Sport Rantings. Beware - Not a Happy Post.

I like sports. I like to play some of them and I like to watch some of them too. But I am getting really sick of what the sport industry has turned into. I'm talking money, power, egos...whatever happened to playing for the love of the sport?

Let's talk about Michael Vick of the Falcons. Arrested for organizing a dog fighting club and raising dogs for this. Terrible. Why would anyone do this? But here's my real beef: He goes to court (or somewhere) to get the charge and a court date and all these people are outside cursing him and yelling at him. Sports stores are pulling his jersey off the shelves and Reebok is pulling contracts with him. Fine. That's fine, but why aren't there people outside court houses yelling at players who break the law by driving drunk, using drugs, rape women, beat their wives, murder, etc...I love animals too, but there is something seriously wrong when we care more about the well-being of an animal than we do a human.

We (meaning the MN Vikings) just signed this young kid from the draft the other day for a 5 year $40 million (YES MILLION) deal. SERIOUSLY!? This is crazy! The guy was interviewed and I could barely understand him. It bugs the crap out of me that these guys make all this money because they can throw a football!!! Or swing a bat! Or run up and down a basketball court! And then we have kids in this country,whose parents work multiple jobs, but don't have health care because their families can't afford it.

And then, MN is trading Kevin Garnett (from the Timberwolves) to Boston for like 5 players, one who is reckless, has a record and could be a loose cannon. Ahh, why is this a good deal?

Again, I like sports - I like going to Twins (baseball) games, but when I start to think about all the money that this industry has, ughh, it makes me sick. I know that there are good people who are athletes in professional sports. I know that not everyone is after the big green dollar and that some do play because they love the game. I just wish we heard more about these people and that we could go back to the good ol days of sports when families could afford to go to a game, that the players were actually good role models, when the half time entertainment wasn't hoochie mommas getting their groove on and when you went home after the game and turned on the news, you didn't hear that your favorite player was arrested for x, y & z.