The tragedy off any off-court issues, of course, is that they distract from the game itself and from the legitimate athletes who are working hard to do things the right way. Players who get arrested, coaches involved in scandal, and shenanigans in the administration all serve to take the focus off the players who play by the book. Oh, the bloggers and experts on the national websites love it because it gives them something to talk about, especially in the dog days of the off-season; but it does a real disservice to the guys who are just going about their jobs. Sadly, we are mesmerized by the sensational and tend to ignore the ordinary, even if the ordinary is vastly more deserving of our attention. And, as scandal becomes more and more commonplace, just like a drug, it takes a bigger dose of sensationalism to stay in the headlines.
Babe Ruth's life was much more colorful and he got a lot more press than Lou Gehrig (booze and women sell lots of papers) - at least until the very end when Gehrig's quiet greatness came out.
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