TheRedArchive

~ archived since 2018 ~

It’s Time To Stop Hating Professional Athletes

Donovan Sharpe
February 24, 2015

Professional athletes have always been lightning rods in American culture. From Mickey Mantle‘s reputation as a womanizer to the gambling stories about Michael Jordan, sports stars have always been under a microscope.

As time has ebbed by the scrutiny of pro athletes has grown exponentially. While this increase in coverage can be attributed to a rapid growth in sports media, social media, and the 24 hour news cycle, the underlying theme to this increasing analysis is that outside of a few, people generally don’t hold pro athletes in as high a regard as they used to—in other words, they just don’t like them very much anymore.

Gone are the days where men like Joe Namath who earned the nickname “Broadway Joe” because of his gregarious personality, reveling in the New York nightlife, and his penchant for chasing women were revered by men and women alike. Today, athletes are crucified by the media and their fan bases for the same behavior.

This would not be a “salute” in today’s media

It makes sense that the more access we have, the more we know about their lives which ultimately leads to more criticism. It’s also no surprise that the demonization of masculine conduct both on and off the field is due to the rise of feminism.

Vitriol spewed by women about these men is par for the course these days and to be quite frank, this shouldn’t surprise anybody either. Women have always envied men and squawking about their superiority is how they deal with it. But the growing disdain for male pro athletes by men is white knighting at it’s sickeningly worst and is a disturbing trend.

Now I understand that men in the media have to fall in line with the feminist agenda in public. Their livelihood depends on it. And while some of us may think “Well they should have picked another way to make a living before getting into it” we’d be wrong.

The carpet of masculinity has quite literally been pulled out from under them. Feminism hadn’t infiltrated sports media on this level when most of the notable journalists, media members, and sports anchors started so I’m not going to pass judgment on men who have to toe the line in order to continue making a living.

No, I’m not suggesting that I can read their minds one way or the other. For all we know male sports reporters and pundits may very well be the manginas they present themselves to be. Nobody knows for sure but I’d be willing to bet that behind closed doors male media members probably have very different conversations about about the sexes than what we see on television or read in their articles.

When I listen to sports talk radio or follow sports blogs and hear (and see) male after male, regular guys as well as television personalities, attacking our brothers it reminds me of feminism. That is, we’d all like to be united but when one or more of us gets ahead we do our damndest to tear each other down.

One thing we try to preach on sites like this is solidarity. God knows the western hemisphere has wants us all thrown to the gallows and hung in the village square so why the hell do we continue to hate on each other?

Follow The Money

Back in mid November, Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton signed a 13 year contract for an eye popping $325 million—the largest contract in professional sports history. Miguel Cabrera wasn’t too far behind having signed a ten year extension worth a shade under $300 million earlier in the year.

Stanton will make $25 million annually with Miami

Any time an athlete signs a mega deal like this people lose their shit which leads to predictable narrative like “These guys make too much money!” or “No athlete is worth that much!”

Admittedly I used to be in this camp. I used to take the so-called high road and complain about how our military service men, police officers, and teachers struggle financially while pro athletes who get to play a game for a living make more in a day than any of the aforementioned do in a year. But over the last few years I’ve gained perspective on this issue and have done a complete 180 on this.

Pro athletes get shit from everyone about their “outrageous salaries” but a fraction of a fraction of those detractors barely complain, if ever, about what the owners or commissioners make?

“Owners and Commissioners have worked their whole lives to build their wealth!”

And professional athletes who’ve played the game since childhood haven’t?

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell makes over $40 million a year (and he deserves every penny as he successfully runs a multi-billion dollar corporation) and former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will get a $6 million pension. But it’s the athlete who is crucified for being greedy.

Life is good for the commish’ and his $44 million salary

The fact is professional athletes have a very small window relative to the average person to maximize on his prime years and earn as much as possible. When his playing career is done, there are few ways for him to make a living because the sport he’s played since he was young is pretty much all he knows.

