Athletes flout responsibility, society looks the other way

  Brian Thompson Thompson can be reached
at [email protected].

I don’t find the sports pages the place for social
commentary most of the time. But as long as sports are a part of
mainstream society and children view athletes as role models, there
is a time and a place for the story of a fallen athlete.

We often forget that athletes are human. They make the same
mistakes that you or I make. A combination of youth, money and the
aura of invincibility that comes with being a star leads many to
think that they could get away with murder ““ and some even
have.

But there is a certain sense of responsibility that comes with
being an athlete. Think about it: pro athletes get PAID to play a
game. You’d expect these guys to set a good example and stay
out of trouble. But every couple of days on SportsCenter we hear
about Rae Carruth going to trial for killing his baby’s mama,
or Jason Kidd slapping his wife around, or Allen Iverson calling a
fan a “faggot.” We hear these things, and all we can do
is shake our heads in disappointment.

But there has been a story in the news lately that just takes
the cake. It is that of former NFL star Mark Chmura.

Often these stories make us laugh at athletes’ stupidity.
We grow accustomed to some of these stories. But occasionally,
there’s a story that makes us take notice.

You see, Chmura was accused and recently acquitted of sexually
assaulting a 17-year-old girl. I don’t think I need to
explain to anyone how serious an offense sexual assault is,
particularly on a college campus where many students fear for their
safety while walking home alone at night.

But Chmura’s case was unlike most of the horrendous, and
thankfully rare, occurrences of random sexual assault on the UCLA
campus. Chmura’s accuser knew him well and trusted him
““ she was his children’s babysitter.

The story, as accepted by both parties, goes like this: Chmura
was out drinking with one of his buddies last April. They decided
to return to the friend’s home. Chmura’s friend’s
daughter was hosting a post-high-school-prom party and the
babysitter was present.

Upon their arrival, Chmura expressed disappointment in the lack
of drunken shenanigans and said, “You call this a party?
Where are you hiding the alcohol?”

After encouraging the partygoers to drink and drinking more
himself, Chmura and his friend soon found themselves in a hot tub
with a few girls in their underwear.

From that point, the story is muddled, depending on which side
you believe. After the hot tub session, Chmura went with his
soon-to-be accuser into a bathroom, where he allegedly forced her
to have sex.

The next day, Chmura was arrested and charged with sexual
assault and child enticement.

If you’re like me, you’re surely disgusted and
appalled by this account. But of course this isn’t the first
time something like this has happened in our society, and it
isn’t even the first time it’s involved a star
athlete.

So, like me, you probably weren’t surprised to hear last
week that Chmura got off scot-free. He was found not guilty on both
charges.

“None of us believed nothing happened. We all believed
something happened in there,” an anonymous juror told
reporters. “But we had no evidence to prove it.”

Still, regardless of whether or not there was any sex,
consensual or otherwise, what was a 31-year-old married father of
two doing drunk at a high school party? Why was he alone in a
bathroom with a 17-year-old girl?

Chmura has been nothing but apologetic since his trial
ended.

“I know that as a Green Bay Packer and as a professional
athlete, I’ve disappointed many, many people,” he said.
“And for that I am truly sorry. I promise you nothing like
this will ever happen again.”

Oh, gee, thanks for the assurance, Mark. That’s really
kind of you.

“If you can go to jail for being stupid, I belong in
jail.”

Hey, I’m not juror, but what about belonging in jail
because you had sex with a 17-year-old?

This is the same man who refused to go to the White House after
Green Bay’s 1997 Super Bowl win because he refused to be in
the same room as that immoral louse, President Clinton.

It’s good to see him put his own morals on display.

Yet again, we have an athlete caught doing something stupid. But
what is anybody going to do about it? Does anybody really care?

At the trial, Chmura “fans” had tailgate parties in
the courthouse parking lot and roasted bratwursts while discussing
the trial. At a local bar, patrons watched the trial daily and were
rewarded with dollar shots every time a lawyer raised an
objection.

Isn’t it fun to turn sexual assault into one big fun game?
I guess ignoring that a poor girl has gone through a horrible
ordeal is OK, too.

And perhaps the most absurd side note is that Chmura’s
wife has stood by him through all of this, even though she admitted
to Sports Illustrated that “we’ve dealt with these
(incidents of womanizing) for a long time.”

As for football fans, all will be forgotten if he signs with our
favorite team and scores a lot of touchdowns. That’s the way
it usually works.

And that’s just the problem. Sure, athletes screw up. But
we as a society choose not to hold them accountable.

Hopefully some day we won’t be so quick to let athletes
off the hook. Maybe some day people will take notice when an
athlete beats his wife or gets caught with his pants down. And
perhaps someday athletes will realize that they are role models for
society and act accordingly.

But I guess until then all we can do when we hear one of these
stories is keep shaking our heads in disbelief.