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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