I know the English Premier League doesn't get much press coverage around these parts, but a recent development across the pond has left me questioning one of the most basic foundations of sport - one that should never be in doubt.
Last week, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney publicly announced his desire to leave the club. Rooney claimed he questioned the club's desire to build a championship-caliber squad. As he put it, he wished to be on a team that could contend for silverware. But then, quicker than how a U.S. fan stops caring about soccer following the World Cup, Rooney pulled an about-face and agreed to remain with United, saying he now believes "that the management, coaching staff, board and owners are totally committed to making sure United maintains its proud winning tradition." Of course, that may merely be the new five-year, 180,000 pounds-per-week contract talking.
Let's be honest. All Rooney really did last week was pull the professional athlete's equivalent of a Billy the Kid-style old-fashioned robbery - only, instead of threatening to shoot the bank teller, Rooney threatened to leave his club. Rooney never wanted to leave Manchester United - he just wanted more money, and he was willing to besmirch the names of his club and coach to do so.
All this brings me back to the question of loyalty in professional sports. I know I'm too young to remember sports without free agents, but I was still raised on the idea of a player remaining with one team and staying loyal to his teammates and his fan base. I was taught to idolize players like Ted Williams and Roger Staubach, not only for their on-the-field accomplishments but also because they spent their entire careers with one team. These players understood that as professional athletes, they had a responsibility to their fans and teammates to show up every time and be there when it mattered. The name on the front of the jersey was always more important than the name on the back.
Unfortunately, those days are all but gone. In contemporary professional sports, players are most loyal to their wallets and their egos. We have been overloaded during the past few years with examples of sports heroes stabbing their fan bases in the back in the search for greener pastures or personal accolades. Walk down the street in a Brett Favre Vikings jersey in Green Bay or a LeBron James Heat uniform in Cleveland, and I guarantee you'll learn a new curse word as someone screams at you from his passing car.
Both of these heroes absolutely demoralized their fans by spurning the same people who had spent both countless hours cheering them on and countless dollars buying their products. Doesn't the collective mental well-being of an entire city dwarf one person's need to live in South Beach with his friends? I know LeBron may never have won an NBA championship in Cleveland, but by staying and trying to win one for his hometown team, he would have become a legend. Look at Ernie Banks. The man never won anything in Chicago but was one of the greatest Cubs of all time and will forever hold a place of honor in the Windy City. Now, even if he wins five titles, Lebron will forever be known as a sidekick to Dwayne Wade and a traitor.
Even in the cozy bubble we call Grounds, we are not immune to athletic disloyalty. Last year, the top scorer from Virginia's basketball team, Sylven Landesberg, left the team after being suspended for failing to meet his academic responsibilities. How many students cheering for you and counting on you to lead their team to the NCAA tournament does it take before you are willing to go to class to regain your academic eligibility? Isn't staying at U.Va. and becoming a Virginia legend more important than playing professionally in the Israeli Basketball Super League?
I know that players are not totally to blame. Owners and general managers are notoriously stingy in handing out big contracts, and I don't think it's wrong for players to look to make themselves financially secure on what could be their one possibility for a major payday. But when it comes down to it, the ultimate losers are, as always, the fans. We are the ones who are forced to deal with the loss of our heroes, and we are the ones who are forced to tell our sons and daughters why their favorite players won't be on TV as much anymore, like my father did for me when Mark Messier left the New York Rangers in 1997.
As unfair as it may seem to them, athletes need to understand they are public figures. Their actions impact many more people than mine or yours, and as such, they have a very great responsibility to their fans. The very fans who made them into stars - they are the ones the athletes are now turning on and leaving behind in the dust.
So Wayne, I'm proud of you for staying at Manchester United, but next time you want more money, do it properly and talk to your coach like a man - don't throw your entire club under the bus and talk about leaving the team. And whatever you do, don't you ever turn your back on the fans that made you who you are today.
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