O Gladiator

The year in sport ended with some high stakes at hand. We saw Tony Gwynn hold out for a guaranteed couple million bucks in potential sick pay and the Texas Rangers went crazy with deals to four players totaling over 265 million dollars. What the hell are they doing? Is anybody really worth $25 million a year? But oh, by the way, the Rangers just announced they were raising the fare for a seat. Hmmm, how it works.

At the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, the UT athletes get preferential treatment in the ER over other emergency patients, unless of course in case of trauma victims. Of course. They, the athletes, get top-notch medical care and pampering. And then, like Gwynn, they might still blow out a knee and be sidelined, making money watching the game, just like you and me. Such a deal.

Now there's no doubt Tony Gwynn will retire and go right into the hall of fame. But there are so many mediocre players getting paid hundreds of times more than they are worth. I used to work for man who constantly demanded "bang for his buck". Well, today's owners are either really stupid or they are getting it all back from the IRS somehow because they continue to chase bad talent with good money. Big money. And little bangs in return.

A couple millennia ago, the Roman gladiators were treated much the same. They fought hard, indeed for their very lives, and earned respect and other rewards from the fans and sponsors out there in the public, who took pleasure gambling and touting their savage skills. Well, the winners anyway. In the original Coliseum there was no room for mediocrity. If you were second rate there was no Triple-A league to fall back to for redevelopment. No, if you were less than good, you were more than likely killed. Not many maimed gladiators saw "thumbs up".

This season in the NFL we watched the pompous Washington Redskins go down the tubes with a bankrolled staff of high-priced has-beens while a pitcher from the Mets who wanted to play the last year of his contract for a penny, but was denied by the players union.

Well, you can't blame the owners or the players for this situation. We fans are the reason for the madness. We continue to pay the higher prices for the games we watch. We continue to support teams like the pathetic Chicago Cubs or allow the San Diego Chargers to suck yet be guaranteed a full gate by the city council. We have created such monsters out there with egos so large into thinking they are worth it. Recall Jonathan, of Rollerball, the superhero who was an unstoppable athlete who grew to be a national hero, and became more popular than the sponsors themselves. Those sponsors love popularity, but only on their terms. Sooner or later, it will all tumble down. But not if we continue to support mediocrity.

If you have passion for the game, go see some amateurs go at it. It's really fun to watch kids compete for the pleasure of competing. Once money gets into the fray, look what happens. As long as we continue to buy the memorabilia, purchase those scalper-priced tickets, and pay for autographs, it will never get any better.