Ray Rice, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schlichter, Zeke Elliott, Michael Vick, Floyd Landis, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, are all players who have committed a crime–either on the field of play or off–that caused them to lose favor with the fans and the broader community.
The question becomes how long do we continue to persecute those athletes after they have apologized or finished their sentence. There are 3 UCLA basketball players–LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill–who are now facing that same persecution. While these players like the ones listed above brought the persecution on themselves, it remains to be seen how long they must face this persecution. Currently, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) has stated these players are suspended indefinitely.
And so it seems most players who bring persecution on themselves by committing illegal acts or cheating by using performance enhance drugs end up with lifetime bans. This is true of Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schichter, Ray Rice and Barry Bonds. The lies were too big when they came to light. Yet, fans and the broader community in general seem to be able to move past the mistakes of others like Michael Vick, Maria Sharipova and Zeke Elliott after they have paid their dues and apologize.
So, how long will those young men from UCLA have to wait before they will see grace and mercy again from the general public? Well, it may depend on how they handle their suspensions. Will they be arrogant and state shoplifting is not a big deal? Or, will they realize the errors of their ways and truly change?
According to Stadium’s The Rally’s poll of viewers, 44% believe that these young men deserve to be suspended for the entire year. A year’s suspension is actually a small penalty to pay considering these young men were looking at 10 years of hard time in a Chinese prison. Let’s hope these young men learn from the likes of Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress and x so they can change themselves, their surroundings and their futures.
Source: CBS Sports