We like to hold our sporting idols up to social standards and then tear them to pieces when they fail. If they don't conform to our notion of the model citizen, the man or woman of charity, or the team player, they are prime bait for abuse, as if the contract they signed stipulated their behavior must meet standards of perfection. I do it all the time - Carl Everett, Albert Belle, Rasheed Wallace - I can't stand these guys.
There's another class of hooligans we like to criticize, sometimes even more, and these guys include the drug addicts, the womanizers, and the lawbreakers. The Dwight Goodens, the John Daleys, the Anthony Masons, the Rae Carruths - addicts and murderers alike.
But there comes a point when we forget about that, because it gets ridiculous to criticize off-the-field actions of athletes like they're supposed to be better than the next guy. It you are so obsessed with athletes as to expect them to be perfect citizens, to not screw up, then you need to get a life and stop fantasizing about sports. These guys screw up like you, and when the incidents occur off the court you need to back off or risk completely living vicariously through your favorite ballplayers.
Sometimes the pedestal upon which our favorite players once stood gives way and they are left in a courtroom, eyes downcast and face so depressed it seems they'll never smile again, wearing an inmate's jumpsuit and speaking of the will to die. That's pretty much when you should back off with the criticism.
I am, of course, speaking about Darryl Strawberry. He was given one more chance to deal with his drug addiction this week, ordered to spend at least another week in jail and to resume chemotherapy for his colon cancer. A couple of years ago, when anyone spoke about giving Darryl another chance - in the form of a George Steinbrenner paycheck - the response was generally sarcastic and critical. Most of us don't like to see athletes get a million chances in the wake of repeated felonies, and while Yankee fans welcomed Straw with open arms, the world saw him as another fallen hero who should have been dead out of luck.
But after watching this guy in court last week, if you're still harping on how he screwed it up and doesn't deserve compassion, you are clearly over-obsessed with the athlete-criticism thing. Darryl Strawberry is no longer an athlete; he's a man, and a seemingly empty man at that. He looked lifeless in the that blue jumper, and in an interview with Dateline last night he acknowledged, "My career is over. Done." He filed for free agency from the Yankees this week and won't be donning a New York uniform ever again, or any other uniform for that matter. The only "Daaaaaarryl" chants he'll hear will come from his fellow inmates, should he stay in jail. Yes, he is a fallen superstar. Yes, he continues to get second chances, this time not to do with baseball but with freedom. Yes, his rap sheet is ridiculous. Here's a peek:
In 1987, his wife filed for separation and accused him of breaking her nose after a game in 1986. In 1990, he was arrested for alleged assault with a deadly weapon during an argument with his wife, supposedly having threatened her with a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun. The next week, he entered a center for alcohol rehabilitation. In 1994, he entered the Betty Ford Clinic for substance abuse, and was also indicted on tax evasion charges. In 1995, baseball suspended him for 60 days after he tested positive for cocaine. In 1998, after a couple of stints with the Yanks, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He had surgery but the cancer had spread to a lymph node. In 1999, he was charged with possession of cocaine and soliciting a prostitute. After more cocaine problems last January, he was arrested last month for violating his parole.
Darryl Strawberry is not a good boy, and he probably won't get any better.
But I don't think there's a fan ridiculous enough to jump on the anti-Strawberry bandwagon this late in the game. You missed that by a few years. Stick to cursing out Latrell and Everett, guys who screw up on the court and are at least somewhat in their right minds.
Okay. Overstatement.
But Straw's history should make you realize that athletes aren't special. They're no better than you, and a lot of the time they're a lot more screwed up than you. That means two things: don't over-idolize them, because it's pathetic, and don't harp on them too much, because it's equally pathetic, and it also holds them up to standards they never asked for and likely don't deserve. Baseball is a fun game to watch, a fun game to play, and the players are worth their fan-value in terms of entertainment and talent.
But that's where it ends. While the Mets and Yanks were busy giving New York its long-desired fantasy in the form of a Subway Series, Strawberry was caught smoking cocaine yet again. When the Series was over, he was in court and his buddy Dwight Gooden was there, watching him because he can sympathize.
All you have to do to bring all athletes down off that pedestal is to picture Strawberry and Gooden winning it all with the Mets in 1986, think of the careers that lay in wait for these promising young superstars. Then fast forward 14 years to one of them in a courtroom watching the other saying he wants to die because of his problems with drugs.
I feel bad for Darryl, though I certainly can't relate. I can't relate to him as a ballplayer, though as a fan I can criticize that, but more importantly I can't relate to him as a crack addict, which has nothing to do with his ability to swing a bat. If you feel like criticizing the guy, or anyone other athlete, for off-the-court problems, just remember the only thing they're expected to do better than you is to play their sport.
