Keep your distance, sports fans. The games people play are more dangerous than ever.
Frank Thomas didn’t issue the warning in so many words, but his consideration is appreciated anyway. Thomas is one athletic “hero” who hasn’t been arrested lately, sent off to drug rehabilitation, accused of domestic violence, caught tripping an opponent or found pouting on the bench.
All Thomas does is build fabulous numbers in behalf of the White Sox. He’s on a pace to hit 60 home runs, he’s batting nearly .400, he’s fielding his first-base position better than ever, and his career has only just begun. Thomas is but a child of 26.
Yet he’s man enough to remind us that none of this will matter when there’s a baseball strike. Not if there’s a baseball strike. When. He could be throwing out words of caution as a means to alleviate pressure on himself, but we think not. The weight of expectation rests comfortably on Thomas’ shoulders.
The real beauty of his remarks to the ears of this listener is interpreted as follows: Don’t get too close to the situation, fans, unless you want your hearts broken again. Continue to buy tickets, but don’t sell your souls. It doesn’t matter to the public who’s running the asylum, management or labor. Together or apart, they’re running the games into the ground.
Chicago is no novice to disappointment, but even the local landscape has been unusually turbulent. Consider that, in less than a year, three of this city’s most accomplished stars have departed voluntarily-Michael Jordan, Ryne Sandberg and Steve Larmer-an incredible evacuation when you think about it.
All of them had many miles left in their legs or many dollars left on their contracts, or both. Yet they couldn’t wait to escape. Jordan and Sandberg retired from the Bulls and Cubs, respectively, while Larmer threatened to retire from hockey if the Blackhawks didn’t put him out of his misery with a trade. Before leaving, they all said they loved Chicago as much as Chicago loved them.
But they’re gone. Strange, yet no stranger than Scottie Pippen’s gig. Immaturity takes on many faces in sports, and often it can be excused because so many athletes are so young. Insubordination is not quite as permissible, but still some of the loudest arguments between employer and employee are staged in private, where fines are paid.
Pippen’s refusal to re-enter a playoff game for the Bulls was singularly dramatic because it was right there, in the open, before an arena full of fans, plus national TV. He didn’t miss a practice. He didn’t pollute his body with a foreign substance. He didn’t run off a road during the wee hours.
Pippen flat refused to report to work with his work clothes on. It was desertion of duty in its lowest form, especially from one of the NBA’s best players, who dared nominate himself as the Bulls’ next leader upon cleaning out Jordan’s locker. Yet now, with Pippen trade rumors rife, you’re worried about whether he ever again could play here with peace of mind? Peace of mind? After he wouldn’t play for you with 1.8 seconds left against the Knicks?
But anything goes in sports, as proven by Tonya and Nancy, Darryl Strawberry, Maradona and John Daly, just to blame a few. Now, according to quotations in a London tabloid, Daly attacks the cleanliness of certain PGA Tour lodge brothers. This is the same Daly about whom LPGA counterpart Patty Sheehan said: “He’s an alcoholic who has beaten his wife, yet he gets a $30 million contract with a club manufacturer. Jennifer Capriati is a kid caught with some marijuana, and all her contracts are taken away from her. Is that discrimination or what?”
It is, but that’s sports, and it shouldn’t be life and death, which is why the O.J. Simpson and Andres Escobar sagas don’t belong.
The idea here is to look out for you, the fan. As Frank Thomas was hinting, the big hurt won’t happen unless you allow it.
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