Everywhere I look in team sports I see young men (sometimes women) who increasingly know nothing outside of their respective sports. They are soccer players – I call it soccer – who have been snapped up by some club at the age of 2 because they show some manner of interest in the game and have a weird haircut. Rugby and rugby league players go from home to the environs of a professional team. NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and so on – all the same.We have a sort of underclass, a sort of young man or woman that has had everything done for them since day one. In almost all these cases these people are strong, athletic, good looking (maybe not Kurtley, above) and very good at what they do. They spend all year training and working with strength guys fitness guys and mental guys. I suspect the mental guys – yes I used mental and not psychology – spend the majority of the time telling these sports stars how good they are. What have they created? A big, strong, good looking (except Kurtley and Wayne Rooney) and mentally invincible piece of meat.
But, what happens when the general public or someone outside of the funny little tribe challenges them? We get a Kurtley Beale situation. For those who don’t know what happened, the Wallabies Business Manager questioned Kurtley’s t-shirt and an argument ensued. A heated exchange that sent the business person home and Beale possibly dropped from playing the Pumas on Sunday. Remember these guys can do no wrong in their day-to-day lives and all of a sudden someone dares question them….oh dear.
We see examples of this time and again. Of course this is a vast generalisation. For the most part sports people are solid citizens and have an idea what the world outside sports is like. But, you know media – even small, no-one bloggers like me – the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I have a nasty feeling this little piece has absolutely no point. None at all. So I will bugger off.
Peace
mysportingvoice.com 