A few things collided in my brain this week, and I think it’s time we admitted they probably are inter-related in some way.
Phelps
First off, Michael Phelps gets busted for smoking marijuana in October. The country flies into outrage. After all, why should a 20-something year old, who just accomplished the greatest feat in Olympic History, in a room full of other 20-somethings who admire him, sit down and do what they do? The nerve. And if the guy who has more Olympic Gold Medals than anyone on earth can do so AND smoke marijuana, should it really be illegal? Is there really someone saying, “Well you know, if he didn’t smoke dope, he’d probably be able to be a brain surgeon as well as Olympic Gold Medalist.”
The part that kills me now is that because of the photo, the county sheriff has had to haul in 7 people at the party and the guy who owned the bong, even though that guy wasn’t even there. You want to talk about a guy born under a black cloud. A guy who lives at the house DIDN’T get to party when a superstar randomly dropped by. But someone did grab his bong out of his room so said superstar could smoke from it. And then when he tried to sell it on eBay for $100k, he got arrested.
A-Rod
On the other side of the spectrum, there’s the guy we just KNEW was up to something, but could never figure out what. His breakup with Jeter was odd, getting caught with a stripper was odder, and being friends with Madonna was just plain bizarre. But it turns out all he was doing was taking steroids with 103 other players from 2001-2003.
And do you wonder why not one team has sued any players for breech of contract? Think about it. A guy has a monster year. You sign him to a 4 year, $40 Million deal. Then the Mitchell report comes out and spooks everyone off the juice. Now your $40 Million guy goes clean, and falls back to 15 HR a year. Well if you didn’t know he was on roids before you signed him, then found out he was on the list, wouldn’t you sue and renegotiate back to what a 15 HR guy should make?
Dow <8K
So we have illogical drug laws, cheaters playing and reporting about our national pastime and we honestly ask ourselves, “So how did our economy get so bad?” Obama supporters are already wondering and asking why they haven’t received a blank check in their mailbox to cover all their expenses in 2009. People think a national bank should be set up where every citizen who asks can get an ATM card to withdraw whatever they want. Then there are all of these CEO’s who managed to get the government to give them big piles of money, and are now faced with the choice of taking a 80% pay cut and digging their company out of bankruptcy, or taking a 100% pay cut and resting on the beach in Costa Rica.
Here’s what I don’t get about the $900 BILLION stimulus package. Obama is out their pounding his fist saying, “We must do this today or our people will be bankrupt.” The Republicans are out there saying, “Some of this makes sense, but I don’t get how $300M for STD testing stimulates the economy.” So, why can’t we agree on about $250 Billion that makes the most sense, shoot it into action and then argue about the next chunk? Any Senator who says they won’t approve a $100 Billion for construction and infrastructure projects unless the raises for Special Ed teachers are approved, is obviously gorging on pork.
Summary
So are these unrelated? I just think it shows a complete lack of logic in the whole structure. A guy making $25 million a year cheats, affecting 800 other ball players, 75 million fans, the seasons of 29 other teams, and the advertising revenue of several networks. And we seem to be upset that a guy who at most is putting three of his teammates at risk is able to smoke pot and still shatter Olympic records. And we’ll continue to drop billions into pretending to fight marijuana, arresting people, running them through trials and then releasing them to probation, instead of spending that money to hire a teacher to explain why you shouldn’t buy a house with zero percent down, especially if you don’t have a job. There has to be some logic somewhere.
