Sports characters and their "character"

First off let me apologize for the disappearance of my writing. Life is very busy, especially when you have a 3yr old and it's the holiday season. We did some great business at the Truff and I was even able to sneak away to the frozen tundra of Massachusetts for a vacation before Christmas. What a great holiday season! And now we move forward into 2010, a new year, a new decade, no better way to start it than with a thought provoking sports article!
So often in sports we hear the word "character" thrown around. "He's a great player, amazing athleticism but his character isn't quite where it should be". What's more imporant skill or character? A person's performance in their form of occupation or what they do outside of work? Interesting questions, right? If a person excells beyond all others in the their profession should that be given special rules? Should they be examined under a microscope because "America's youth" look up to them? I want to go on the record and say character is extremely important in life. Hopefully after thinking long and hard on this subject with me you'll see where I'm coming from when I ask everyone to: STOP being so pushy when it comes to knowing every little detail about your favorite athlete, celebrity, performer! Enjoy what they get paid to do and dont' try to clean out their closet until you've cleaned your own.
Perhaps you've heard about this athlete in our country, he doesn't play one of the major sports (football, baseball, basketball), he prefers golf. Tiger Woods is probably one of the most heralded sports players of all time. He reminds me of Madonna, Jordan, Brady, Vick (don't worry we'll get to him eventually). Why? Well, what do they have in common? Their celebrity status is overwhelming to the point that it's almost sickening. At one point or another, they truly excelled in their specific field beyond all expectations. The recent news of Tiger Woods' off field activities have caused a great stir throughout our country. Suddenly the media's focus on Tiger's winnings has faded away, instead they are now pointing their cameras at his residence, his wife, his mother-in-law, and pictures from the ill-fated night. Now understand, I am in no way shape or form condoning what Tiger Woods did. What I would like to discuss is how disgustingly obsessed the media has become with this whole ordeal. Is it me or does it seem like every day a new woman comes forward to share her "night with Tiger"? Magazines with headlines "Exclusive photos of Tiger's mistress". Breaking news every other day on Sportscenter to inform Woods he's lost another endorsement deal. Why do they focus so intently on his personal life?
Unfortunately I know the answer... us. The general public. Sports fans and non-fans of sports alike. We have become disturbingly attracted to the personal lives of celebrities, be it athletes, performers, etc. Why is it that we care sooo much about what Tom Brady does when he's not on the field tossing touchdown passes? (honestly this doesn't apply to me, I could care more or less what he does and doesn't do with Gisele, what a lucky guy).
Wouldn't it make more sense for us to be so curious about the personal life of our physican? maybe the cook at our favorite restaurant? better yet, your local "trustworthy" auto doctor? Understand my logic here: I have never met Tiger Woods one on one. Most people never will. This man will never have a personal impact on your day to day life. Yet many of us are so very curious as to what happened the night he got into a car accident on his own property. We are enamored with the notion of him having extra marital affairs and want pictures of these women so that men can say "damn she's fine, I woulda got with her too" and women can say "what a whore". I think knowing how honest your mechanic is outside the job would be much more helpful. If you knew he was a lying, cheating p.o.s. then you probably wouldn't trust him with your car, right? Let's face it, the only thing that matters to you is if he fixes your car and makes the problem go away. All I'm trying to say is that we need to back off the personal lives of our beloved heroes and let them be exactly what you and are whey they aren't showcasing their talent: human.
At the end of the day, Michael Jordan is just another man, Madonna is just another woman (yes, I agree that's debatable). They sit down on their couch, curl up in sweats, grab a bowl of ice cream and watch the Kardashians just like the rest of us. Focus on Brady throwing TDs to Randy Moss, track Tiger on his chase for his next major tournament win, hit up youtube and watch Miley Cirus sing Party in the USA: whatever floats your boat! Discuss those things, argue who's the best golfer ever, the most clutch quarterback of alltime, the most captivating performer. Enough with the damn drama! I guess being the sports enthusiast that I am, I hate when people lose focus of the matter at hand: THE GAMES!
Tiger made mistakes in his life, haven't you? Michael Vick took part in some dispicable acts, was held accountable by the law, given punishment for his actions, and served his sentence in prison. Vick appears to sincerely regret his poor judgement and merely seeks a second chance, have you ever asked for a second chance? Tom Brady dated someone, had a child out of wedlock with her, and went on to marry someone else. People then look at him as a bad father without even knowing all the information of the situation. Again, please understand, I'm not defending Brady! I'm asking you to stop pursuing the details of his personal life because you know what it doesn't have anything to do with you or me. Grade his performance on the field. Compare his play in the postseason with any other quarterback's playoff record. That's what we should be talking about, breaking down, and trying to understand.
The point of this article is to get you thinking about how misconstrued the thought process of the media has become. I often get a kick out of these celebrity magazines: US, Star, In Touch, etc. They dig so deep beyond the point of no return that it's almost comical to read some of the headlines - "Reese Witherspoon is high... on caffeine! Her 2nd visit to starbucks in one day has us thinking she's got an addiction problem!" Unbelieveable. But we have no one to blame but ourselves, we always want more. We're never content.
Maybe we can start something, a movement. Change some things, better yet, stop some things. Turn the focus back to the field, oh wait... I think they just announced Tiger's latest vice... gotta go check this out, it's gonna be one hell of a story! Gotta be ready to spread the news!