Athletes on campuses around the country are leaving people with their jaws stapled to the floor with some of the headshaking things they’ve done.
No one is exempt from this disease that is spreading across college campuses like cancer leaving a wake of devastation that is felt long after the athlete graduates.
Everyone has heard of the Duke lacrosse team scandal, and you can’t open the pages of the Knoxville News Sentinel without seeing charges being placed against football players. Even the local colleges have felt the wrath of this new breed of athlete. Tusculum College, in my hometown of Greeneville, recently went through an ordeal that not only impacted the athletic department but the entire school.
During the Bristol race weekend Tusculum sends the various sports athletes to help work the race. What could possibly go wrong? Did they swipe a little extra food for themselves? No. Did they start a fight? No. The Tusculum College soccer team took some money. I know what you’re thinking. The race generates millions of dollars. Who is going to miss some spare change? Well, according to the AP the men’s team was accused of stealing $12,000. Since no one would step forward, the college cancelled the remainder of their season.
The shift into this new-age athlete has been a gradual process that has been set in motion many generations ago. Today’s athletes grew up in an era of sports where the emphasis was placed on the “I”. The young children grow up seeing the double-standard the professional athlete is afforded due to their success on the field or on the court and think if they can perform then the rules won’t apply to them.
It’s not just the athletes that are to blame. Coaches and schools whose only concern are winning are willing to hear no evil, see no evil, or speak no evil in an effort to keep the students, alumni, and players happy.
This has created an athlete whose priorities are totally at odds with the rest of society. It seems that athletes have forgotten the most fundamental rule: Playing sports, collegiate or professional, is not a right but rather it is a privilege.
If not for the sport itself then the athlete would have no pedestal to rest their broken morals upon and they’re no different than you or me. Except they still run faster, jump higher, throw farther and look better.
If you guys think I am just a bitter athlete who just couldn’t hack it, well you’re right.
But anyone who has ever played a sport can’t say that if they were given the opportunity to play professionally or even in college they would do anything to not jeopardize that dream. But that’s just coming from a bitter man who can just say what the @$#!.

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