The predominent feeling that came through the writing these students did that night was not outrage at the crimes the athletes had committed. That phrase came up again and again. A guy in the front row said of the hockey player who was up to his ears in drugs with a call girl in a motel room when he was apprehended, that it would have been better if the player had spent the considerable money those diversions must have cost on helping his community, perhaps via the United Way. He was right, of course. That would have been better.
Athletes are people.
Some of them turn out to be violent, stupid, self-destructive people who eventually careen out of control. Frequently they're abetted in their folly and self-destruction by a culture that celebrates them inordinately for the narrow range of talents they display for a very limited time. I wonder if it would be unnecessarily cruel, since, when I asked, virtually all the of the students in the class said they'd signed up because they liked sports, not because they liked writing. I'll have to find out as the semester goes along. I'll report back at midterm.