Wednesday, February 5, 1997
COMMENTARY:
Most fans neglect the fact players have lives off the fieldIs
our society hard on its athletes? I’m sure most would answer with a
resounding and unsympathetic "No!" I think the general sentiment
is, "Why those bratty little pampered millionaires! All those
genetic freaks should be shipped off to military school!"
But by no means do I myself feel this way. In fact, I think our
society is indeed hard on its athletes. Few figures are as
scrutinized as athletes, as public forums are held on the radio to
discuss which athletes perform well and which perform poorly.
I can digest a little bit of the criticism, but I think that
sometimes the public and the media cross the line. And I think
critics look especially stupid when they try to judge the character
of athletes, or when they try to guess at athletes’ motives from
afar.
Example: For a while, my favorite baseball player was Reuben
Sierra. (Now he is my second favorite; my favorite player is Dave
Leiper, who I’m sure you’ve heard of.)
Sierra was an MVP-caliber player with the Texas Rangers, but I
only became his No. 1 fan after he was traded to the Oakland A’s.
It was in Oakland that Reuben Sierra went from being a perennial
All-Star to being a very mediocre ball player.
I felt sorry for Sierra during his three-year tenure in Oakland.
I wanted so bad for him to return to glory, to be the star he once
was. I imagined that he probably agonized over it the same way I
did.
Then one day while I was twiddling my thumbs, a light bulb
popped up above my head. I had a thought!
Here is what that amazing thought was:
When I root for players like Reuben Sierra, I tend to assume
that they feel the same highs and lows that I feel watching them. I
root for Sierra to return to glory because I pretty much imagine
that he enjoyed life with the Texas Rangers more, simply because in
Arlington, he hit for a higher average and for more power.
But in articulating that assumption, I can tell it’s a dumb one.
The light bulb over my head illuminated the thought that Sierra had
a life off the field too.
Maybe Sierra’s average was down because he’d made 100 new
friends and stayed up every night partying with his new-found
buddies. Or maybe he’d decided to devote more time to his
family.
What I’d basically realized was that as a fan who only sees
Sierra on the baseball diamond, I have no idea what is going
through his head.
But fans always assume they know what athletes are thinking.
If a player decides not to give an autograph, he is probably
thinking, "Autographs? Hogwash! I’m a big celebrity. I don’t have
time for stupid kids who want autographs."
Or if a player decides to leave town as a free agent, the player
in all likelihood is saying to himself, "I played this town like a
cheap violin. What a bunch of losers."
It’s not that simple. Actually understanding someone else’s
thoughts is very difficult. But it’s so easy to criticize without
understanding.
It’s easy to say that someone else isn’t doing their job,
without even understanding what their job entails. But whenever you
actually step into someone else’s shoes, you usually find out about
all of the obstacles they faced that you never knew existed. You
discover all of the tough, but thoughtful decisions they made
 right or wrong.
But nobody does that and neither do I. Understanding other
people is too complicated. That’s why whenever I hear journalists
or people in general publicly questioning the characters of public
figures they’ve never even met, I assume they are thinking, "I’m so
smart I can read people’s minds and know exactly what they’re
thinking, and I’m so sure of myself that I’m happy to speak my mind
to the world."
And I judge them based on that.
Dittmer is the Daily Bruin Sports Editor. Dave Leiper is a
middle reliever for the Montreal Expos. And when you assume, you
make an ass out of u and me.
Mark Dittmer