Oh I can hear it now:

“He should have educated himself!”

“He can just make the transition to T.V. and be a commentator!”

With regards to “education” it’s been well established in this sector of the web that a college education is next to useless for men and women alike. The purpose of a higher education is to train an individual how to best earn a living. The athlete gets this training on the field while in college. That is where he gets his education which is every bit the same as engineers, doctors, and lawyers who are also in training for their chosen career path.

Secondly, less than one half of 1% of professional athletes make it on television if they even get the opportunity in the first place. Guys like Terry Bradshaw, Ray Lewis, and Curt Schilling are a part of the very small fraternity lucky enough to transition smoothly from the playing field to the studio and make a decent living. They are the exception to the rule.

Then when you factor in the price their bodies pay for decades of abuse with the off season training, training camps, long regular season schedules (82 games in the NBA and NHL, 162 games in MLB, and 16 games in the NFL) and countless surgeries they undergo to glue their bodies back together to subject themselves to yet, more of this abuse it’s no wonder athletes angle for larger salaries. They know that when they’re playing days are over, their bodies will be in bad shape—much worse than the 42 year old math teacher in Omaha, Nebraska.

That’s going to be sore in a decade or two

Lastly, when you consider the money that any given professional sports franchise makes over the course of a season and their overall net worth, the player salaries aren’t as exorbitant as one might think relative to their value to that franchise. Everything from the parking, the ticket money collected at the gate, personal seat licenses, apparel, production, down to the hot dogs and beer and everything else that goes into a sporting event that generates cash is because of the athlete. These billion dollar television deals that bring in enormous revenue to these leagues and their franchises do not happen without the main attraction….the athlete.

Nobody shows up to watch coaches or owners coaching or owning. They show up to see the players which makes them far and away the most valuable asset to every franchise. This more than justifies any player’s desire to make as close to his market value as possible.

Is any player worth millions of dollars per year? As long as professional sports continue to generate the billions in revenue year after year the answer is an emphatic yes. For without the athlete these billions don’t exist.

So the next time you’re engrossed in a conversation with someone about how you just can’t believe that this player made that much money take into account the above factors at play and consider softening your stance a bit.

Performance Enhancing Drugs

It’s common knowledge that today’s scarlet letter in professional sports is domestic violence. Any athlete that finds himself at the center of so much as an accusation, regardless of merit, is subjected to an immediate “guilty until proven innocent” narrative which has the potential to derail and even end his career.

That scarlet letter, however, used to be steroids and still is to some extent. Any player suspected of using PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) has his name smeared through the mud. His statistics are called into question, they’re dragged into court, and are turned into pariahs seemingly overnight.

Once again, I had that same mindset. Growing up, I idolized Barry Bonds. But when it became obvious he “cheated” I was among those who criticized him for it and once again, the red pill has completely changed my thinking on this.

No doubt he juiced

If you’ve spent enough time in the manosphere you probably now understand that steroids, HGH, and testosterone injections aren’t the boogeyman the rest of the world would lead you to believe. Masculinity is under enough criticism as it is so when men find a way to increase masculinity in every way it shouldn’t alarm anyone that PEDs have quickly found their way on society’s shit list.

For those of you who think these substances are evil ask yourself these two questions:

1) If you were a 30 something athlete nearing the end of your career with a rookie who plays your position breathing down your neck, you know everyone around you is doing steroids and being rewarded for their performance with record breaking contracts, can you say for certain that wouldn’t take the moral high ground you’ve been on your entire life and wouldn’t so much as consider taking the needle?

2) If a doctor told you that you could take a supplement that would strengthen your bones, reduce joint pain, decrease recovery time, increase muscle, strength, and athletic performance, enhance your libido and performance between the sheets, and give you better, tighter skin you’d say no? You’d decline taking a drink from the fountain of youth?

And you’d chastise those who would answer yes to either or both of those questions? 

