As I scrolled through Twitter and the endless drivel that comes from the Alt-Left (and Right for that matter) I was greeted with a woman who had Tweeted that white, middle class men should be banned from the platform because capitalism was bad and white, middle class men are surrounded by privilege. Incredible. Using a platform that has made billions of dollars to spout anti-capitalism conjecture. Marvelous.
That rather entertaining bout of stupidity aside, I saw some highlights of an NBA game where James Harden of the Houston Rockets appeared to travel backwards akin to a bad moonwalk, take four more steps, do the hokey pokey then pot a three pointer. It got me to thinking. That my fine folk, is bad because my brain works like a poorly oiled sieve. Do the superstars of various sports get preferential treatment? Are they ‘privileged’?
Tom Brady is probably the greatest quarterback of all time. Though I have friends that may argue that Vinnie Testaverde is the greatest. I think Vinnie probably had the greatest hair of all time.
He was involved in Deflate-Gate where the game balls were deflated to suit the team. Yes, he was found guilty of unsportsmanlike conduct or some shit, but still beats the other teams blue. Unsportsmanlike conduct? What the fuck is that? I should think ungentlemanly conduct may be more appropriate.
Tiger Woods is undoubtedly bigger than the game of golf. He is the reason for it’s boom and the mega-crowds we see at courses when he is playing.
However, he has had his share of controversy with the rules that seem to all have gone in his favour. The latest at his own tournament where he appeared to (not intentionally) push the ball from under a tree – a shot breaching the rules. He was found to have not broken the rules. I wonder if some journeyman tour pro would have got away with the same?
Then there is our own Richie McCawesome. Widely accused of being a cheat during his 1,789,965 test matches by other teams, usually the Australians, he was certainly no saint. Richie, of course, was a superstar of the game and was undoubtedly treated differently to other players. One who springs to mind is Schalk Burger of South Africa who was a great player and at times got a raw end of the stick from the whistlers.
The superstars of today’s sport have it easy from the officials. No, I don’t think so. I think part of the problem is not creating more controversy and ill-pointed outrage by giving more leeway to these players. Sports fans are fiercely loyal to their players and teams and an official causing a stir by penalising their player causes unwanted, unrelenting and sometimes unwarranted vitriol. I do think officials at a professional level, however, need to be held to account more than they are.
I think players have always got away with a lot. From the old coins in the pocket trick when playing matchplay to low blows in boxing to Sean Fitzpatrick (a category unto himself). Sportspeople have always bent the rules to suit themselves and the game. I remember in 1990 the All Blacks were touring France. We had lost a couple of tour games going in to the first test and the French scrum was something to be feared. While there weren’t as many cameras as there are now, a stray one managed to pick up Laurent Seigne falling to the ground as Steve McDowell, Gary Whetton and Michael Jones ran from the scene. The latter two looking a bit shell shocked by what had just happened, which was poor old Laurent having his nose smashed into something resembling a wet piece of clay that had been thrown at the wall.
I think, too, in this ultra-competitive world of sports where vast sums of money are thrown around, players must do what they can to win. If that means that they have to bend the rules to do it then that’s what they have to do. I certainly don’t endorse it but understand it from a number 7’s point of view where running offside and the odd late hit might have been useful. Players will always push the boundaries of the laws/rules, all they can, to gain a competitive advantage. Being outraged when they do is wasted energy. The Lions, last year, were five miles offside and did so because the officials didn’t do anything about it. Good on them. The Irish employed the same thing this year against the All Blacks and won. The All Blacks manipulate the breakdown and have blockers and win most games. Why? The can. And they do.
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