CHURCH SCANDAL ROCKS SWIMMING

I have been reading for months about the clerical abuse of children by Catholic priests. I am sickened by what I read, as I was an altar boy and know how vulnerable you can be to the influence of one who is supposed to be an envoy of God. I was further sickened by the abuse of power among the bishops and cardinals who knew about this behavior and just passed the sickness along from one parish to another. It all makes me sick inside, and lose trust for those in power who abuse their position of public trust to protect the illusions that give them power.

So I read the sports page to get away from the sickness, only to find yet again that sports imitates real life. Here on the sports page is a story about the governing body of swimming, USA Swimming, who is dealing with swimming coaches who are suspected of sexually abusing young swimmers. Worse yet, one of the top coaches in the organization was involved, former national team director Everett Uchuyama. He quit in 2006 after a girl came forward to reveal a sexual relationship lasting over 10 years that began when she was 14. He never faced criminal charges and turns up less than a year later being the head swimming coach at the Country Club of Colorado, just down the street from the headquarters of USA Swimming in Colorado Springs.

Just like the church, they just passed the abuser onto the next club.Turns out he was recommended for the job by Pat Hogan, who leads US Swimming's club development program. The good ole boys network succeeded in covering up the sins of one of their top coaches. Poor kids who had to be coached by him, knowing that he had the inside track to be picked for the US squad. Wonder how he used that leverage on some of the young swimmers that he coached at that private club.

Better than the Catholic Church, at least USA Swimming is doing something about it.They first published a banned list of coaches, 46 in all who were charged with sexual misconduct. Mr. Uchiyama hastily resigned. They then published a second list of coaches who are under suspicion. Lastly, they published a new policy to protect the swimmers. Imagine that they had to have a policy that prohibits coaches from giving rubdowns to swimmers. You mean that they didn't know that touching could create sexual tensions and confusion for a young child! Or that they needed parental permission before they can visit a swimmer's home or share a room when traveling to meets. Wonder why they needed a policy for what seems like common sense decisions that reasonable adults would make. Where do these coaches come from?

MORE ON MICHAEL VICK

I am just not buying it. I am a psychologist. I help people for a living .Just like Andy Reid, I want to believe that Michael Vick has learned his lesson. As I noted in prior blog, I am looking for him to integrate his sadness with his anger.
I don't care if Andy Reid or the other players think he is a nice guy. Players who beat their wives and do illegal drugs can be the nicest guy in the locker room. That is superficial . It's what you do in real life that matters, not what you do on the field or in a locker room. Anybody that can do to animals what he has done is a damaged person. The word nice doesn't even apply. Harmful, scary, unpredictable, and many others come first to mind.
So what do we see in Michael's quote the other day about the birthday party shooting? We see that Michael is scared about letting the people down who gave him a second chance. Is he sad because his words didn't match is actions? No. He is upset because he is scared that his bad choices may cost him $3.5 million and his job as a football player. He said: "I was scared about alot of things...gaining the confidence of the people who put me in this position.. scared for my career...my family...myself...my freedom. I know I didn't do anything wrong...I knew that it was a situation that should never have occurred....If I could reach back and do it all again, I would listen to my mom...We all think we know certain things, and want to do what we want to do, but you have to start listening to your mom at a certain point...."
Michael is admitting that he has no social conscience, that he does not know right from wrong. He had to listen to his mother to define it for him. Otherwise, he feels entitled to do whatever he feels like, including having fun with his friends at an animal's expense. What is he going to do next when his mother isn't around to be his voice of reason? Stay tuned as there will be a next time when there is nobody else around to be his conscience.
As for the Eagles, I guess the desire to win has greater value than holding athlete's accountable for their actions. Andy Reid seems so determined to give Michael another chance. I still wonder if he is dealing with Michael or his own sons when he makes that kind of decision. I guess zero tolerance gets defined by the NFL and the law who have judged him not guilty of a crime in the birthday party incident. I guess my definition is a little stricter. I want Michael Vick to demonstrate that he has a conscience that goes beyond protecting his right to do what he wants. Until that time, he continues to represent the poison that is ruining sports and dampening my enthusiasm for football and the Eagles.