The truth is none of us know what we would do in either of those situations unless we were actually in them. So why bag on athletes who’ve made the decision to improve their bodies with these substances for the purpose of enhancing their lives, improving and extending their careers and overall quality of life if we’ve never been in that predicament?

We all take performance enhancing drugs on some level even if it’s not to the degree of testosterone or HGH. Caffeine, amphetamines (ephedra or ephedrine), whey protein, and creatine are all examples of substances taken by millions of men every day to improve their performances in their respective lives. To bash professional athletes for taking it one step further is not only silly and hypocritical but also lacks perspective and honesty.

Why do we hate athletes?

This one’s simple: envy. We can talk all we want about how much money they make or how they’re greedy cheaters or how they’re terrible people but the fact of the matter is most of the perceived hate is nothing more than jealousy.

Pro athletes live lives of privilege. They make millions of dollars, they’re physically superior to 99% of men, and have pussy literally thrown at them everywhere they go. Who among us wouldn’t want that lifestyle?

But they’re painted in a bad light by the media and unfortunately it’s affected men everywhere. We make angry phone calls to radio shows, or tweet out some lengthy epithet about how this or that player is a terrible person because he tested positive for x-y-z substance or signed a deal worth north of $100 million because he didn’t negotiate that contract in a way that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Women who criticize athletes are equally as hypocritical. No matter what they say in public, we all know damn well they’d spread their collective lips and take as many loads of alpha seed as their uteri could handle in a New York minute if given half the chance.

Whose Side Are You On?

Understand this: I am in no way advocating worshiping professional athletes. Kids and early teenagers I give a pass to because of their youthful ignorance but 30 year old men who glorify their favorite players are mentally immature and psychologically damaged individuals on many levels.

On the other hand it makes zero sense to hate them. Simply admire them for their athletic ability and understand that they are human beings, complete with all the frailties anyone of us has. There is a happy medium and men are more than capable of finding it rather easily.

Nobody’s suggesting we should feel sorry for them. Far from it. All the money, pussy, and adoration they get makes it impossible to feel any sort of sympathy for them. Though they have their trials, tribulations, and faults like everyone else don’t kid yourself…life is pretty damn good for these guys.

But we as men need to stick together. Bitching about pro athletes amongst ourselves makes us look like petulant women who can’t help but tear each other down if one of them happens to live a better life than we do.

Not to mention this is beta behavior. Being “against” steroids or talking about how it’s a crying shame Player X makes more than Firefighters isn’t going to win you any favors (pussy) from the opposite sex.

The bottom line here is that if you hate professional athletes that’s a you problem. You are envious of these men and vocalization of your disdain is a beta tell. Men who are kicking life’s ass have neither the time or energy to engage in this foolishness.

I used to be one of these men until I checked myself and got my mind right (read: took the red pill). Men here with that same complex would do well to do the same. It’s time for us to quit hating on our allies, getting our fat, lazy asses in the gym, saving our hard earned money, and stop all this jealousy once and for all.

Leave the whining and infighting to the feminists. We’re better than this, gentlemen. It’s time to start acting like it.

Read Next: The Shameless Exploitation Of Domestic Violence In The NFL


TheRedArchive is an archive of Red Pill content, including various subreddits and blogs. This post has been archived from the blog Return of Kings.

Return of Kings archive

Download the post

Want to save the post for offline use on your device? Choose one of the download options below:

Post Information
Title It’s Time To Stop Hating Professional Athletes
Author Donovan Sharpe
Date February 24, 2015 8:00 AM UTC (9 years ago)
Blog Return of Kings
Archive Link https://theredarchive.com/blog/Return-of-Kings/its-time-to-stop-hating-professional-athletes.20867
https://theredarchive.com/blog/20867
Original Link https://www.returnofkings.com/56951/its-time-to-stop-hating-professional-athletes
You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.

© TheRedArchive 2024. All rights reserved.
created by /u/dream-hunter