One, we make mistakes.

And two, we struggle to admit it when we do number one.

For a few hours on Sunday, Jay Cutler bashing looked poised to give baseball a run for its money as our national pastime.  Among the slew of current and former NFL players who weighed in on Cutler’s toughness (or lack thereof) was Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew.  As you peruse MJD’s timeline on Twitter, a couple comments stick out:

“Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now… When the going gets tough……..QUIT..”

“All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee… I played the whole season on one…”

First off, any fantasy football owner would tell you MJD didn’t actually play the whole season on his bum knee, but that’s a separate discussion.  I honestly have no issue with Jones-Drew, or anyone else for that matter, giving their opinion on Cutler, whose actions and demeanor certainly left him open for potential criticism.  Screw the “code” of not calling out fellow players; MJD made a snap judgment without knowing the facts, which is something we all do from time to time.

My issue is what has happened in the aftermath.  First off, Jones-Drew came out in full damage control mode on Monday, saying “I never questioned his toughness. I think people took my joke out of context. I was taking at shot at Florida fans.”  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on the first tweet given Urban Meyer’s Favre-esque retirement track record, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the second one.

How naive does this guy think people are?  You were absolutely questioning his toughness; don’t try to spin it like you were misunderstood.  I half expected the standard “my Twitter account was hacked” explanation that’s all the rage these days.

But things don’t end there.

On Tuesday, Jones-Drew started re-tweeting threats and negative comments he received from angry Bears fans.  In no way do I condone this kind of nonsense, but let’s face it, there are plenty of ignorant people out there who can take things like this way too far.  That said, it reaked of a guy trying to turn himself into the victim.

Instead of backtracking or trying to spin it as a joke or pandering to the perceived naivete of the public, here’s an idea: Take accountability for what you said, then either stand by it or apologize and say you were wrong. Not everyone will agree with you, but they would at least respect you having the stones to take some responsibility for your words and actions.

And just when I thought this kind of thing had reached its strangest point, along came Zack Follett.

The Lions linebacker was on a radio show and chose to get in on the act by ripping Cutler as well. He also decided to raise the bar by calling his own quarterback, Matthew Stafford, a “china doll” based on his recent injury history.

While trashing your teammate doesn’t rate highly on the common sense index, it’s a fact that Stafford has been hurt in both of his years as a pro.  Does it mean he’ll never play a full season?  Absolutely not, but based on what we’ve seen, the comment in and of itself isn’t outlandish.

Follett’s response, however, was.  First of all, he played the “taken out of context” card, which if you listen to the interview is, well, a lie.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Follett went on to post a video where he put the blame on Satan – yes, I said Satan – for using the media to challenge him.

I give Follett points for originality in his response to his choice of words, but I think I speak for all of us when I say, “Huh?!”

Seriously, is it that tough to own up to what you said without blaming someone else? Athletes have rebounded from far greater transgressions than saying something they later wished they hadn’t, so give fans just a shred of credit. We really aren’t that different after all.

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Follow me on Twitter for more of my thoughts on sports and Satan’s growing role in the media.

* – Maurice Jones-Drew photo credit: EveryJoe.com

* – Zack Follett photo credit: Raw Sports

On the biggest stages, the athletes and teams that compete give everyone the chance to cheer on their favorite on the battlefield, whatever the sport. People sometimes love sports so much, and become so obsessed with the performance or success of their team, that their actions or antics seem outrageous to someone who is not familiar with the game. Across the world, soccer fans have been known to beat their opponent’s fans, riot, threaten referees with physical violence, and throw anything that is not bolted down onto the field in outrage or jubilance.

This passion that makes people love sports and their teams in such a zealous way is one of the reasons why sports are one of the biggest businesses in the world today. Many athletes make millions in contracts and endorsements while firemen, policemen, and teachers do the most noble of jobs but are hardly compensated to the extent of the impact they have on all of our lives. While I cannot justify that, I once argued that these brave people should be paid more, and would, if we were able to sell tickets to the next house fire, shootout, or class lecture, or if our kids were begging us to buy them the new Nike Air Professors. Call it crazy, but it is the truth.

In today’s game, as the business of sports becomes bigger and bigger, the athletes are becoming even more of a marketable image than anybody else in the world. More people across the world would probably recognize LeBron James than Barack Obama or John McCain. And while I am not encouraging King James to run for President, it shows that sports are taken more seriously than even politics today. I cannot tell you the difference between either candidate’s ideas for foreign policy, but I can break down the intricacies and beauty of the zone blitz.

And look at the Olympic basketball tournament. The Chinese fans cheered louder and were more enthusiastic for Team USA than they were for their own national team! If that’s not ironic, I don’t know what is. If an ignorant person were to watch a game in China’s basketball stadium, they would tell you that Team USA was the local team, not that of their political rival from halfway across the world. In this regard, I think that’s great news. Sports have always been something that has brought people together, and now the world together, regardless of your national origin, race, or upbringing.

In my opinion, sports are the greatest form of theater. Each athlete is playing a role and their part is not dictated by the next line of dialogue, but by the action he takes and the impact he has on the competition, or sometime the entire sport itself. Each game is a scene, and each season an act. When the playoffs arrive, we see that this impact sometimes transcends the sport itself. Every time we take to heart the performance of an athlete or the accomplishment of a team we have let sports shape the person we are; as we try to move forward in our own life with the same resolve of, say, an injured quarterback in the fourth quarter, leading his team to a comeback win. I know that sports are not the most important part of life, but when isolated they contain more twists, drama, action, suspense, and even irony that the most well-written movie could not produce. Now that is why we love sports and the athletes who compete in them…

We now live in a time when it’s not very often you see much good news in the newspaper. War, political scandal, economic troubles, and violence take up most of the front page, but I know that I can always turn to the sports page, and read the next chapter of the world’s greatest never-ending story.

[tags]sports, love sports, sports and athletes, business of sports[/tags]