Ruffled Feathers: How the Ravens mismanaged the Ray Rice situation

We saw this to an extent with MLB’s Ryan Braun in Milwaukee. A player who was caught cheating, had a press conference denying accusations and damning everyone who made those accusations, and then in the end was proven to be guilty. Yet, ever since the beginning of the season, Milwaukee fans ferociously and unapologetically cheer for Braun: a proven cheater and liar.

I feel in both circumstances that the teams involved deserve some blame and fault. Stars are created by their performance, but they are also created by the organizations. To continue to put out stories in a positive way about his return like he’s coming back from a devastating injury changes the focus like a public relations shell game.  Before you know it, we’ve moved on and we’re down $20, which is exactly what these teams want. The sooner we forget and go back to buying jerseys, the better it is for the organization. Because it means they are one step closer to getting out of that danger zone of having to consider cutting ties with one of the most talented players in the game due to public scrutiny.

In the end, we learn once again that we can’t expect much from our pro athletes. We can’t expect them to set a better example. We can’t expect them to be better people. But what we can do is point out these flaws to our children and teach them what not to do and how not to act. We can teach them to learn from the mistakes of others, and we can teach them not to worship pro athletes. Maybe Charles Barkley was right all along. These people are NOT role models. However, we can still learn something from them.