Lots of stuff going on here. The motivation behind releasing the article, for starters, or better yet - the republishing of an old story that was put to rest many years earlier, but now suddenly is this world-stopping crisis that the DOJ needs to look into pronto.
It seems that Shaun King had enough of the Cam Newton bashing the coming days after the game, and was using the opportunity in an attempt to point out the double standard between an African American quarterback being grilled for allegedly being a "phony" versus the white man's hero in Manning, who he obviously feels is treated substantially different. Now there could obviously be arguments either way, no question. But to use that opportunity to single out Manning, particularly as it related to water under a bridge that hasn't existed for going on 20 years now? Hey. Just look at the timing. Look at the underlying motivation here. That's all I'm saying.
And for what it's worth - I don't hold it against Cam for being upset and acting like a spoiled brat. He was obviously upset with himself and wasn't in the mood to talk about it. He'll learn from it and move on. Nor do I think (nor care really!) if Cam Newton is a phony.
Kristine Leahy (Colin Cowherd's co-host on his sports talk show) made a very interesting observation yesterday. "I know someone personally who deals with these star athletes on a regular basis, and he said to me, "Kristine - if you knew how most of these people really are behind the scenes, how they treat other people - you wouldn't want to be friends with any of them.""
Wow. Imagine that. Famous people who treat people badly. I guess it's a good thing that Kristine's friend doesn't deal with all of these political phonies in DC, who spend their entire careers shitting on people.
So no, we don't know anything other than the perception we get from watching them on television. Yet at the same time - is it a crime against humanity to "want" to believe that some of them are actually good, decent people who've not forgotten where they came from, or what it felt like not living in the homes they live in, driving the cars they drive in, enjoying the lifestyles they enjoy? Case in point - I watched Vaughn Taylor win the tournament Sunday at Pebble Beach. He's 39-yrs-old, hadn't won a tournament in over 10 years. He was far from being the prototypical worldly top-10 golf stud who travels from venue to venue each week in a personal jet. In fact - he revealed that he crammed everything he could into a single carry-on bag so he wouldn't have to pay an additional baggage fee, FLYING ECONOMY on a commercial flight to LA, simply because he was lucky enough to be picked as an alternate to get into the tournament. He had no status, he was ranked 400+ in the world, he didn't even have a secured spot to play on any tour. We're talking a guy so far down on the totem pole that the average golf fan probably didn't know him from Vince Vaughn.
Yet when he won - you could tell that he was genuinely overcome by this sudden happiness, that his life had changed. It meant the world to him. And I'm sure that I'm not alone when I said, "hey, good for him. He seems like a really good guy."
And he probably is. But based on today's societal standard - we need to make sure that Vaughn Taylor is a good guy before we assume anything! Vaughn, what was the party life like at Augusta State, buddy? Bang any hot chicks while you were there? Ever drop your genitals on a female trainer's forehead while she stuck her finger in your ass checking your prostate? What about alcohol? Did you ever drink and drive? Maybe cheat on a college exam? Maybe playfully haze a fellow student athlete by spraying shaving cream in his golf shoes his freshman year? Ever smoke any weed, sniff anything, inhale anything, consume anything that might've given you the slightest edge standing over a 1-footer in a college tournament?
We need the damned details, man! Otherwise we're not supposed to appreciate your victory, dammit! And we sure as hell don't want to be accused of showing any type of support toward you should it turn out that you're not who you really are, after the fact! So stop putting yourself on this damned pedestal, fella. Don't win. Don't be successful, not if you have something, anything, in your life's closet that you're not proud of.
Shaun King, back to this guy. Political activist, big BLM supporter. Never found a cause he couldn't get behind, especially if it creates opportunities to raise money. Except, uh, apparently there are questions surfacing by some of the BLM supporters themselves, wondering where some of the charity proceeds from some of King's so-called fundraising went.
Second lesson for today - know the source. It generally helps with credibility if the source just so happens to not have any skeletons in his own closet.
Now... this isn't a diversion. It's not my desire to bring someone else down, to question their credibility, or to point out the hypocritical nature of man. But if you're going to take what someone says at face value, you should at the very least make the smallest attempt to understand potential motives and agendas.
If evidence exists that Peyton Manning sexually harassed women throughout his professional career - investigate. Find out. Put him in front of a judge and jury and let him plead his case. If evidence exists that Manning did HGH, or took any other type of illegal substance that is prohibited per the rules of the NFL - investigate. Find out.
But if evidence does not exist, understand that your opinion, my opinion, whoever else's opinion - doesn't mean shit. It just means that you (like myself, like many of us who aren't involved in the behind-the-scenes lives of professional athletes) only know what you think you know. And often times, what we think we know isn't necessarily the truth.
I'm not a huge Manning fan. I just think people are way off base rushing to judgement about shit that they don't really know much about.
