Jealousy, try Sorry (race-baiter Whitlock takes shot at Pres Bush)

Despite the massive amounts of money earned by today's modern pro athlete, I've never wasted a moment regretting the fact that my athletic career ended as a mediocre Division I offensive lineman.

Even when I was broke and living in a one-room, roach-infested efficiency in a small southern Indiana town, I never once felt a minute of envy as my old high school teammate, Jeff George, was selected No. 1 in the 1990 NFL draft and received a seven-figure signing bonus.

I'm telling you this because I hope someone will pass this column along to Jeremy Roenick and every other professional athlete who believes that we – meaning sports fans and sports writers – live every day of our lives wishing we were them.

Roenick, the NHL star, made news earlier this week when he exploded during an interview and told sports fans who are upset about hockey's work stoppage to kiss his grits.

"If people are going to sit and chastise pro athletes for being cocky, they need to look at one thing and that's the deal we're going to be signing in about three weeks,'' Roenick said. "Pro athletes are not cocky. Pro athletes care about the game. Everybody out there who calls us spoiled because we play a game, they can kiss my a**.''

Roenick's comments received national attention. He was roundly criticized and forced to backtrack on his statement. A millionaire athlete shouldn't tell fans to kiss his grits, particularly when his union is getting smoked at the negotiating table because sports fans have sided with the owners.

I've had far better than Jeremy Roenick tell me to kiss his grits for no good reason. Doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is the statement Roenick made immediately following his kiss-my-grits line.

"I will say personally, to everybody who calls us spoiled, you guys are just jealous," Roenick said.

That bothers me. It bothers me because that's the thinking of most professional athletes. They think we want to be them. And they think any criticism of their behavior can be directly attributed to our unquenched thirst to be them.

Well, nothing personal, but I don't want to be them. It isn't because I think I'm smarter than them or better than them. And it isn't because I've lost my love for the games. I still love games.

The reason I don't want to be a professional athlete is because I'm lazy. It's because I've matured beyond the point at which I'm comfortable having a man I don't really respect yelling at me in front of my peers.

Maybe it's just me, but I decided long ago that athletes don't live the best lives. Many of them feel pressured into taking performance-enhancement drugs that shrink other … well, enhancements. They're in constant pain. Society wants them to be role models for kids they didn't father.

We place expectations on athletes, and when you get over the age of 30, you realize the last thing you want to deal with is somebody else's expectations. That's a responsibility, a burden, a guilt, and I want no part of it.

Because of society's screwed-up expectations, pro athletes get treated more harshly than the president of the United States. Look at your average newspaper and what a columnist is allowed to say about a pro athlete. They're things that could never be printed about a politician. Athletes get called punks and thugs and dogs on a daily basis. If they forget an assignment on a crucial play, they get hounded into seclusion. No one defends them.

I'm jealous of entertainers, the ones who appear to be free of societal expectations. I want to be Vincent Chase or Turtle or Johnny Drama or Eric. I wanna live the life HBO captures in the series "Entourage."

That's living. That's my fantasy, and the fantasy of every guy I know. The fact that Vince and his crew are cocky, spoiled and lazy doesn't enrage me at all. The fact that Ari is a greedy, unethical, grossly manipulative agent doesn't make the showbiz world seem less attractive at all.

Other than the societal expectations of moral behavior placed on athletic stars, there's little difference between the sports world and Hollywood. But that distinction makes a world of difference.

It makes us jealous of entertainers and disappointed with athletes – at least, that's the way I see them. It separates "entourages" from "posses." Athletes have "posses," a group of low-lifes with a tendency to leave a loaded gun or a nickel bag of weed in the car they borrowed from their jock friend. "Entourages" are much cooler. Members don't carry guns, and they don't leave their weed lying around where police can find it during a routine traffic stop.

Jeremy Roenick probably wishes he was Vincent Chase, too. If Roenick was a movie star, his outlandish comments would be accurate and seen as nothing more than a well-executed publicity stunt. No different from Tom Cruise jumping around on Oprah's couch.

What the heck did this shot at Bush have to do with the rest of the article anyway

Seems to be the trend in journalism today... to take a swipe at America or her leaders in a totally unrelated article. Check out this one from Reuters yesterday:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch woman who swears by a daily helping of herring for a healthy life celebrated her 115th birthday on Wednesday as the oldest living person on record.
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, a former needlework teacher, was born in 1890, the year Sioux Indians were massacred by the U.S. military at the Battle of Wounded Knee.
The passionate soccer fan celebrated her birthday in a nursing home in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen.
"She eats a piece of herring every day because it's good for the health," said Johan Beijering, director of the Westerkim nursing home. "She is still mentally full of vitality."
The daughter of a headmaster, Van Andel-Schipper was born in the town of Smilde in the northern Netherlands on June 29, 1890....

Yes, you are right. Jason Whitlock has his priorities all mixed up. Why is he upset about the fact that pro athletes receive greater scrutiny in the press and on television than President Bush? Just because our fearless leader fed us false information about connections between Iraq and 9/11, told us Saddam Hussein had WMD's that a few hundred million dollar effort couldn't find, and scared us into thinking we were about to be engulfed by mushroom-shaped clouds, doesn't make him a liar does it? Scott Ritter told us that President Bush was lying but we the Congress chose to believe our beloved President instead. Why can't we all ignore a few thousand dead Americans in Iraq and get on with our lives?

The real issue Jason Whitlock should be concentrating on is the homosexual agenda. Why just today Spain legalized same sex marriage. Just think what could have happened if a God fearing man like President Bush had not been elected. These Spaniards might have visited the District of Columbia or even tried to move here.

President Bush is trying to preserve our heartland values. Why bring up the mainstream media's laziness before the Iraq war in an article about how the bad behavior of potty mouthed sports gazillionaires is exposed regularly in the press nowadays? President Bush only has a potty mouth when he discusses liberals.

The combination of not finding them plus nobody with first hand knowledge being able to say they ever existed means they never existed. You don't still believe Saddam hid his WMD's on an underground railroad or on ships in the Persian Gulf, do you?

We KNOW Saddam had WMD because he used them against Iran and he used them on his own people. How can you be so ignorant? We have satellite images showing large trucks crossing the border into Syria just before the war. They could be buried in the desert. Do you have any idea how easy it would be for a murderous dictator to bury a few 55 gallon drums in the sand, and then kill all of those with knowledge of the burial site? Are you really that naive?

We still haven't found Natalie Holloway on the tiny island of Aruba, does that mean she doesn't exist?

You never answered my previous challenge to provide one example of President Bush's "potty mouth" when discussing liberals. Be specific. I want a link to the article.

You need to open your eyes and stop drinking the kool-aide.

You don't still believe Saddam hid his WMD's on an underground railroad or on ships in the Persian Gulf, do you?

Some of your commie pals did; are they liars, too?

Democrat Quotes on Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
--President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
--President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
--Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
--Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by:
-- Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
-- Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

"There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."
Letter to President Bush, Signed by:
-- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), and others, Dec 5, 2001

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and th! e means of delivering them."
-- Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
-- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
-- Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force -- if necessary -- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do"
-- Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
-- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."
-- Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."
-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

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	It must be tiring carrying the weight of the NHL and it's fans on your shoulders.


	*No morals. No consequences. It must be the gang from Entourage.*