Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

It’s a fair question, I think. Not in the physical sense. We know that Joe has passed away. But in a real sense, I think he and his kind have died a slow death too.

I’m talking about our sports heroes. People we looked up to when we were kids, all wide eyed and full of wonder. So sure that our favorite Baseball player, Olympic athlete, Hockey king, Basketball stud, etc… were beyond reproach. Someone we could count on to bring our team(s) a win. Someone we could count on to be a stand up kind of person. Our hero was a person we could brag about and no one could laugh at us because they were decent people. Respectable. Just like we hoped they would stay. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Of course, that wide-eyed innocence doesn’t last. We become older and wiser. We see our heroes are not perfect. In fact, they have problems just like we do. We sometimes end up admiring them even more once we learn about some of the trials they endure. Some time ago, at least this was true.

Joe D. and his era are long gone. He was not perfect, but he knew he wasn’t. He knew he was indeed a role model, a front man for his team. Even after retiring it was his obsession that he not do anything publicly that would embarrass the Yankees or the game of Baseball. This is the era Joe and his compatriots were from. It is sooo far gone now we don’t even realize it.

Now our heroes claim, “I am not a role model”. Charles Barkley made it a famous statement. His peers make it a lifestyle. Charles also claims he’s happy he isn’t in Basketball anymore because the guys coming into the league scare him. “If they didn’t have Basketball skills, they’d be in jail” is a Charles quote. Can you imagine scaring Barkley?

Today’s modern athlete is a different breed altogether. Look at where we are now. We have players fighting with people in the stands. They get into scrapes with the justice system (so called) and get right back out again. We have drug abuse running rampant, not just recreational, but even worse, performance enhancing drugs that help our heroes look even more godly. Until the truth comes out. Until their bodies break down way before they should.

The final straw for me happened this week. Carmelo Anthony standing with drug dealers, supporting them as they blatantly threaten people for helping the authorities to catch them. I guess he’ll make a lot of money from that DVD, but what about the cost for his team and his sport? WTF was he thinking?

A few facts:

Our modern heroes are over paid. They make gross amounts of money to play a kids game.

They are liars. We see them get out of murder raps, rapes, and drug dealing cases. They lie about their illegal drug use.

They are cheaters. They gamble on their sports. They drug themselves into a state where their accomplishments and the records they set cannot be considered real. They bite their opponent’s ears off when they start to lose.

They are not really heroes any more. They have no respect for their sports, none for their franchises, none for themselves and most of all, none for their fans. They are less than us and they don’t even know it. Their egos keep them shielded from the real world. The real world where a little kid can only see the bright shiny hero. The one where that kid grows up. They become an adult.

But…

They aren’t totally to blame. We are too. The modern fan has become a big part of the problem. Attacking the players, throwing stuff on them, incessantly badgering them, stalking them. We complain bitterly about their pampered ways, their high salaries, their frivolous strikes, but we keep on supporting them. We keep up the hero worship. We put them on impossibly high pedestals and bitch when they don’t live up to the standard we’ve decided is right. We are partly to blame. We cannot be self-righteous.

I dearly love the game of Baseball. I won’t stop following it. But I admit to feeling guilty. I’m a die-hard fan and I don’t want to miss out on my hero worship. I’m guilty. The whole idea of it all is really absurd, if you think about it. The biggest heroes fail 70% of the time. For one at bat they make more money than a lot of people make in several months of real work. Playing a kid’s game. And most of them, not all, but most are no longer role models.

Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Mrs. Robinson said Joltin’ Joe has left and gone away. That song was written a long time ago. Quite prophetic, eh?