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I think I’m done with professional sports, especially men’s teams, anyway. That includes the Ravens, who I used to follow, but rarely watch anymore. In fact, the antics of many players and coaches across professional sports, on and off the field, have turned me off.
Give me a good college basketball game instead, any day. I completed my graduate work at the University of Virginia and I love following Virginia basketball. Men’s and woment’s college basketball are exciting to watch. Players play their hearts out, not for money, and still believe in doing what is best for the team. With professionals, at least for many of them, it seems to be all about their own needs and not about what the team needs.
Team loyalty seems to be dead in professional sports. Teams are partly responsible for this, I believe, by treating players as if they were trading cards instead of people. But in the last several years, listening to professional basketball players, for example, stating which teams they will and will not play for, or which players they will or will not play with, is pretty extraordinary given what they are paid.
While Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is currently getting criticized for an inappropriate tweet — which he deleted, he said, only because his girlfriend suggested he should — I lost respect for him when he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccination during the pandemic. Jackson put himself — a valuable asset to his team — and everyoneassociated with the team, at risk. And he passed up an opportunity to set an example for the larger community.
Jackson contracted COVID twice and had to abandon his team during his illness. After the second case, he responded to a question about finally getting vaccinated with, “I feel it’s a personal decision.” In fact, his “personal decision” negatively affected his teammates, coaches and staff. But Jackson made it all about himself.
I’m tired of players like quarterback Tom Brady acting like immature high school players. After an amazing career as likely the best quarterback in NFL history, Brady retired last year so he could spend more time with his family. That lasted two months. Apparently, he wasn’t too keen on spending time with his wife and three children. Mind you, he already played in the NFL for 22 years.
Anyone suggesting his wife was not being fair to him should consider that she carried their family, including a child from his previous marriage, for more than 13 years of marriage while he played — on and off the field — with his football friends.
Not many of these guys are considered appropriate role models for our children anymore. That is probably a good thing, considering their off-field antics. And that goes for the coaches and team owners, too. Just look at all the controversy around Daniel Snyder, who owns the Washington Commanders, or Jerry Jones, who owns the Dallas Cowboys. I do give Ravens owner Stephen Bisciotti credit for having, from what I hear from people I know who work there, a positive culture and work environment within the Raven’s organization. That makes sense given Bisciotti’s career in human resources.
According to public affairs firm Public Opinion Strategies, in the 1970s, 75% of Americans said “Yes” that athletes were good role models and just 19% disagreed. By 1982, just 42% of Americans said “Yes” and 48% said “No.” By 2013, according to a Rasmussen poll, just 15% of American adults viewed professional athletes as good role models and 61% disagreed with that statement. I have not found more recent data on this question, but you can see the trend.
Even retired, respected basketball players seem to be done with some of the current players and their drama. After Brooklyn Nets basketball star Kyrie Irving promoted an anti-Semitic film on Twitter, announcer and former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal stated to his co-announcer, Charles Barkley, another former basketball star, “It hurts me when we have to sit up here and talk about stuff that divides the game. Now, we [have to] answer for what this idiot has done.”
This is not the first time Irving has made ignorant and hurtful statements. He also refused to get vaccinated and, thus, could not play on his team’s home court in New York City where COVID vaccinations were required. I guess getting paid $400,000 per game, Irving’s salary, wan’t enough incentive for him to do what was best for his team.
The college basketball season is well underway and the season has already proved to be more exciting than any professional game. I am enjoying the young college players perform before they become corrupted by fame and the big bucks of professional sports.
Tom Zirpoli is the Laurence J. Adams Distinguished Chair in Special Education Emeritus at McDaniel College. He writes from Westminster. His column appears Wednesdays. Email him at tzirpoli@mcdaniel.edu.
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