Fifteen years ago, Charles Barkley came under fire for daring to say that he, as a star athlete, was not a role model for children. The ad campaign focused on the (ultimately ridiculous) notion that a man born with a freakish body and athletic abilities is automatically meant as a role model for children to emulate.
Pilloried for speaking what should be an obvious truth all those years ago, I just have to ask where the Round Mound of Rebound is for today’s youth?
As amply demonstrated today, there is no correlation between success in the athletic world and any semblance of real world intelligence.
Bobby Petrino had an affair with a 25-year old, finagled to get her a job with his own team and then drove around a small southern town with her riding on the back of his motorcycle. When he had an accident, he naturally assumed his role as the leader of the most important team in the state would shield him from any fallout. When his contradictory statements (or bald-faced lies for those of us that aren’t lawyers) came to light, he issued apologies and assumed a 21-5 record in the last couple of seasons would provide air-cover until this all blew over.
When he was fired and practically dismembered by his boss on national TV, he belatedly learned that wasn’t the case.
A man who jumped ship from Louisville at a moment’s notice for the Falcons job (after flirting with Auburn) and then dumped the Falcons for Arkansas with a post-it note on the way out the door, Petrino has never shown the barest hint of an understanding of ethics, let alone the possession of a soul. For that reason, his actions over the last week shouldn’t be a surprise. The man clearly has one interest and one interest only and it looks back at him in the mirror each morning and tells him not to listen to the nay-sayers, for he is the fairest of them all.
Beyond any basic decency this entire episode shows Petrino isn’t just a lying dirt-bag, he is a complete and total moron.
Not thinking through his actions. Not reflecting on the impression of him based on his previous actions. Not understanding how the lies he would spin would ultimately be his downfall.
These are clear indications that there as many brains under that plastic Pig Sooie hat as there are in the snout of that Pig Sooie hat.
But Petrino isn’t alone in his incompetence.
Marlins manager and perpetual quote machine Ozzie Guillen is in trouble for making brainless statements about Fidel Castro.
(Ignore for a minute, the redundancy of saying a statement by Guillen is brainless for I recognize that they are all brainless.)
Guillen has proven consistently that while he may know how to manage a baseball team, his intelligence ends at the foul line.
This isn’t all Guillen’s fault. He isn’t smart enough to stop himself from talking as that, much more than baseball, is truly his favorite pastime. I blame anyone seeking to hear Guillen’s point of view on Castro and Cuba.
Why should anyone care what Guillen thinks about Castro? Did he spend the off-seasons of his 16 year major league career studying Caribbean History? Of course not. He has probably spent more hours contemplating how they get sunflower seeds to taste like dill pickles.
Guillen is a loud mouth with an empty brain, yet, he feels entitled to espouse his views on Fidel Castro. It’s his Constitutional right, I understand. But it also only brings light to the many things Guillen doesn’t know.
Anyone know the Spanish translation for: “It is better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt”?
This is the same phenomenon that led to Hank Williams Jr. appearing on a news program to talk about politics. As if the views of a guy who wrote an anthem for football played on Mondays has any bearing on anything.
Williams felt his point of view was valid for the same reason Guillen did. Because he was successful in an unrelated field. I listened to ‘Family Tradition’ just about every weekend during college, but that doesn’t mean I care what Williams says about politics. No more than I would ask Taylor Swift to handicap the Kentucky Derby.
For some unknown reason, we as a country have accepted the notion that success in one arena provides a level of wisdom and intelligence that casts across all others. This of course is lunacy, especially when bestowed upon people that gained fame by focusing their lives on succeeding at a very narrow activity not related to intelligence, logic or reason. Stephen Hawking may not be able to hit a curveball, but he would be smart enough to develop a reasonable response to a question about the politics of a country he doesn’t know much about. Or how to avoid the embarrassment coming from embarking on an affair with a woman half his age. For one thing, he certainly wouldn’t hire her.
As proven by Guillen and Petrino once again this week, succeeding in sports has little to do with intelligence or morals. It has to do with focusing on your chosen field, working hard, being ambitious and being (at least a little) lucky.
Yet, we are always surprised when these imbeciles that we have placed on a pedestal, turn out to be disappointments.
Where have you gone Charles Barkley to remind us about the limits to be placed on the influence of people successful in sports?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
