears to be. Maybe, just maybe, I should stick with table tennis. The only "fault" there is a bad serve.