Superheroes No More...

Just because they make big money and get a lot of attention,
doesn't mean they are any different from any the average, everyday person.

Well, it's been awhile. For those that have been waiting, I apologize for keeping you for a couple weeks now, but things have been shaping well for me and finally rising upwards to where I wanted to take the time embrace it for all that has come my way these past couple of weeks. Truly, I am happy and feel that nothing to really bring me down... except for all the things that has been happening in the sports world. From the NFL Draft to another washed out season for the Chicago Bulls to one of the most anticipated and worst fights in the history of boxing between two old men who met 10 years past their primes, it has not been the best for a sports enthusiast like myself and it continues to fluctuate up and down as the days roll onward.

DE Ray McDonald will now have to face the music of judgement.

But this article is about what has most recently happened just the other day, when word circled around social media that Chicago Bears' defensive end Ray McDonald was released from the team after being arrested for domestic violence and child endangerment. I came across the story when I was checking up on things in Facebook and saw a number of posts in a row saying that Ray McDonald had been released due to his arrest. Once I had read what he was arrested for, I simply let my face fall right into my hands with disappointment and disgrace. It was already horrifying enough when word spread that McDonald had been arrested this past August 2014 for a felony domestic violence. However, McDonald was not charged. That December, he was then accused of sexual assault which he has yet to be either charged with or cleared of the allegations. When I heard that the Bears had signed him, my first thoughts were, "This could either be a decent workout or go completely 180 degrees bad" which we now know, it flipped, crashed, and burned.

So what's my point in all this about Ray McDonald and the trouble he finds himself in right now and why does the title of this article have the word "superheroes" in it? Well, it's because there is a disease that has been building inside the minds of many athletes over time which says to them, "You are considered a world class athlete, the best around, No. 1 in the world, and there is no way you can ever be harmed, touched, or eclipsed." It's the athlete's overinflated ego that tells them that they can do whatever they want and never have to really worry about any heavy repercussions that could fall their way. In essence, they think that they are practically invincible like Superman or the Incredible Hulk.

Although I was never a star athlete in school, I do have some memories of times when those that were the starters on the football team were given better or "special" treatment by teachers, coaches, and things like that. Never anything of like a major scandal or something like that, but the occasional "turn it in tomorrow" and "you guys don't have to work out" or whatever it was they were allowed to do. I won't write and say that I was jealous of the treatment they got, but I did think it must have been nice to be able to have that kind of pull. Lucky enough for me, I was able to be one that had connections all over the school with the help of my friendly personality.

Regardless of the all that, the point is that for some reason, there seems to come a point in time when an athlete's ego becomes so big that it clouds their judgement and apparently that part of the brain that tells you when you're afraid. During my time in school, I can remember a few times when my dad showed me articles in the paper or I would read them on Facebook about an incident that occurred in a nearby town where student athletes of the high school were drunk driving and chased or a young woman was sexually assaulted by couple of student athletes or worse and so on. And this was just in my years of high school. I can find no other explanation to why these types of things are happening at that level other than it is the trickle-down effect from the pros to college, and from college to high school. The fear here is that pretty soon, it will start to hit grade school [if it has not already].

Looking at the pro level, perhaps some of you may remember a man by the name of Chad Johnson? If not, he also went by another known as Chad Ochocinco (85). If you still don't know, his real name is Chad Johnson and he use to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals. Johnson was known for having a very flamboyant personality that was mixed with an overinflated ego and impeccable swagger. He would come up with dances to celebrate touchdowns he scored, he had little gimmicks here and there, and was always pining to get the attention of the cameras. Johnson even tried to become a soccer player in the MLS during the 2011 NFL lockout, was on Dancing with the Stars, had his own reality TV show similar to Flavor of Love, even created his own catch phrase... but I forget what it was now. Yes, Chad Johnson was out-of-this-world cocky, but he backed it up with his play on the field by becoming the greatest wide receiver in the history of the Cincinnati Bengals' franchise.

Chad Johnson (or Ochocinco) always gave his all, but
sometimes it felt like he did not know when to stop.

But back in August 2012, Johnson found arrested and charged with domestic battery after head butting his wife during an argument they were having with one another. In September, Johnson entered a plea of no contest to the charge and was able to avoid jail time in an agreement with the prosecutors and his then ex-wife. In May 2013, Johnson violated the terms of his probation and turned himself him, which he was eventually released on bond. The big issue came on June 10, 2013 when Johnson was to be sentenced to thirty days in jail for violating his probation, however a plea deal was about to be reached din which he would serve no jail time. But the judge pulled the plug on it after seeing Johnson slap his male attorney's behind in the court room to which the judge stated that she did not believe Johnson was taking any of this seriously and ruled that along with his jail sentence, Chad Johnson would have three more months of probation with community service and counseling sessions each week. Suddenly, after just seven days in jail, Chad Johnson was released after simply apologizing to the court.

Now see, it's that kind of stuff that really gets me steamed so much. Regardless of who Chad Johnson is, this judge laid down the law in her courtroom and saw a outright act of immaturity happen right in front of the entire court. Serious Chad? You were about to get off with no jail time and you can't just stand there and be happy by yourself. And then what really got me was all he had to do then was just say a simple, "I'm sorry" and he's free to leave. Now granted, Johnson didn't go crazy in the courtroom or anything like that, but violating his parole and then not being able to contain himself in a serious matter that involves his life is just astounding. Man, child please! Johnson's case of getting off seemingly scot-free can be found all over the NFL of players uses of drugs, alcohol, other domestic violence, child abuse, and many other incidents as well that it's enough to make you sick when you remember that some the men have salaries that rank right up there with CEOs of big time businesses.

