Olympians versus footballers

[monkeybarry]

I think this is a lot of it. Athletes are completely in touch with "normal" people. They most likely consider themselves no different. This being in large part due to living a relatively normal life due to more modest earnings.

Compare and contrast to your average footballer, molly-coddled since pre-teens. Living in an artificial bubble, with multi millions in the bank, first car is a Ferrari, home is a 10 bed mansion, every complication is removed from life and handled for you - save which wannabe sleb tart to poke this week.

All of which is due to and driven by money.

there is certainly a large amount of truth in that - although it does not completely absolve them of responsibility. When you are an adult, you have to make adult choices and not just blame your past of surroundings.

there is also the fan element imho - many people just "buy into" football (financially and socially as well as from a sporting angle).
it will interesting to see how the country reacts to football after this summer, and, more importantly, how the country reacts to other sports.

i have always liked Hockey that the Olympics (is basically like football!) and Handball - but i have never really considered going to watch my local Hockey teams (both of whom are a decent standard).

i now will go and see them.

its horrible as i hate modern english football on so many levels - but its like a drug that is impossible to shake off.

i suspect most the country will have forgotten about this Olympcis summer come Oct/Nov - but lets hope is causes a little shift in expectation from footballers.

(even watching the olympics - the only real bad attitudes i saw were from the male footballers (and a few track and field people - who are the "footballers" of the olympics if you like))

 

[Jurgen the German]

Which is one of the ways in which football authorities, clubs and coaches are failing our young footballers.

The problem is that young footballers' role models tend to be poorly behaving senior footballers and their most influential advisers are their unscrupulous agents.

And, once again, I don't believe that it is a class issue per se. Plenty of working class kids are brought up in an environment of discipline, values and sense of responsibility. Of course, it's also true to say that many aren't......but that's where the coaches should step in and fill the vacuum.

Sorry to keep using the NFL as an example, but once college players are drafted, they attend a seminar in which current and former players tell stories about how their lives have changed since they became professionals and also give a few examples of how the money went to their heads and hopefully this will lead to the young players not making the same mistakes. I'm not aware of anything similar that happens over here.

 

[braineclipse]

Ahhh, yes Aydn (I believe that was her name), the things these people will do to up-hold their pride for the nation is amazing! I think that's been the most enjoyable thing for me this Olympics is the athletes truly love their nations!

Just to be clear on my point of view, I have fairly strong skepticism towards too much national pride and love.

How do you know that the things they do are for the pride and love of their nation? Sure, they wrap themselves in the flag and sing the national anthem, but so would most people unless they outright disliked their country.

These people have been training probably 25-40 hours a week or more for years, often over a decade and for some of them the last 4 years of their lives have been primarily dedicated towards their performance in these Olympics. Of course they try their very best, of course they push themselves to any limit they can push themselves to. That's part of what makes it so entertaining to watch. I see a lot more personal pride and the result of a lot of hard work than national pride or love.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Just to be clear on my point of view, I have fairly strong skepticism towards too much national pride and love.

How do you know that the things they do are for the pride and love of their nation? Sure, they wrap themselves in the flag and sing the national anthem, but so would most people unless they outright disliked their country.

These people have been training probably 25-40 hours a week or more for years, often over a decade and for some of them the last 4 years of their lives have been primarily dedicated towards their performance in these Olympics. Of course they try their very best, of course they push themselves to any limit they can push themselves to. That's part of what makes it so entertaining to watch. I see a lot more personal pride and the result of a lot of hard work than national pride or love.

I agree with most of this post. But having said that, you rarely see a negative story in the press about Usain Bolt or Roger Federer and they are two of the richest, most recogniable, high profile athletes in the world. I'm sure if Chris Hoy shagged his teammates wife, it would be a news story, albeit not as big as the John Terry story.

 

[jimmyb]

Come on!

You can't compare Olympic performances for athletes getting their once or twice in a lifetime opportunity to a footballer playing 38 league games per season.

Been plenty of valiant efforts, playing through pain/injury as well as tears both in big club games and even more so in for example the World Cup that only comes around every 4 years like the Olympics.

Of course. No one's denying that.

But still, the kind of spirit displayed by Olympians is a world away from the antics of so many footballers.....diving and squealing their way through game after game, season after season.

 

[braineclipse]

I agree with most of this post. But having said that, you rarely see a negative story in the press about Usain Bolt or Roger Federer and they are two of the richest, most recogniable, high profile athletes in the world. I'm sure if Chris Hoy shagged his teammates wife, it would be a news story, albeit not as big as the John Terry story.

