Defending Notre Dame athletes
Letter to the Editor
The introduction to Peyton Berg's interview of Chris Zorich in the Feb. 9 Observer contains an unfortunate and very sloppy assessment of "athletes." While trying to credit Zorich for his "Christopher Zorich Foundation," Berg paints all athletes with a wide brush, saying that we are "in an age where athletes routinely find themselves in trouble with the law."
Certainly he doesn't intend all athletes from pee wees to the pros, does he? So who does he mean? Professional athletes? College and professional? Would that include our No. 1 ranked women's basketball team, that lawless bunch? Perhaps he only means "high profile" athletes whose lives are scrutinized by the media, because we the public pay an unhealthy amount of attention to them as people.
And what does he mean by routine? He seems to be saying that these athletes (whoever they are) are individually frequently in trouble with the law. Does he have any idea how many athletes there are in the world? Even limiting himself to the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, Mr. Berg can't be saying that all of those guys are a bunch of recidivist criminals, can he?
Or does he mean to say, "In an age where the headlines routinely feature celebrity athletes in trouble with the law, Zorich instead ... "? Such a statement would make a lot more sense to me and would be fairer to Mr. Zorich's teammates and the many other athletes in the world, very few of whom make the headlines and very few of whom are criminals.
Joe DeMerit
Graduate student
February 9, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, February 12, 2001