But let's take look at another incident at the next level under in college. One big incident that has made me madder than ever was the scandal that involved former Texas A&M and current Cleveland Brown quarterback Johnny Manziel in which it was said that Manziel had been paid around $7500 to sign autographs and merchandise. After an NCAA investigation, they found evidence that linked Manziel in violation of signing the merchandise with the knowledge that it would be sold. However, they were never able to find a evidence of any kind that supported that Manziel had been paid the money. In August 2013, the NCAA decided that Johnny Manziel would be suspended just one half of the Aggies' first game against the Rice Owls.

Both Johnny Manziel and myself are both 22 years old. But
unlike him, I know that I have my limits and morals.

I'll never forget that day when I heard he would be suspended for just one half of the first game. Once again, my face literally fell into my hands from frustration and shock. Here was a guy that knowingly violated NCAA, regardless of if he was paid or not, that gets told that all he has to do is just sit the locker room and stand on the sidelines till the second half of the game. Now, I don't mean to upset any of fellow readers of the S.O.S. Nation that go to or have graduated from Rice, but there football team cannot compare with the power that Texas A&M has, although they did stay in that game pretty strong for awhile there.

But anyways, the point is that Johnny Manziel getting nothing more than half-a-game suspension is outrageous. I would bet that if someone like me were to have done what Johnny did, without any evidence that I was paid, they would probably suspend me for like four or five games and possibly see myself get kicked off the team. But I am not Mr. Johnny Football that's for sure [and thank god for that]. Ever since that scandal, Johnny had been trying to defend his actions with the phrase, "I'm only a 21 year old kid" which means nothing to anyone at all because it's one of the worst excuses ever. Yes, us 20-something year old adults do make mistakes, but you are not a kid anymore. You're a man now in the real world and real men own up to their mistakes and actions.

So far, it seems like a majority of this thinking that all athletes feel that they are "untouchable" is more connected to football than any other sport and I think you would not to be wrong. Football players have always seemed to have the largest egos of all the sports that are out there to play that may come from the fact that their identities are hidden underneath their helmets which could cause players to feel that they are unknowns and need to make up for it in some way. Basically, it's a way to feed to overgrowing ego already starting to blow up.

Alex Rodriguez just wanted to be the first to be
one of the best, but now, he will forever have a
black mark on his name.

This last incident I will mention is the one that everyone knows and everyone is sick of hearing and talking about in New York Yankees' infielder Alex Rodriguez and use of PEDs. The rumors began to buzz about Rodriguez using PEDs when in 2007, former outfielder and steroid-user Jose Canseco said that his next book coming out would name other things about Rodriguez as well as calling him a hypocrite. For the next seven years, Alex Rodriguez would try his best to stand on a soapbox to preach to everyone that he had never taken steroids or any kind of PEDs in his life. Yet, he went from being a scrawny kid in Seattle to being a buff and powerful slugger like Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, and Sammy Sosa. Also, his name was found on list during the BALCO investigation of 2004 with 104 other players and then was found to have been given HGH by Biogenesis of America in Florida.

 After the Biogenesis scandal was uncovered, Rodriguez was finally slapped with a full season suspension in August 2013. And after trying to fight the suspension in court, he eventually dropped his lawsuit and agreed to serve his suspension of 162 games. I was not until November 2014 that we finally heard what we all had known for a good five years when the story broke that Alex Rodriguez had admitted to using PEDs that January to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which did not surprise me at all when word came out that he had protested that he had not used PEDs ever just 18 days before the story went public.

I don't even know what else I could say about this situation. I mean I seriously have never been able to understand how Alex Rodriguez could have believed that he was actually convincing people that he was not on any kind of PEDs or steroids. I mean serious man! People are not stupid. It is very clear to see that something was up when you transformed from a somewhat skinnier looking kid with the Mariners to becoming a powerful slugger with the Rangers and Yankees. It doesn't help anymore when your name was found on a list with 104 other players at one place that was raided and then is found connected to this Biogenesis place in Florida where you apparently got HGH for yourself.

So with all that underneath him, he still claimed that he was testing positive because of mistakes and because they bought drugs in the another country that was supposed to be something else. He wasted seven years of his life trying to defend himself against something that everyone in baseball and that watches sports knew he was involved in and doing. A-Rod must have thought he was like Mr. Untouchable or something because I don't know how anyone could still claim that they were innocent after admitting to the DEA that you knowingly took PEDs to enhance your game. If anything, Alex Rodriguez may just be at the top when it comes to athletes that believe they can do anything they want without any repercussions.

Currently, DE Ray McDonald is in custody right now and it seems like a poor example of someone doing something wrong and getting away with it, but this current arrest of his may have just shut the door on those players that have screwed up like he has and are looking to get picked up by somebody. Perhaps to some who read this, maybe I will be looked at as just another person on the Internet complaining and ranting about something that is pointless and stupid to write about and some of you may not understand what I am talking about at all throughout this entire thing. In order to try and round this off so anyone who reads this can understand what I am trying to say, I want everyone to understand and see that these athletes along with countless others will continue to do dangerous things and cause trouble for and in their sports.

The reason that it will continue is because of this idea that has been perpetuated throughout history that they are considered the best and the greatest athletes in the world, and there is no way that they could ever get into any kind of trouble or be blamed for any issues that may occur at some point. These players need to start being hit with reality checks in life in order to remind them that they aren't as fast speeding bullet and cannot bound over buildings. One last thing that they all should look at is what has happened to former New England Patriots' Aaron Hernandez, who made the decision to be accosted with the wrong personnel and has gone from $40 million football star to spending the rest of his life behind bars. No one is invincible or untouchable, including Superman himself.

No matter how many times you try to break it down, in the end,
we are all just people.