Marcus Vick-Virginia Tech Thug

[Tubaryan12]

When it rains, it pours:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10777702/

[TubaRay]

When it rains, it pours:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10777702/

I still say he is working on a career change over to "rap star".

He's certainly building an appropriate resume.

[Kevin Hendrick]

When it rains, it pours:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10777702/

I still say he is working on a career change over to "rap star".

He's certainly building an appropriate resume.

Maybe that's what he meant by "turning pro"?

[MaryAnn]

If you're putting together a sports team talent that helps the team win games is what counts. Mr Owens had talent but became a detractor rather than asset in the primary goal of a team- to win games. The "driven by profit" part most clearly at odds with a sports franchise is the perceived need for the team members to be 'positive role models". They're todays gladiators, and those were recruited largely from criminals and retained life and achieved fame through skills, not through being nice guys. There are, of course, limits to this line of thought and team owners are driven largely by the bottom line. Winning is a really big factor in that bottom line though and many owners are rabid fans themselves and want victory even if there is some potential hit to the Pat Robertson factor. I would submit that Richard Wagner was a scmuck but I still am find much of his music brilliant. Personal conduct and pure talent in a narrow field of endeavour are largely separate issues.

I really like your comparison to gladiators....I think that "sports" today have a lot in common with "sports" back in Roman times. There seems to always be a certain element of humanity that is drawn to blood sports, and while some of it is driven underground (cock fighting and similar things) some of it becomes a national pastime, with a lot of the audience not really realizing how close what they are watching is to a blood sport.

On the Wagner comment.....I was always surprised, when I was a violinist, at the assumptions people made about me because I played in a symphony, that I was a certain kind of artsy-fartsy personality. In the extremely talented people I've known, there was a cross section of personalities that was across the entire distribution curve....from really nice people to really nasty people, with most being somewhere near average in many ways. Maybe not average in intelligence or talent, but average in altruism, charity, selfishness, greed, and wanting to do the dishes when they got home from work.

MA

[Chuck(G)]

Men playing boys' games. And it seems the more they act like little boys, the more we like it.

Or does someone want to show how pro football has improved the human condition?

[tubatooter1940]

I am glad these types find employment in the N.F.L.. They are too busy and too rich to ambush people in dark alleys.

[Chuck(G)]

Men playing boys' games.

As opposed to intensely concentrated efforts at making farty noises into a large wrapped up metal cone?

Not a sports fan myself but not willing to espouse my personal chosen passion (music) as intrinsically "superior".....

Agreed--both "professions" think themselves far too important. The latter in particular is having its nose rubbed in this truth in this 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

The big difference between the two being that the former can defend itself in a barfight.

[Tabor]

It would be interesting to see how long in the pros it would take for this guy to have a career ending injury. There are a little too many fast, mean, huge guys in the NFL to go around stomping on people and expecting to play.



T