OT--Why are athletes criminally insane?

[Asher]

i know this is odd, but the rash of odd stories in the nfl, nba, even mlb lately (and for a long time) got me confused enough to start this thread.
everyone knows about micheal vick. i think everyone knows about lance briggs crashing his car, abandoning it, and calling the cops to report it stolen. jose offerman attacking two players with a baseball bat? you all heard about rafer 'stab to my lou' alston at the nightclub. pacman jones. now there's todd marinovich getting caught illegally skateboarding (tsk tsk and he's 38), fleeing police, and oh yeah having crystal meth in his 'guitar case'. anybody has other recent ones, feel free to add them in.
so my basic question is: wtf?

[Mags FTW]

They live lifes of extreme privilege, extreme pressue, or both. And many of them do it from the time they are high school kids getting heavily recruited/pampered/judged/etc.

[MickeyDavis]

This stuff happens all the time to people of all professions/income. It just doesn't make the news.

[Howling Mad]

They just try to show you people of all kinds are human. Even sports stars, entertainment stars, political stars, stars just because they're stars (i.e. Paris Hilton) are all just humans.

Yes they probably make more mistakes since the consequences aren't as severe but whatever, nothing new.

[Howling Mad]

They just try to show you people of all kinds are human. Even sports stars, entertainment stars, political stars, stars just because they're stars (i.e. Paris Hilton) are all just humans.

Yes they probably make more mistakes since the consequences aren't as severe but whatever, nothing new.

Go ask Michael Vick about that...

CHECK OUT THIS DOOZY!

[Asher]

This stuff happens all the time to people of all professions/income. It just doesn't make the news.

okay this stuff doesn't 'happen' to them, they facilitate it. lance briggs' car didn't take over like kitt from knight rider and crash him into the guardrail, and mike vick's dogs certainly didn't force him to electrocute them. i realize average people commit crimes as well, but doesn't there seem a disparity here? the sheer lunacy of many of these crimes is mind-boggling. few people have the resources to run an illegal dogfighting syndicate, for example, and if you had that opportunity (coupled with the high profile and public spotlight), would you do that? no. why do they? why does pro football talk have an arrest counter on it's home page that never gets a rest? why are high-profile people with relatively stable lives continually getting in legal trouble and committing borderline crazy crimes?
does it stem from a lifetime of privilege, from being accustomed to getting/doing whatever they want? there's more to the recklessness of this general group's actions than just dismissing it as it 'happens all the time'.

[Kerb Hohl]

Asher, it's because these people have gotten away with everything their whole life because they are who they are. 99.999999% of stupid crimes are committed by non-athletes. Take a large group of low-life, dogfighting, drunk driving, gambling fools that live in the slums. Now give them 20 million dollars or more. Some of them may change, but 2 or 3 of them are going to just pump some of their new money to enhance their crimes. Those are the guys that make the news, and most of them receive almost a fair punishment from media scrutiny alone.

To tell you the truth, out of Lance Briggs, Barry Bonds, Tim Donoghy, and Michael Vick...the order of how angry I am at the people goes 1. Donoghy 2. Bonds 3. Vick 4. Briggs. Why, you ask? Because as cruel of an action Vick did, and as disgusting as it is...The Michael Vick that I pay to watch on the television and in person is not doing this. The Michael Vick that is doing this is the one off the field. Granted, it has now put him off the field and behind bars...but most of these crimes are not affecting the product on the field that I see. There are 1000s of people dogfighting in this country, and I'm sad to see someone with so much money doing it...but I don't interact with Michael Vick off the field. What he did was stupid, and he will now pay...but Michael Vick is still a small portion of those dogfighting in this country, and I bet a few of the others have some money as well. If a guy named Michael Rick was shown on the news as dogfighting, I'd say "what an idiot, he should serve a few years in jail" and change the channel.

As for Bonds(I don't know if anyone even mentioned him here) he committed the crime of perjury, and most of us may do the same if we feel we can get away with the crime. Bonds cheated and enhanced his bankroll and MLB career but I think the thing that many people leave out of the equation when flipping out about his success is that well over half of the league could have been roiding at that time. Freakin Alex Sanchez was one of the first guys caught under the new policy.

I don't even know if I am mad at Lance Briggs other than the fact that he was driving drunk, and doing it in a $350,000 car. A lot of athletes/celebrities are stupid in NOT JUST GETTING A FREAKIN LIMO DRIVER when they are gonna go out and drink. Otherwise, you think that a $20 million contract isn't going to hold somebody back from drunk driving. People are still going to go out and have fun, and a few will be stupid. I have 3 friends with a DUI and know of many others and I'm not even 21. What Lance Briggs did was pretty common. As for leaving the scene, in all seriousness...the guy is pretty smart. He avoids a DUI and reckless driving and receives some sort of misdemeanor for leaving the scene. He also avoids Sheriff Goodell and the example that would have been made of him.

As for Donoghy, I know he isn't a high-profile athlete...but I am most angry with him as a fan because he affected the product I saw out on the field. Athletes are always going to be committing stupid crimes and if you give them money, it makes things worse. I look at a stupid crime from an athlete maybe as a bit dumber because of the money they have...but it is going to happen. Donoghy committed a crime that affected me the sports viewer. There is going to be a Rafer Alston stabbing somebody out there just as there is going to be a John Doe stabbing somebody out there.

Most importantly, we say how mad we are at Vick for being rich and screwing it up. What about business executives who embezzle? What about owners of companies like Nike treating humans like dogs in other countries by making them work for 30 cents an hour for 12 hours so that they can sell their shoe for $100 and pocket about $100 million/year. It happens all over the place. What about the Enron guys screwing their employees and stockholders out of a future? Some of them will still live the lavish life they always have.

