When is enough, enough?

I am a sports fan. There I said it. I could care less about what those who don’t like sports say about my and my fellow brethren of the sports watchers alliance. We realize that we will never hit a home run in the world series, make a tackle in the Super Bowl or dunk in the NBA finals. But by being able to lose ourselves in two to three hour increments we recapture however briefly that moment when we all believed that we could reach the highest sports summit of our dreams. But sometimes in our attempts to get closer to that moment when we could run as fast as Usain Bolt or jump like Dwight Howard we crossed a line. Now in our fervent attempts to be an insider with the breaking news, things that shouldn’t be reported are all of a sudden front page news.

I think the problem comes from our sports heroes being treated as life role models. We oftentimes forget that although they make millions of dollars for their athletic prowess, they are also flawed human beings and would react to stories much like you or I would. Recently a story has come to light that honestly has no business coming to light. Rumors have begun to swirl that Lebron James teammate slept with his mother. Can someone explain how this pertains to anything sports related? Not only that but there is absolutely no proof to prove that this indeed rumor and not just a flat out lie. Oh wait a man who has been accused of molesting 5 of his 12 children has weighed in and said it definitely happened. I guess the word of Calvin Murphy makes it true.

Sometimes the things that are reported are fact, but just don’t need to be reported. A few summers ago Josh Hamilton made a great return from drug and alcohol addiction to become an all star for the Texas Rangers. Anyone who knows anything about the nature of addiction knows that it is an ongoing and personal battle. One night during a long road trip Hamilton relapsed and was photographed in a bar wasted. As open has Hamilton has been with his story, actively using himself as a cautionary tale for the youth of America and those that follow him I believe that he should have the right that any of us have to work on our problem privately.

I guess the question is where do we live draw the line? Because he can hit a curve ball 435 feet does that mean he has lost any and all right to privacy. Is Lebron’s 47 inch vertical mean his mother is fair game to begin rumors about? I for one have a belief, if it doesn’t affect a fantasy team, don’t report it. Because when you report on the salacious and unfounded, you don’t just hurt the athlete, you hurt all those surrounding him. And that’s definitely not fair to them.