On a less serious but still somber note, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker received a two-and-a-half-month suspension and $20,000 fine Monday for his recent tirade against immigrants and minorities. And that's just in the last couple of days. Last month 23-year-old Miami Dolphins running back Cecil Collins was arrested for breaking and entering, while Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills killed himself drag-racing Porsches with a teammate.
What do these men have in common? They all live in the seemingly consequence-free environment that surrounds those paid millions to play professional sports. Of course, athletes, just like the rest of the population, are not immune to bad behavior. Babe Ruth, the nation's first sports superstar, was the subject of movies that showed him visiting children's hospitals and opening car doors for ladies. The truth, which came out after the Bambino's death, was that he was a violent, hard-drinking womanizer. Still, things havegotten worse. Consider that more than a fifth of the players participating in Sunday's Super Bowl have passed through the criminal justice system at some point in their lives.
Today's players are influenced, in part, by sums of money that have grown wildly out of proportion — money in such quantities that it cannot do other than create an aura of invincibility. While Ruth was the first pro athlete to make more than the President, the NBA's minimum salary is now greater than the sum the U.S. pays its commander in chief. At the same time, sports teams and leagues have become larger and wealthier — and, perhaps, unwilling to rein in the stars who are creating that wealth. Maybe the suspension handed out to Rocker — considered tough by many observers — is a sign that the higher-ups in professional sports have seen the writing on the wall. They, of course, will not be the judge and jury for Ray Lewis.