I'd just like to focus on the good things going on in sports...like Vick's teammate Warrick Dunn buying a home for a single mother every year, that is what I'd like to hear about.

[Asher]

^

well said, charlosvll. just so we're clear, i'm not 'mad' at any of them. i generally could care less, but i'd be lying if i said i didn't take some sort of satisfaction in watching any smug idiot get his comeuppance.
as for barry bonds, i think the difference between him and say, alex sanchez, is alex sanchez isn't in danger of becoming the home run record-holder. there is little difference in the crime, but i think what outrages the public most is that barry bonds acts relatively guilty about it yet continues to play and tarnish what honorable guys like hank aaron did, while alex sanchez has quietly gone away. the public doesn't like to have it flaunted in their face.
donoghy did a bad thing, but it doesn't really compare to the audacity of the other crimes, from a 'wtf?!' standpoint.
killer mike has a good line in his rap 'that's life' where he says something like 'you telling me that martha stewart can rob shareholders of millions and get a tv show but if i rap about gettin some money on the block it's a problem? are you f*^&ing (Please Use More Appropriate Word)?!' she's a good example of rich criminals in other arenas, and she's just as dumb, but the crime is less...ignorant, i guess is a good word for it. martha stewart would never stab somebody at a nightclub, and yes, that's a social strata thing.
you're right in that these certain people, for the most part, have probably always done dumb things and that won't necessarily change just because they get a bunch of money. the general lack of discipline rich people and stars get in this country contributes to their laissez-faire attitudes, and that includes the paris hiltons of the world. but shouldn't it change when you hit that stage of fame/influence/affluence? shouldn't there be an internal dialogue that basically goes 'hey i have all this money i don't need to stab people in the neck or fight dogs anymore!' was warrick dunn's childhood habitat that much different from vick's? yet he became that person. i guess in the end the individual will do what the individual wants to do, regardless of influence.
i guess dogfighting and crashing lamborghinis is just a perk at that level.

[jerrod]

why on earth would you be mad at vick for screwing up being rich?

that doesn't make any sense to me


and for the original topic, people from all walks of life do these things, you just don't hear about them. so there really is nothing different. i know someone who crashed his car into a lake, climbed out, went home and didn't tell anyone for a while. if he was a football player that would have been a big deal.

[Asher]

and for the original topic, people from all walks of life do these things, you just don't hear about them. so there really is nothing different.

you're telling me you don't think there's anything odd about people with that kind of money and the awareness of the immense public spotlight on them doing these things?

[MickeyDavis]

What he (and I) are saying is that all of the stuff that athletes and celebs do are also done by people of all walks of life. But it's not newsworthy. It's really not that difficult of a thing to understand. Just because someone has money or can play a sport well enough to get paid for it doesn't mean they are any more, or less, likely to commit crimes.

[Asher]

What he (and I) are saying is that all of the stuff that athletes and celebs do are also done by people of all walks of life. But it's not newsworthy. It's really not that difficult of a thing to understand. Just because someone has money or can play a sport well enough to get paid for it doesn't mean they are any more, or less, likely to commit crimes.

and what i'm saying (which i also don't think is too difficult to understand), is that there is a general wild crime disparity between, for example, NFL players and say, doctors, and if you can't see that you're not looking. yes, all professions/peoples/ages/races/whatever commit crimes, and no, you don't always hear about them, but there is obviously an extreme odd illegal surge in this particular field of work. you said they aren't more or less likely to commit a crime--yes, they are more likely, it appears. if i was asking why so many bank tellers commit strange crimes, your answer would make sense, because the number is not exceptional. i do understand what you're saying, but it does not answer the question.

[MickeyDavis]

Doctors get arrested all the time, they do all kinds of crazy things. Here is a Dr. who was arrested last week. It was all over the news.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/new ... 1&psp=news

Here is a bank teller who was arrested, working with the Barbie bandits. It was all over the news.

http://crime.about.com/b/a/257330.htm

I think you are the one who isn't looking very hard

[Asher]

Doctors get arrested all the time, they do all kinds of crazy things. Here is a Dr. who was arrested last week. It was all over the news.

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/new ... 1&psp=news

Here is a bank teller who was arrested, working with the Barbie bandits. It was all over the news.

http://crime.about.com/b/a/257330.htm

I think you are the one who isn't looking very hard

well thank you for setting me straight with those very singular examples of AN arrest of a doctor and a bank teller. here is a link to last year's nfl arrests page:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sp ... 62006.html

i count from the washington post report 41 arrests in that ledger, and that is prior to the super bowl, offseason, and this preseason. now obviously it is nearly impossible to get an average crime rate of doctors or bank tellers. but from that post article 2006, not including mike vick, lance briggs, pacman's most recent, etc., the crime rate as a whole equals 4.13 percent arrested. that is more than one of every 25 people you work with arrested on a regular basis (that number will go up if you factor in this offseason). so, do your colleagues at the bank/health club/mall/whatever get arrested as often? can you show me such statistics?
there was recently a study in my local paper about drug and alcohol usage in the workplace, and it was found that bartenders and servers tend to use the most, percentage-wise. surprising? no, not really. there are many factors which contribute to this, and anyone who's ever worked in a restaurant will know--servers tend to be users, and it's not a diss, it's a fact, for many reasons--income level, availability, time of end of shift... but everyone can agree, they like to smoke some pot, drink, whatever... but what is it with pro athletes?