Moral responsibility on the Shoulders of Athletes

In Rudy, we are told the true story about Rudy galalalakjfkajsdf who beats the odds and works his way to playing only two plays at the end of his last game at Notre Dame. He overcomes dyslexia, financial, physical, and family problems to play football at that single game. It seems a bit over the top but somehow football is the thing that kept him in one piece and gave him that project that we need in life to make us have a purpose.

What struck me as odd was that the way the first string players were treated was the equivalent of gods. They were not to be messed with or got what they needed. It is their grace that gets Rudy the time that he does play in the end. Grant it, he proved himself to them, but again, it was by their grace that they made a statement to the coach about how Rudy deserved to be played just once in his time at Notre Dame. They had power over the coach in numbers but even he was treated with the utmost respect. They just play football. Sure they risk physical harm but they are doing it for the most part willingly. If they feel they have to do it, it is one of those “Bad Faiths” we have discussed. But they got the same attention as if going into war. And this brings me to what David Wallace wrote about in his article. He spoke of Roger Federer with a degree of detail that is scary to me; being able to analyze video so closely that a fan can know his personal habits and not know each other. But this kind of attention and for that amount of time, it is almost like a religion to him, Federer is a god of tennis to him, seeing him come up with different angles on winning in a sport is his conviction on why this person demands the respect he has in tennis. But again, he just plays tennis. He is just a guy who is really good and devoted to tennis, and most likely does it for the love of it even though the money is a bonus. But is set on a level of observation for all that is excessive.

I know plenty of people like David Wallace, but its football that they really are into. If you really want to seem successful to the majority of people in Alabama (where I am from) you go to the University of Alabama and are on the football team but maybe about where Rudy was just as a stand-on or you join the military. Unfortunately, I learned that from people I went to High School with. The two are of the same respect to people and that is a fact from where I am from. We are in the South, so college football is king. I guess they appeal to the majority of people who are Christian and taking a sport they love for the rivalry and the physical side of these battles, they fill in the metaphors for these people. I can see the amount of drama that people can get out of the sport also. Like David Wallace wrote that we can look up just about anything on Google about a player, they are all put on a pedestal for observation and with that, they must exhibit good behavior, to get respect, but to go professional, or to receive awards. They are governed by multiple factors and must keep up the moral within the sports for their fans.  To me, it’s a bit ridiculous, but sports are that important to people where it stands in place as an activity and conveyer of morals and life lessons.