KC Sports & Fitness
(January 2008)
By John Landsberg
How important is character with professional athletes? To some teams and fans it really doesn’t mean a thing.
Give them a superb athlete and they really don’t care if he rapes and pillages the local community (as long as it isn’t their neighborhood). Just win baby!!
One of the things that became glaringly obvious this season with the Kansas City Chiefs was the players exhibited very little in the way of character. Sure Herm Edwards was preaching his daily “Hermonettes,” but the players themselves didn’t seem to be listening or caring.
How important would it have been this season to have fullback Tony Richardson around for team chemistry? He was with the Chiefs from 1995-2005 until the team pretty much told him to hit the road. He was a fine runner and an excellent blocker, but most of all, he was a quality guy.
He was the type of teammate who would take some hot shot millionaire rookie player and explain the importance of acting like a role model. Or why it is important to be active in the community. Or the importance of faith and morals.
This year Tony Richardson will be in the Pro Bowl for the third time in his NFL career. Sadly, he will be playing for the Minnesota Vikings. He’s not just a Pro Bowl player, but a Pro Bowl individual. He should still be with the Chiefs.
CORRECTING A BASEBALL TRAVESTY
As we enter 2008 we need to immediately correct a wrong that has been committed by Major League baseball for too many years now. It is time that Yankee great Roger Maris is enshrined in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
In 1961, Maris hit 61 home runs to break Babe Ruth’s record set in 1927.
Babe Ruth had held the record for 34 years, but then Maris held it for an incredible 37 more until the steroid boys—Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds---blasted him into oblivion.
It is far and away the most prestigious accomplishment in baseball. How awful must it have been for Maris’s family (he died in 1985) to have to watch McGwire break his record. At the time he looked like an Olympic weightlifter crammed into a baseball uniform.
Only a complete moron would say the home run marks set since Maris are even remotely legitimate. There is now no doubt that all of them were achieved by players on steroids.
Maris achieved his numbers before the pitching mound was lowered to benefit hitters, the balls were not juiced like they are today, and before the ballparks and strike zone were shrunk to encourage homers. It today’s environment Maris might be aiming for triple-digits in homers.
And Maris should not just go into the HOF because of his home run record. In twelve Major League seasons, he participated in seven World Series, was a two-time American League MVP (only 11 others have done it), had a better fielding average than Hank Aaron and played in seven all-star games.
The biggest tragedy is not that the cheaters will probably ALL make the Hall of Fame as folks overlook (wink, wink) their roid behavior. No, the real tragedy is that while the cheaters march into the HOF a quality guy and player Roger Maris will still probably be on the outside looking in.
It’s time that Major League Baseball realizes what a remarkable athlete Roger Maris was and put him into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Please don’t let even the cheaters go in before him… |
