Flipping through the channels Saturday night, one headline dominated the sports scene: “Bonds makes history.”
I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like for the people who were there to witness that record-breaking moment. One thing I am sure of is that the people watching Bonds homerun ball sail over the fence knew that more than likely Bonds was cheating.
The sad thing is I don’t think they even cared. Why should they? They paid their hard-earned money to be entertained and that is exactly what they were getting. By what means it takes to achieve this greatness is of no concern to the average fan at any ballpark or stadium.
Today’s generation of sports fans don’t go to games for the same reasons that their parents and grandparents did. That generation was captivated by the mere simplicity of the game. People marveled at “The Yankee Clipper” Joe DiMaggio as he hit in 56 consecutive games and were in awe of “Hammerin” Hank Aaron as he pounded 755 homeruns.
Watching a game in those days was almost magical. Just being at the game was enough for generations past. Not for today’s fan. This ADD generation needs constant stimulation in order to keep the attention and adoration of their fans.
This has put the modern athlete in quite the conundrum. In this “What have you done for me lately,” society we live in, in order to stay ahead of the curve sometimes you have to cut a few corners.
This attitude has placed an extraordinary amount of pressure on athletes to perform at historic levels night after night. Fans forget that these people are just like you and me. Just imagine having a job where no matter what you did it wasn’t good enough for your boss. How annoying would that be? That is the attitude athletes receive from this generation of sports fans. Good just isn’t good enough.
So to please the mob players push the envelope and use performance-enhancing drugs and we persecute them. Consequently, if one person uses a performance-enhancing drug then everyone else is forced to do the same to compete.
So I have no problem with professional athletes using performance-enhancing drugs because I am part of this new generation of fans who think that if they didn’t see history being made they didn’t get their money’s worth. Modern sports and professional wrestling, which I also happen to love, has basically become the same thing.
The problem is that the fans, which choose to blame the players, don’t think that the pressures pushing players to extreme limits have been brought on, in part, by their own insatiable demands.
What the @$#!.

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