Today we're going to give economics and finance a little rest.
Don't worry-- the same tired stale lies about US in economic recovery will still be there for us to meticulously tear into shreds using logic, reasons, facts and stats..
So today we're going to address sports.. sort of.
Yesterday it became known that Hall of Fame Quarterback for the Miami Dolphins and current CBS pre-game analyst Dan Marino who is married with 6 kids, started an affair with a co-worker at CBS which resulted in her being impregnated by him and producing a daughter.
Wanting to keep this from the light of day and so he could be allowed to continue living his double life, he paid the mother of the child millions of dollars until the New York Post was able to uncover the whole sordid mess, provoking a public statement of acknowledgement of truth from Marino-- eight years after the affair began..
And the public reaction is one big 'Ehh..so what...'
Dan Marino acted like a mindless animal; an immature, heartless, thoughtless, horny dirt-Dog... But you know, he did throw a heck of a lot of TD passes and passing yards in his career so.. You know..
That's how far the national moral compass has fallen..
We spoke with some people on this subject.. sought to get into the minds of others to try to understand why it was unimportant.. The responses (paraphrased) went something like this:
'Ehh... so what.. its a private matter'
'Ehh.. so what.. he didn't hurt me'
'Takes two to tango.. her fault too'
'I feel bad for Dan Marino.. have his private life out there like that'
'He was a great football player and does a lot of charity work.. give him a break!'
The more we heard responses like this, admittedly the more agitated we felt.. There was a pungency of duplicity; a double standard in the air that was unspoken but obvious...
~ We can only hope Marino will make an effort to stay in his daughter's life
We're not saying all felt this way but mostly, the defense of Marino was selective and biased. Even the Miami Herald when running the story in Thursday's paper openly admitted it could not bring itself to criticize Marino in the face of all the 'good' things, civic endeavors and football legacy of the man.
Which of course is utter bullshit.
Now let's play a game..
Imagine the exact same events occurred over the past eight years, but the immoral and unethical transgressor wasn't a stupid football jock, but say Sarah Palin's husband Todd...
Oh how funny & juicy that scenario would be wouldn't it?
Just picture the late-night talk show hosts; a cabal of the classless would have a field day with one mean-spirited, cruel, vicious joke after another...
Even that gap-toothed parasite David Letterman who himself had a long affair with one of his employees and for a time paid money to hush it up would have joined in the yuk-yuks...(BTW not a Single anti-Letterman joke was uttered by anyone in late night including Saturday Night Live when this took place a couple years back.. Not One.)
~ This is the plain looking woman Letterman repeatedly had sex with while he was married with an infant son.
And you best believe all the liberal media like MSNBC and Huffington would give it 24/7 nonstop coverage, spewing every heartless, wretchedly cruel utterance about the Palins' character and Sarah's womanhood in particular, and all to please the hate filled elitist mob with an irrational hate.
But that's the double standard-- if X does something wrong and he/she is on our 'team' or we like that person, all is quickly forgiven, forgotten and instantly move on.. And if X is not on our 'team', then Fuck Em'.. its Feeding time!
There's No Consistency, No Morality and No Courage to Judge
~ Gov. Schwartzenegger had a long-term affair with his nanny under his roof which produced a child.. Its OK to mock him.. Go ahead-- he's Republican so its 'cool'
People don't want to cast 'stones' at Marino or people like him.. They tend to be the ones least likely to possess figurative or literal 'stones'. Yet those same people only tend to want to stomp on those who dare to do the judging. Then you get a Bible quote about not passing judgment which is always misinterpreted.
God gave us minds; the ability to think, deduce, analyze and question.. Most may not wish to make the effort to use their minds but God did give it, so by default He also gave us the ability to judge others.
No person is perfect or sinless, but we all do not commit the same sins or wrong-doing. A person who's sin is cheating on their taxes or stealing a loaf of bread can still judge the Wrongness of another committing DUI or molesting a child...
