Not enough

Marc, I’m not sure whether my opinion on the topic will pull you back from the ledge or encourage you to fling yourself off. But I’ll share the punch line: your experiences and comments related to sport are not different than any other business, industry, or organization. I’ll share a couple examples:

Politics. You reference the desired interest in worthwhile topics, specifically mentioning the geography of Syria our political leaders. There is no shortage of ill-behavior in our political world. Misuse of public funds, idolization of political figures in lieu of serving our country, privileged access, fraudulent activity, misconduct, sexism, etc? All of those issues exist today in our political environment. I’m as exhausted with the politicizing of violence and the rhetoric of bipartisanship as I am of the debate of paying college players and the recent allegations against Oklahoma State’s athletic program.

Hollywood. You want to see the concept of privileged, spoiled, the rules don’t apply behavior at its greatest, and with the smallest return on investment towards anything beneficial to society, then Hollywood should be your bailiwick. At least someone’s getting educated while Oregon is pouring its money into their football facilities. Who is benefitting in any way from the tongue wagging of Mylie Cyrus. Drugs, shock-style media efforts, no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity-stunts.

But the real takeaway here is instead of focusing on all the bad in a population, why don’t we focus on the good. For every Oklahoma State there is a University of Iowa: a program that has placed loyalty (much to Ed’s chagrin), growth of their young athletes, and academic achievement above the winning at all cost mentality that pervades many college athletic programs. And instead of demonizing all politicians, I’m trying to find reasons to believe that our political leaders are operating in their constituent’s best interests and searching to support local leaders, republican or democrat, which I believe cross the aisle for the best of their citizens. Of note, I’m having trouble finding those people. We all need to remember that for every Mylie Cyrus there is a Gwyneth Paltrow, for every Dennis Rodman a Lance Berkman, for every Tiger Woods a Roger Federer.

Look to the good my man!