6-7-00 Besides the tons and tons of money, it pays to be an athlete! The world of professional sports has changed dramatically in the last decade in what I believe are more bad ways than good.

Athletes such as Ray Lewis and O.J. Simpson who murder people are given preferential treatment by the courts and prosecutors because they are celebrities. In O.J.'s case, he was acquitted of a murder the entire WORLD knew he committed (they laughed at us in other countries). Ray Lewis' case was just plea-bargained to a misdemeanor from murder. This is justice?

In the case of Daryll Strawberry, the man is a multiple-conviction drug offender who has NEVER been banned from baseball. The national past time must have changed from baseball to crack-snorting.

On the other hand, professional ice skating seems to have the right idea when it comes to punishment. When Tanya Harding had the bones beaten out of Nancy Kerrigan's knee, the skating world reacted so harshly that Tanya couldn't show her face again. She was the laughing stock of the sport and even cried in the middle of a performance because everyone hated her! We were all privied to a live performance of "The Scarlet Letter on Ice"...but Hester Prynn was portrayed by someone with much less dignity and less deserving of respect. Public scrutiny is a wonderful thing.

My point is that professional athletes should NOT be given any special treatment because they are "professional" athletes. No one should be above the law but so far they appear to be. What were considered role models in the previous generation are now just high-paid jocks. Would you want your child looking up to someone like O.J. or Daryll Strawberry as a role model for behavior?