And for most of us, we certainly do not hesitate to judge others as to what they can or can not possess.. Like this facetious argument: 'I can not decide any good reason in my own mind why someone would need an assault rifle, thus I JUDGE that no one else in this country may possess one'
But admit it to yourself or not, you and we.. We All judge.. No one pure or holier than thou.. Just most can not admit it to themselves. We judge and reserve expressing it open and publicly based on self-interest.
We'll never forget 1994 when OJ Simpson was arrested for the double murder of his wife and Ron Goldman. And yes there were those who defended OJ to the very end based on nothing real but race and hatred for the justice system. But there was another group of people, mostly whites, which Sickened us...
These were people who defended OJ to the very end because perhaps they were good buddies like Al Michaels who played golf all the time with him and you know, how could anyone who plays such a conformist game like golf, with those white-man clothes (polo shirt and khakis) ever do something like That?
And others remembered OJ the football player, the star running back who once ran for over 2,000 yds and dominated over defenses during the 1970s.. No way they would think or look negatively over their football hero.. Nope.. Never..
And if OJ Simpson-superstar had just been OJ Simpson-everyday black guy?
You know the answer.
So we go full circle ... back to Marino... What should happen in a perfect world; a world made up of people who put morality and ethics over their own selfish self-interests? The man would be publicly shamed, CBS would fire him instantly and ideally, his wife would divorce him.
But maybe we're just not surprised anymore by this behavior because so many men father children out of wedlock because they wish to feel like a 'bull' and impregnate whomever they please...
It really is a long list of mindless animal athletes, including
Dan Marino
Ray Lewis- Ravens MLB (6 children w 4 different women)
Terrell Owens- Former NFL'r
Ricky Williams- Former NFL'r
Marshall Faulk (6 children w/ 3 different women)
LeSean McCoy - Eagles RB
Tom Brady** -- We don't know if he fathered any children out of wedlock but he did break up with his girlfriend while she was in the 2nd or 3rd trimester so he could date and live with supermodel Gisele Bundchen
Evander Holyfield - boxing champ (11 children w 9 diff. women)
~ Former tennis pro Alexandra Stevenson-- her mother was a sports reporter who had an affair with the married Dr J, Julius Erving and he impregnated her back in the early 80's
The NBA people compile a long list:
Larry Bird- NBA Hall of Famer
Dr J Julius Erving- NBA Hall of Famer
Dennis Rodman- NBA Hall of Famer
Larry Johnson - former NBAr
Calvin Murphy - former NBA'r (14 children w. 9 diff women)
Patrick Ewing
Juwan Howard
Shawn Kemp
Jason Kidd,
~ Some of Dennis Rodman's children.. What a pretty blonde..
Stephon Marbury
Hakeem Olajuwon
Gary Payton
Scottie Pippen
Isiah Thomas
Kenny Anderson
Allen Iverson
Latrell Sprewell
Dwight Howard
This list could be So Much longer but you get the idea..
~ Some of Lakers Center Dwight Howard's children.. what a pretty blonde..
And God knows that detestable piece of riff-raff Tiger Woods certainly tried his hardest to get on this list... guess we'll never know if he succeeded.. money can by a lot of quiet; it bought eight years for Marino.
Who knows, maybe we the public are all so desensitized to the whole thing... The 25th person to steal apples from the apple cart doesn't tend to evoke the same passions as the first few...
In a perfect world all these men would be hated, despised, vilified and shunned-- they'd be outcasts and prevented from ever being hired for any high-paying job for the rest of their lives.
But perhaps ultimately those who still feel impassioned, have to be grateful just to get a 'Ehh' from the rest of the throng
We end this posting with something heard today on the local sports talk radio.. a caller giving his two-cents on the whole Marino affair... we paraphrase:
"Ehh... so what?! What do I care? What do I care what they do in their private lives.. or if they take steroids or whatever.. Like, I want to be entertained, K! That's it... Just shut up..do your job.. I want to sit and watch and be entertained and the rest.. Whatever!"
Sounds like a Harvard man.