Friday, July 27, 2007
Disappointment
Did you hear the latest from NASA - drunk astronauts in space. Some more heroes take a dive. Dog fighting quarterbacks, drug injecting bike riders and baseball players and game fixing basketball refs.
You know when I first read and thought about this I was pretty disappointed. Then as I started to type, I came to the realization that nothing has really changed except the media reporting of this stuff. First I thought how disappointed I was that an astronaut would be drunk before flying - and then thought about Chuck Yeager who almost missed his Mach 1 test flight because he hurt himself the night before while drinking.
The Babe, who Bonds is usually negatively compared to, wasn't exactly a church mouse either. From what I understand, he wouldn't pass up a bourbon or a babe if offered. And does anyone really think that ref was the first to fix, or try to fix, a game? Back around 200 a.d. or so, Dikon, the son of Kallibrotos, was bribed to change his nationality. And let's face it, most stock car racers - in fact just plain automobile racers - probably wouldn't know how to race according to the book.
So, actually nothing has really changed, just our perception of it. We seem to think everyone needs to be perfect now. Back in the Civil War and World Wars we had generals who womanized and drank. Soldiers fought and cussed and carried on and the world continued. How many bomber crews in England do you think might have had a wee nip or two before taking off - after all, their chances of making through their tour was about zilch.
Labels: celebs, gripes, oldies