GREED IS SPORTS ACHILLES HEEL

I don't see much difference these days when I read the financial page or the sports page. All I see is the damage done by human greed. There are bailouts, legislation to control financial fraud and abuse, pension bombs, improper spending legislation, and many other issues that reflect the harm created by human greed on the financial page. When I went to read the sports page the other day, I was confronted by the same human tragedy. Once again, sports imitates real life.
Let me take them one at a time to illustrate my point:
1. Sports is big money:
Manchester United soccer franchise tops the list of most financially valuable teams in the world at a worth of $1.84 billion dollars. Second on the list is the Dallas Cowboys at $1.65 billion followed by the New York Yankees, and five other football franchises (Redskins, Patriots,Giants, Jets and Texans). Reminds me of the kind of money we hear thrown about by Wall Street banks. Both are great breeding grounds for greed.

2. USC and NCAA sanctions:
The story is about the return of a copy of Reggie Bush's Heisman trophy by USC as an act of contrition for the harm done by the greed of the agent and the Bush family. There was on-going consideration of asking Bush to return the Heisman to the Heisman Trust for his actions, but no decision had been reached. The loss of respect to the university, as well as future earnings by their football team, prompted the following quote from Nick Saban, Alabama Head Football Coach: "I don't think it's anything but greed that's creating it right now on behalf of the agents. The agents that do this - and I hate to say this, but how are they any better than a pimp?" Street life meets the gridiron, with both being arenas for abuse of athletes and women for financial gain.

3. Alex Rodgriguez 600th Home Run:
Turn the page and we have the story of how A-Rod is soon to hit his 600th home run, joining an elite group of only 6 players in baseball history who have achieved that feat. There is one problem with A-Rod's accomplishments - he is an admitted steroid user and the only one of the elite 7 who has cheated. Steroid use is driven by greed. When you hit more homers, you are paid more money. When you use steroids, you hit more homers. You are cheating, but you are paid megamillions. If I remember correctly, A-Fraud ,as the author so fondly called him, was one of the first players to be offered a contract that exceeded $100 million dollars. Not a bad paycheck for fraud and not so different than the huge bonuses paid to the financial wizards who created derivitives, credit default swaps and bogus junk bonds on Wall Street. It's a shame because we will never know how good or average A-Rod would have been without steroids.

I look forward to the day when sports and competition is about bringing out the best in people.Unfortunately, with the current influence of money, I fear we are bringing out the worst.

MICHAEL VICK MUST GO

I tried to accept the decision to add Michael Vick to the Eagles roster. I believe that people deserve a second chance in life provided they are sorry for their actions and try to make amends. I wanted to believe that Michael Vick had met those terms. The Eagles management asked me to believe that those conditions had been met. I wanted to give him the chance. So I decided to continue to follow the Eagles last season, although my enthusiasm was muted and did not feel the same as prior years.
Giving him the chance created great inner turmoil for me. Michael Vick's crimes were morally reprehensible. Animals are helpless creatures that rely on human trust for survival. You have to come from a cold world to be able to separate from the compassion that an animal's helplessness should evoke . The fact that he could direct his rage at helpless creatures without feeling sadness is a psychological disconnect that makes him a scary man. If he was really sorry, then he would do the work it takes to join his anger with his sadness. I watched to see if that occurred.
I began to get worried at his first press conference. I never felt the sadness that his words were supposed to portray. I only saw a few public appearances to stand up against animal abuse. As the season wore on, so did his commitment to animal rights. The sadness that would drive him to right a wrong just never seemed to be there. The passion to right his wrongs never surfaced.
Then, this past month, we get the story of his birthday parties at his hometown in Virginia. Something seemed really wrong about them to me. He seemed to use his birthday as a means to raise money to pay his debts. He used his fame to lure people to parties rather than hard work as the rest of us must do. And nowhere did I hear that he was donating part of the proceeds to prevent dog fighting or animal abuse. Is it little wonder that one of his co-conspirators would end up turning on him? As the story unfolds, Michael Vick lost his temper and had to be restrained right before the shooting took place. Once again, his rage takes over, and the humbleness and rightful purpose of reparation for his prior misdeeds is nowhere to be found. In short, he has learned nothing.
When first offered a contract, the Eagles said that there would be zero tolerance for any future behavior. This recent act goes way beyond zero tolerance. On a psychological level, it is a repetition of the splitting of his anger from his sadness that opened the door to his crimes. I hope that Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League, permanently bars him from football for life. I believe it is what he deserves.
The Eagles should be the first to make that decision. I understand that legally it is in their best interest to wait for the league to act to activate the clauses in his contract. If the Eagles do not act, then I believe that the decision is motivated by Andy Reid's guilt over his son's own criminal activities. He may be trying to help Vick in the same way he would hope somebody might do for his own sons. If he dismisses Vick, he would be making the type of judgment that somebody else might render on his own children. A decision about Michael Vick should be made on values and morals, not on the relief of parental guilt. Eagles fans and the world deserve better.