The Double Standard In Sports

During the past few weeks we have seen a fairly new sports icon and a player who has been around for a while do things that have changed the way people will look at them forever. These two men are Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps and New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Both of these superb athletes had anything they could have possibly wanted monetarily or socially but they threw it away by taking part in thoughtless activities. In case you haven’t heard, I will give a quick recap on both athletes stories. First, a picture of swimmer Michael Phelps smoking marijuana got around the Internet and to all media companies. The next day Phelps confirmed that the picture was accurate and that it was actually him. Once he did that he went on to apologize, (sort of) and then he became arguably the most disgraced athlete in recent sports history. The man has lost most of his sponsorships because he sets a terrible example for young children to follow. Next, a report by Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts stated that Alex Rodriguez failed a drug test during the 2003 season. Then, similar to Michael Phelps, Rodriguez came out and confirmed the accusations. The next day, ESPN showed an interview by Peter Gammons with Alex Rodriguez, Alex apologized and called himself an idiot several times, but in my opinion he did not sound sincere at all. Think about what we have here, two superstar athletes doing two stupid things and taking the exact same route in apologizing to the public. But now the question is, why has Phelps, the swimmer been absolutely destroyed by the media and suspended by his sport while Rodriguez, the baseball player has been attacked by the media but not suspended? The answer to this question is that they play in different sports and the media has more respect for baseball in comparison to swimming, which they know hardly anything about. This is the main reason most sponsors have dropped Michael Phelps, first of all in just a short few years he will be forgotten in the world of sports. Phelps is in a sport that only gets coverage once every four years. Swimming has no relevance in American sports, so companies that sponsored Phelps might as well look like responsible businesses by getting rid of him. His aura was already lessening, as our Olympic memories are fading away. On the other hand, a player such as Alex Rodriguez plays Major League Baseball, which is the highest respected sport throughout the United States. During the season he plays almost every single day and over the past fifteen years he has been an idol to many American children. If the media did not go easy on him a little bit and sponsors dropped him immediately, they would have lost an even bigger American sports icon. Also don’t forget A-ROD has nine more years left on his contract while Phelps is basically finished in the media spotlight. Rodriguez will be talked about for many years to come as he will still be playing at a high level. He will still be a relevant figure in baseball no matter what the general publics opinion of him is. Also, the part about Phelps getting suspended compared to Alex doesn’t really matter because Phelps being suspended for three months has no impact on him whatsoever. Additionally, besides in the Olympics swimmers hardly generate any money. If Rodriguez was suspended, first off the Yankee organization would fight Major League Baseball to the death to make sure it didn’t happened and there would be too much money lost if he didn’t play part of this upcoming season. All in all, these past few weeks have been a low point in American sports. Michael Phelps and Alex Rodriguez will always be looked down upon for years to come. While Phelps was attacked hard for a short period of time, Rodriguez will always be remembered as the superstar baseball player who took steroids. It is sad as an all around sports fan to have to write this article because of the immaturity of today’s modern athletes but it always seems that they never realize that they had how much going for them but they blew it. This trend of the down fall of American athletes doesn’t seem likely change unless the culture of sports in America transitions from a money making business not worried about its players to a more responsible sports society. My feeling however is that some things never change and sports is sadly one of these things.

Daniel Weberman

NYchalktalk.com