Thursday, December 01, 2005

Deion Sanders

Deion is hysterical. He’s a complete caricature of every single professional athlete I love to hate. He’s arrogant, he’s loud, he’s a showboat, he has no respect for anyone or anything but himself, and he sees every situation through the prism of what he can do to increase his bank account, his Q-rating, his celebrity. It comes as no surprise then when he speaks out in defense of Michael Irvin and Terrell Owens.

Regarding Irvin, I have no idea if he’s telling the truth or not, if that drug pipe was his or his friend’s. I don’t really care that much, to be honest, and I won’t even work myself up about this since I have a different opinion about drug laws than most people in this country. If Irvin's telling the truth, at least it's nice to see him emerge from his own addictions a better, more caring person. If he's lying, it doesn't affect my life anyway. ESPN can fire him for all I care. He's lousy on TV and I never liked him as a player so the less I see of him, the better.

Regarding, T.O., however, I think Deion is just being his usual Deion self (yes, that's right, Deion has now become a descriptive part of speech as well as a noun). He’s making excuses, justifying, rationalizing, ignoring facts, blaming others and refusing to acknowledge the responsibilities of one of the parties in the whole affair. Basically, Deion is saying, “Hey, this could’ve been me: my story, my situation.” He recognizes in himself the capacity for greed and the need for attention. He has enough self-awareness to understand his limited perspective on the fact that, as an athlete in a team sport, he is part of something larger than himself. No, Deion (and T.O.) doesn’t see it that way. To him, it’s just about, well, him.

When Deion says that it was wrong of the Eagles to “fire” T.O. for refusing to apologize to the organization for his actions, he demonstrates a complete and utter lack of understanding on how organizations and power structures work. He hasn’t yet grasped the notion of employer-employee relations. He doesn’t get it that the person signing checks isn’t a peer but a superior. That comes from never having worked an honest day in his life. Had Deion ever had to work a real job as a laborer, a trucker, a soldier or even as a lawyer or banker, he’d have learned that lesson. His children, Deion II and Deiondra, will most likely never learn that lesson either, considering the fact that he’s a multi-millionaire and has assured at least the next two generations of Sanders’ a comfortable existence.

“T.O. wasn't a problem until he asked for his money,” Sanders said. His money? When did Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie die and leave T.O. the key to the safety deposit box?

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