The name “Charlie Davies” was a trending topic today on Twitter. That either means that Twitter is made up of the same nerds who watch soccer, or the U.S. Men’s Soccer Team was finally creeping into the national mindshare. Or, perhaps it means that no matter who the athlete is, even if we don’t know who it is, we feel a need to forward the news.
There are two ways to think about Charlie Davies. First, consider him as a member of the U.S. Soccer team, a man who represents his country on a world stage, who trains with International players in the top league in France, and is/was widely considered to be one of the top players for his country for the next 2 World Cups. That kind of role assumes a level of responsibility. Now think of him from another lens. Consider him as a 23 year old guy making a ton of money, jet setting across the globe to play in the biggest cities in North and Central America, and then travel back for 40 games in France. A kid just a few years out of college, seemingly indestructible, cockily looking ahead 9 months when he’d have a chance to go head to head with the top players from Italy, Brazil, England, etc…
Is it a surprise that the second description of this 23 year old would get in a car 2 hours past his curfew, and be involved in an accident that caused career threatening injuries? So why is it shocking that the first description was involved? Why do we assume that a guy who is on the verge of greatness, may not regress into being the stupid 23 year old we all were? We all have a story in our closet where we realize we tempted fate and she spared us. We all could have been the guy in that car, but the story wouldn’t have been on ESPN.com.
I feel sad for Davies, whose World Cup 2010 run is over, and whose career will never be the same. And also have to be sad for the families of the un-famous other folks in the car with him. One person is dead an done person will have to live with the double guilt of killing one friend and crippling the career of another. But we have to wonder, how can we make these people who we watch and cheer for – how can we make them not do stupid things? Can we?
