I was discussing this in the other thread but it seems to have upset someone. IMO the issue goes wider than any single incident.
If a player does something majorly wrong, then sure... the game is better off without them. But in the vast majority of cases, these 'scandals' are blown way out of proportion.
IMO, we watch the players for what they do on the field. Bringing a player's minor personal indiscretions into the game is a waste of space. I want to watch them play. It is not our place to dictate what they do off the field. Despite what some people think, we don't own them.
Having said that, off the field most players give their time to fans regularly, signing autographs, getting their photos taken. Then there's all the work they do for the community. None of this is newsworthy, it seems.
But when some player is seen getting into a scuffle or taking a piss in a bush, then it's front page news. The morality cops feed this form of media. They talk of 'role models'. But none of the wowsers are as keen to praise the same players when they show up at schools and hospitals or raise money for charity. If there's a morality to this, it is the screwed up sense of values the tabloids and their consumers seem to have. They have their priorities all upside-down.
And the hypocrites who promote this crap are often far from cleanskins themselves. Moreover, the gossip columnists are the first to cry foul when their own indiscretions are published.