Sure, but you can similarly list the good guys of football (I already listed some).

Just by the number of people that get massive salaries and drastic lifestyle changes in football you would expect a lot more individual cases of dingdongheadedness.

In most sports it's just the top few individuals that get that kind of money, they will have worked incredibly hard to get there, and maybe that helps them stay grounded a bit. Whereas some decently talented footballers seem to float into that kind of extravagant lifestyle without quite the same kind of effort.

 

[stupid632]

Just to be clear on my point of view, I have fairly strong skepticism towards too much national pride and love.

How do you know that the things they do are for the pride and love of their nation? Sure, they wrap themselves in the flag and sing the national anthem, but so would most people unless they outright disliked their country.

These people have been training probably 25-40 hours a week or more for years, often over a decade and for some of them the last 4 years of their lives have been primarily dedicated towards their performance in these Olympics. Of course they try their very best, of course they push themselves to any limit they can push themselves to. That's part of what makes it so entertaining to watch. I see a lot more personal pride and the result of a lot of hard work than national pride or love.

I understand what you're saying, but I believe there is too much press around football and the people who truly deserve to be shone in a positive light are normally out placed by a negative football story. I understand they they train for this, but they don't just train for this! They also have championships and what not throughout the year. I can also see the argument of it being a home Olympics, thus, this reflects in their performances. At the end of the day, I just wished we'd have more of these positive stories floating around, as it would provide a better model for the kids to work upon, instead of all this 'shags mates wife' and what not.

 

[braineclipse]

Of course. No one's denying that.

But still, the kind of spirit displayed by Olympians is a world away from the antics of so many footballers.....diving and squealing their way through game after game, season after season.

Diving and squealing is essentially just cheating. Attempting to gain an edge.

It's tougher to cheat in athletics for example, unless you do it by doping... Been a fair bit of that in the Olympics.

 

[jimmyb]

Diving and squealing is essentially just cheating. Attempting to gain an edge.

It's tougher to cheat in athletics for example, unless you do it by doping... Been a fair bit of that in the Olympics.

Sure has. Though not, to our knowledge, by many British athletes (who are the subject of this discussion). In fact, many British athletes have been persistently and consistently outspoken on the issue of doping and not allowing convicted cheats back into the sport. Paula Radcliffe, especially, has spoken frequently, eloquently and compellingly on the subject.

It's one of the reasons why Dwain Chambers' inclusion in Team GB was so controversial and unwelcome in Britain. Unfortunately, Team GB had no choice but to pick him - against their will.

 

[braineclipse]

Sure has. Though not, to our knowledge, by many British athletes (who are the subject of this discussion). In fact, many British athletes have been persistently and consistently outspoken on the issue of doping and not allowing convicted cheats back into the sport. Paula Radcliffe, especially, has spoken frequently, eloquently and compellingly on the subject.

It's one of the reasons why Dwain Chambers' inclusion in Team GB was so controversial and unwelcome in Britain. Unfortunately, Team GB had no choice but to pick him - against their will.

I wasn't aware this was only about British athletes.

Point is still that while you can gain an edge by diving and acting like a dingdong in football there isn't any comparable ways to get away with a little bit of cheating in many other sports. There is quite a bit of pushing and elbowing going on in some of the running competitions, but that seems to be generally accepted.

 

[Klinsmania]

I think what has really stood out for me during the Olympics is how everyone treats their opponents with respect. None of the athletes make excuses when they fail, they retain their dignity, don't bitch and moan about dubious officiating and also train far harder than any footballer ever does, and all for a relative pittance. Mo Farah runs well over 100 miles a week. Rebecca Addlington swims over 30 miles a week. The Brownlees do 35 hours of training a week. Compare and contrast this with footballers who typically do four hours of training 4 - 5 times a week, and moan about double sessions and having to finish work at 4pm! No wonder most oridnary people dislike footballers, they have it all handed to them on a plate and still find room to moan about their lot. I'm hoping the footballers are looking at the Olympians and thinking to themselves that they need to be more of a positive role model like Chris Hoy or Jessica Ennis.

 

[jimmyb]

I wasn't aware this was only about British athletes.

Point is still that while you can gain an edge by diving and acting like a dingdong in football there isn't any comparable ways to get away with a little bit of cheating in many other sports. There is quite a bit of pushing and elbowing going on in some of the running competitions, but that seems to be generally accepted.

Take a look at the OP. It was specifically comparing our Olympians with our footballers.

And, yes, there is jostling in some middle and long distance races. But it's about self preservation rather than cheating.

Anyway, we're getting rather off topic with this.