Three of the bigger sports stories over the last week involved Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, and NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield. Ramirez was suspended a week ago by Major League Baseball for fifty games after he failed a drug test (he actually tested positive for a female fertility drug).
Ramirez isn't the first player to fail an MLB drug test. He's not going to be the last either. The response he gave, though, left most fans scratching their heads.
Fans aren't stupid, yet Ramirez is treating them that way. There are very few reasons for any guy to be taking a female fertility drug. One of those reasons would be to mask the use of performance enhancing drugs. Yet, Ramirez issued a statement saying (basically) that the positive test wasn't his fault. His excuse - that he went to a doctor for a medical problem, and that the medication he was prescribed caused the positive test. Ramirez didn't own the mistake that he obviously made.
Dwight Howard of the Magic threw his coach - Stan Van Gundy - under the bus after Orlando's loss to Boston on Tuesday night. Howard said in no uncertain terms that he should have gotten the ball down the stretch. He wasn't wrong about that, as Van Gundy should have found a way to get the ball to his best player in a big spot. However, while Howard's thought process was correct, he should have kept his thoughts about Van Gundy to himself. If he wanted to air his grievances with Van Gundy behind closed doors, that's fine. I have no problem with that. But he also should have come out and said "I didn't get the job done." Kobe would have demanded the ball. Lebron would have demanded the ball. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson would have demanded the ball. None of those players (okay, maybe Kobe) would have thrown their coach under the bus. They would have shouldered some of the responsibility themselves.
Then there's Mayfield, who failed a NASCAR drug test. Mayfield decided to blame a prescription drug he was taking, combined with an over the counter medication.
The one thing all three have in common is that they blamed someone else for their problems. None of them took responsibility. They all passed the buck.
What ever happened to accountability?
Certainly these three athletes aren't the only ones to try and place blame somewhere else. It's happened many times before, and it will happen again. you can make book on that.
It would have been refreshing if even one of them would have just come out and said "I screwed up. My bad."
Had even one of them done so, they might not be taking all the criticism they've been taking over the last week. You see, fans are very, very forgiving. You don't believe me? Try these examples on for size.
Jason Giambi testified that he used performance enhancing drugs. It might not be a stretch to say that Giambi's entire career has been a product of steroids and HGH. Giambi's big league career began in 1995, and for the first three years he wasn't what you would call a power hitter. Then, starting in 2000, he ran off a number of years where he hit between 35 and 45 home runs. Once he was exposed as a steroid user, he came out and apologized (though he has never said what he was apologizing for). The end result of his apology was forgiveness. Giambi hasn't faced the kind of heat that Roger Clemens has faced.
Speaking of Clemens, his friend Andy Pettitte (who misremembers a lot according to Clemens) was exposed as someone who used HGH in the Mitchell Report. Pettitte could have denied the whole thing, but he was a stand up guy about it. He called a news conference and admitted what he did. There aren't many people who are calling Pettitte a cheater these days.
There are other athletes who have made mistakes and owned up to them. Those athletes have gotten second, third, and even fourth chances.
You and I probably make mistakes every day. I don't know about you, but I don't blame anyone else for my mistakes. I own them. If I screw up, I'm the fist one to admit it.
Passing the buck, or blaming someone else doesn't get you anywhere. Admitting a mistake and promising to do better earns you respect.
It's a lesson that Man Ram, Howard, and Mayfield should learn. Quickly.
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