Re: Ferrari crash (-ed by brainless, spoiled-brat athlete)
From: Rick Lindsay (rolindsayyahoo.com)
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 09:14:51 -0800 (PST)
 Larry wrote,

> Sounds like the telephone pole is at fault - if it
> hadn't been there, he wouldn't have hit it!

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if his fans and the media didn't take up that 
exact argument.  We raise our sports heroes to god-like levels and then ignore 
their indiscretions when they don't live up to the image.  Just look at how 
many football players have criminal convictions - which were down-played or 
forgiven!  Any of us try that and we'd be sitting in jail, not earning millions 
from adoring fans.  (Same holds true for most politicians, BTW.)

Even our own Michael Schumacher is held on high and described as a fantastic 
engineer.  Is he an engineer?  Does he hold an earned college education?  No 
doubt he is incredibly talented, is good at communicating what a race car is 
doing to his engineers, and is a good tactician - but somehow I don't think he 
studied partial differential equations and fluid dynamics.  Is he really an 
engineer?

And it is not the player's fault that they are treated the way they are.  It is 
the fans and the media that turn these people into gods.  The same might be 
said of the salaries that these people command.  They don't pay themselves.  It 
is us, the fans who elevate their importance to the level where competition 
generates the salaries.  Given that, if someone offered me $45mm a year to do 
what I already do, would I take it?  You bet your ass I would.  And it wouldn't 
be MY fault for doing so.  And I wouldn't be a god just because I can do my job 
well.

regards,

rick

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