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Murphy Martin Commentary
September 20, 2007
"It's All
About Money"
Professional sports and
those who participate there-in are providing more and more
controversy with each passing day. From abuse of spouses to abuse of
self! From wagering on games he was officiating to filming the
defensive signals of an upcoming opponent! From staging dog-fights
for high-dollar wagering to using illegal body-building substances
to help you to establish new home-run records! It's ALL about money!
In many cases the problem began in High School when young fourteen,
fifteen and sixteen-years old, who showed athletic promise would be
recruited from one school to another to enhance the new school's
program. It was not unusual to find the new recruit's family a home,
but also improved employment for the recruited teenager's father.
It was ALL about money!
Not all changing of High Schools proved successful but it was a
stepped up focus where young athletes learned early in life that
their abilities could earn them money.
From high school program's the better athletes learned quickly how
profitable their talents could be. Recruiters allowed just two
visits, spend hours on the phone, or through mutual friends pounding
away on why you should attend College "A" rather than College
"B-C-D-F etc". If you are a hot prospect, not only could you receive
a total scholarship at a $40,000 a year school, but they would find
a way through supportive Alumni to provide you a car to drive and
perhaps a job you do not have to show up for every day in order to
get the sufficient "walking around money" to make your life on
campus more enjoyable. Of course, if your school gets chosen to be
made an example of as the NCAA occasionally does, then you will wind
up banished from that school's program and will probably move to a
smaller college to exhibit your athletic talents. SMU and Oklahoma
are just two well-known athletic programs that can tell you the cost
of being caught. SMU's football program has never recovered from the
"death penalty" the NCAA leveled in making them an example of
misdeed's punishment. That was many years ago. More recently,
Oklahoma lost it's starting Quarterback because the NCAA decided to
expose payments being made to the Quarterback for work he did NOT do
for an over-exuberant Oklahoma Alumnus.
It's ALL about money!
Athletes with exceptional talent are watched by professional scouts
from their early college days and when they start hearing from
professional scouts, some athletes reach UNWRITTEN agreements with
agents and wind up leaving college before their senior years. It's
ALL about money! Seldom do those who leave early ever return to get
their degree. Many others who play four years in college do not have
the required hours to graduate and they never finish either. It's
ALL about money!
Even officials who work the professional games become tainted.
Recently an NBA official admitted that he was wagering on games he
was working for the NBA. He is facing criminal charges. It's ALL
about money!
Michael Vick awaits
sentencing in December growing out of his staging dog-fights for
gambling. He is suspended for at least this season by the NFL. How
many NFL players have been suspended for substance abuse? It's all
about money. A young man who grew up in near poverty conditions and
finds himself making several million dollars a year has an agent and
an attorney but often still finds himself in trouble. Using illegal
drugs and substances; abuse of spouse or girl-friend; drinking and
driving; and all too often the athlete who we have placed on a
pedestal, expects a double-standard. They think they are above the
law and not considered violators.
It does seem double-standards do come into play at times.
Commissioners of professional sport's leagues have made decisions
that seem inconsistent. You hear those in control say things like we
heard NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell make to Bob Costas prior to
Sunday night's game on NBC. Costas was pursuing the question of why
Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots was not suspended
in addition to being fined for his role in filming the Jet's
Defensive signals in last week's game. Commissioner Goodell said he
felt the $500,000 fine for Belichick plus the $250,000 TEAM fine and
loss of early round draft picks next year was sufficient and fair
punishment.
Costas then asked
Goodell why he suspended Dallas Cowboy's Quarterback Coach for five
games plus a $100,000 fine for using a substance to help treat his
Diabetes. For Wade, who has been a Diabetic for more than
twenty-years, the fine alone represents a third of his annual
salary. Wilson admittedly was just trying to improve his life. He
did not use the substance long because it was not helping his life.
Goodell intimated to Costas that Wilson had broken a law. Is there
consistency in what Goodell ruled in those two cases? Many people
will say no.
Remember Goodell rules a league of 32-teams where it is indeed ALL
about money! The Dallas Cowboys were purchased by Jerry Jones in
1988 for $140-Million and last week Forbes named this franchise to
be worth ONE-AND-A-HALF-BILLION-DOLLARS.
Sports is BIG business . Case in point is the new Cowboy Stadium in
Arlington where Mr. Jones put more than $600-million of his own
money to help build a one-of-a-kind stadium that will open in 2009
and will host a Super Bowl in 2011.
While success continues to follow Jones and those who are still
building values in sports. Some people who reached the top, had it
all, some of those people still believe they are above the law. Case
in point, one of the greatest runners of all time in the NFL, was
jailed in Las Vegas over the weekend after he and four other men
reportedly broke into a Hotel room , guns in hand, and left with
valuable memorabilia which Simpson claimed was his. Simpson has been
officially charged with robbery, assault, and kidnapping!"
Even after your career is long over, it's ALL about money!
That's my time, thank you for yours!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
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