A CITIZEN'S BLOG

I got done reading my Sports Illustrated this weekend and I really hated their article about the richest sports stars: I understand that all athletes supplement their salaries with endorsements, but I hate seeing guys like Shaq and Kobe pile on the cash hawking Reebok and Best Buy and the like. I used to love the NBA way-back-when, back in the 1990s with the Detroit Pistons: there was a team full of warriors, guys who didn’t care a lick about their endorsements, they just wanted to win. I don’t see that when I look at a lot of people in sports now, but especially in the NBA. (Shaq’s mind-numbingly bad rap CD’s, Ray Allen’s efforts at acting in Spike Lee flicks, anything Dennis Rodman does…) There is little respect for the game in the NBA now, no real competition: it is all about maximizing your bottom-line. Thank goodness there was just one baseball player (Jeter) in the Top Ten, but even that is disturbing to me: even with the reluctance of teams to shell out the big bucks for players, you know that guys will always migrate to New York (and L.A.) sports franchises because of the capacity for endorsements in the media capitals of the United States.

In any case, I'm not one of those people obsessed with money (yes, I will be a lawyer in a few weeks, but I'm a public service kind of guy: some of my law school classmates however would slit your throat to pick your pocket. I understand why people dislike lawyers: some people I know I wouldn't trust if my life depended upon it.) I don't see the list and think: "Oooh! I wish I was Shaq!" I thought: "Shaq could really be a Hall-of-Famer if he ever got serious about the game."

What ever happened to winning?