With Whom Can Our Youth Idolize Today?
I’m sorry–I’m on my “stump” and this is why? While growing up, the Baby Boomer believes it’s so very important for our youth to have folks, let’s call them heroes, with whom they can idolize. However, looking at today’s American society I’m having a really hard time of even imagining with whom our youth can idolize today!
“Back in the day” while growing up in Arlington, I had a number of heroes with whom I idolized. Being a guy who loved sports, America’s game in the 1950’s and 1960’s was professional baseball as it was always equated with being just like “mom and apple pie”. I was a Yankees fan as a youngster and, of course, Mickey Mantle was one of my heroes! Certainly, he, and probably like most baseball players of that era, was a philanderer and drank way too much always being in the “party” mode. The sportswriters kept all this quiet, though, knowing how important it was to maintain the heroic image that so many of America’s youth had of Mickey and so many other players.
Well, today, with cable TV, the internet, and so many other media avenues, the press is so unscrupulous that they’ll will print anything they can find especially when it’s divisive and damages the image of anyone in the public eye. Hey, those with whom our youth could idolize aren’t doing much to help themselves either are they? These wannabe sports and show business heroes are being paid such gross sums of money merely to entertain us. As you know from a previous post, the Baby Boomer believes money is the “root of all evil” and why we allow these folks to earn such an unseemly amount of money is way beyond me. Because of all this money, they see themselves as being empowered to offer their opinions on topics they truly know absolutely nothing about and really should just “shut-up” and merely concentrate on entertaining us!!
Today, professional football is now America’s game. Hey, I was looking forward to watching last night’s NFL opener between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles even though I’m truly no longer a real fan of the game. The NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is quite a buffoon in his own right and only earns $40 million/year and for what, couldn’t possibly be the least bit proud of the unthinkable act which occurred after the first play of last night’s game–which to anyone who is sane gave the NFL a huge black eye. You know from a previous post that throughout my career I’ve often been shocked, but not surprised and that also holds true in this case when after the first play of the game the Eagles defensive tackle, Jalen Carter, and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott seemed to face off when Prescott claims he spat on the ground while Carter decided to spit on Prescott in retaliation and was immediately ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct. I mean really, are you kidding me, what in the “hell”!!!! If that player were on my team last night, he wouldn’t be today–I don’t care who he thinks he is as no one is bigger than the organization. I’m hoping (but truly doubt it) that many millions of those watching this embarrassment decided to change the channel as I did. I’m also not really sure I’ll ever watch another professional football game! Go Redskins!!
This apprehensible incident was so reminiscent of when Roberto Alomar (Baltimore Orioles) spat into the face of home plate umpire John Hirschbeck in 1996 after a heated argument over a called third strike. One human being spitting on another is, in the Baby Boomer’s humble opinion, one of the nastiest and most disrespectful acts one can ever do–it’s totally unacceptable. Not only would I have fired him from my team, but MLB should have banned him for life. Oh, no, as he not only stayed in baseball and earned a reputation for supposedly being one of the greatest second basemen ever, but he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Again, shocked, but not surprised!!
The only real interest I had in watching football was taking in the college game, but that interest is quickly waning as college athletes are now receiving money via Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals, direct payments from the universities themselves, or through compensation from a major lawsuit settlement with some players receiving millions of dollars. I always thought you went to college to further your education? This along with the NCAA Transfer Portal allowing college athletes their intent to transfer schools allowing other NCAA programs to recruit them just like a “free agent market” is ludicrous. Jeez, in a four-year college career one could play for three different schools. Let’s be honest, those folks ain’t going to college to further their education. This year at North Carolina, as an example, new head coach Bill Belichick at 73 years old and an $8 million salary, brought in 70 new players through the NCAA Transfer Portal. He, with 8 Super Bowl rings, lost his first game to TCU and rightly so 48-14! Money is the “root of all evil”!!
I’m now of the opinion that today’s youth are “screeeeewwwed” when it comes to with whom they can idolize as those heroes like our American society has just gone to pot. Okay, I now feel a bit better and will jump from my “stump”.