Monday, December 3, 2012

Bad news always seems to "outperform" the good



There is a saying in the news business “If it bleeds, it leads.” This is especially true of local news coverage. Although the sports media has plenty of other things to talk about, whenever crimes by athletes are reported, it always seems as if it provides another excuse for some observers to exclaim that this is “typical” behavior of athletes or exploit them to make their political points. Take for example the extended off-season for NFL players last year due to the lockout; it seems that everyone was drawing up lists of all the players who got into trouble with the law, and this was indicative of the “epidemic” of criminal behavior of athletes outside their practice facility pens. The recent Jovan Belcher murder-suicide fits right into supposition.

Belcher was a linebacker for Kansas City Chiefs who made it in the NFL “against the odds.” Belcher shot his live-in girlfriend Kasandra Perkins and then drove to the Chiefs’ practice facility, where he shot himself in front of some of his coaches as police were arriving to arrest him. A three-month old daughter was left orphaned. It has not been reported what the motive was for the act. What could have set-off this terrible chain of events? This has been labeled a “domestic violence” incident, but one can surmise that Perkins may have informed Belcher that she was leaving him with the baby, and he may have seen this as Perkins having a child with him for the purpose of extorting money from a “rich” professional athlete. The arguments that they reportedly had been having in the days prior to the shooting may have been her way of “justifying” her intentions. Call me cynical about human nature if you like, but don’t say this kind of thing doesn’t happen. In any event, this incident underscores one of the major problems in this country—where the “logic” of guns are a deadly substitute for settling disagreements. Guns only cause more problems than they “solve.”

An event the same day that went mostly unnoticed was the apparent suicide of Eric Eucker, a Cleveland Browns’ groundskeeper. Eucker was found hanged in a team equipment shed. I tried to find more information about this on the Cleveland Plain-Dealer website, but there seems to be no acknowledgement of the incident. However, there was plenty of news on the shooting deaths of a black man and woman, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, after a high-speed chase.  Police had believed that they heard shots fired from the vehicle before the chase began; when it ended, a dozen police had fired a total of 137 bullets into the car in “Bonnie and Clyde” fashion; there was no immediate indication that a weapon was actually found in the car. Revelations that police in pursuit of the car were told that “no cars have permission to pursue” and to “terminate the pursuit” for safety reasons has led to widespread outrage in Cleveland’s black community, and the police chief has called for a Justice Department investigation—which was naturally declared “premature” by the police guild. 

News like this naturally obscures positive stories. Who wants to hear “feel good” stories anyways? There is something in the human psyche that prefers to whine, moan and complain. But not all athletes are pampered and selfish, let alone criminals. Now, we know that Tiger Woods has a “history” of not being able to control his sexual impulses, or at least he didn’t mind “satisfying” the advances of a multitude of “easy” women—all of which led to the scandal which nearly derailed his career permanently. However, even his diehard fans seem unaware of his long-time charitable work. I mean, what’s a man to do with all the money he has made, even after giving his ex-wife a cool $100 million or so? Some of us could live in reasonable comfort the rest of our lives with one-tenth of that. One of Woods’ pet projects is the Learning Center located in Orange County, California. I’ve visited the Tiger Woods Foundation website and did some investigating concerning this project; the Learning Center’s mission statement asserts that

“At the Tiger Woods Foundation, we believe in college access for underserved youth…Since its inception in 1996 by Tiger Woods and his father, Earl, the Tiger Woods Foundation has reached millions of young people by delivering unique experiences and innovative educational opportunities for youth worldwide. What began as simply a dream to provide young people with opportunities and the tools needed to achieve a bright future has grown into a global organization that has served young people around the world.” 

Yes, it sounds all good, but what does it really do? The October “Lesson of the Month” was “Gravity at Work.” There is a PDF on a suggested lesson plan; a group instructional uses a sheet, a fitness ball and various sized round objects to demonstrate the gravitational pull of the Sun. Students are also expected to understand scientific terms, notation and calculation; frankly, my impression is that this dog is glad that he’s at that stage that he doesn’t need to learn such new tricks. 

The reason why this is currently in the news is the revelation that Woods has contributed a seven-figure amount of his own money to his World Challenge golf tournament in order to meet costs and fill-out the purse, after the failure to find a sponsor despite the presence of top players in an 18-man field. The tournament is intended to be a benefit event in support of the Center, but with the fear that the tournament might be canceled, Woods decided to pitch-in for costs because of the importance of the tournament in maintaining his foundation’s public profile. 

Woods’ recent antics and the fact that many golf “fans” find his fame and dominance in golf irritating has obscured the fact that he is personally and monetarily involved in projects that attempt to uplift underserved kids and expand their horizons, helping them to succeed in a complex world. I frankly can’t think of many better uses with excessive largesse; it certainly is a much more useful way to spend such money than the way the Koch Brothers do—literally wasting hundreds of millions of dollars uselessly on political campaigns trying to kill programs like this.

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