Wednesday, July 1, 2009

JT in the news again!

A busy week for JT news, first he gets sequestered in the Virgin Islands, then he reveals he plans on playing beyond this season and will 'play until they kick me out'.

One thing I've noticed about Jason Taylor is that he tends to make the news on average once every ten days. According to my 'Staying Relevant for Dummies' handbook, this is the recommended maximum time period in between newsclips/soundbites/court appearances if you want to accomplish top celebrity status. At last count, I was hovering somewhere around once every 75 days, but the gap is narrowing.

But Jason Taylor isn't really a 'top celebrity' in the Paris Hilton/Michael Jackson (there I mentioned him once, and for the last time) mold, where the media just writes about you at will with no rhyme or reason. So he does things like 'Dancing with the Nobodies' and 'I'm a celebrity get me out of the Virgin Islands, but give me a week to work on my tan first'. And anytime there is anything that can be construed as remotely negative about him in the media, he offers up a soundbite, or extra access to a charity event he's hosting, etc. He and/or his publicist are very good at creating the image of someone who's not only a high caliber player, but a high caliber person as well. I'm not saying he isn't one, I'm just recognizing that he works on his image anyway.

It makes me wonder why someone like Taylor realizes that image is important whereas a good 10% of the league has no concept of all of its importance. In the end, it doesn't affect contracts, and it doesn't affect playing time, so I can see the motivation (or lack thereof) to act the way one would act, but at some point the Vicks, Haynesworths, and Pacmans of the league must realize what colossal losers/a-holes/retards they come across as, and why no one ever wants to give them an endorsement deal, and in the end that's what it's all about. The fact that you can play ball is not good enough for Nike. You have to play ball AND live a clean life. You have to play ball, live a clean life, and not be a sociopath. That's where the big money is.

7 comments:

  1. The Knight who says Ni!July 1, 2009 at 11:07 AM

    "but at some point the Vicks, Haynesworths, and Pacmans of the league must realize what colossal losers/a-holes/retards they come across as"

    Nope, people like that never get it. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. True, I never said they would, i said they MUST. lol

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not with people continuing to tell them how they're God's gifts to earth/football/opposite sex/etc.  Its ingrained in them at such a young age that its gotta be nearly impossible to unlearn.  Hell if Eugene Robinson can accept the Christian Morality Award and then the same day get popped for soliciting a $40 BJ from a cop posing as a hooker nobody is beyond doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some players just don't care about there image.  I mean there are other things in life to think about other than money.  Once you have all you will need for the rest of your life and that of your Family, does anyone really need any more than that ?  If so then keeping your image up is a good idea.  If not, then why worry about your image, or how much more money they could make.  Image is only important if one wants it to be.

    I have a feeling that JT never passed a mirror he didn't look at himself in.  So yes for him image would be very important.  I hope Herdfan doesn't see this she would not like my thoughts. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. ...I met Vick twice while living/working in Hampton Va back in the late '80s ...he was the star for state champ Warwick HS ...on both occasions he impressed me as a very clean cut young guy who had his head on right ...on both occasions he was doing community work that was not required of him ...he just volunteered and expected to do anything anyone asked of him ...no image problem and no hesitation about anything asked of him.

    ...people still up there say the money made all the difference ...it got him in with a crowd that eventually ruined it all ...not that he wasn't guilty of the crimes.

    ...try not to be judgemental of people for mistakes they make ...live and let live ...the guy was once a very good and caring kid who gave back far more than was asked of him ...he took a wrong turn and has paid a price far beyond that asked of anyone similarly charged.

    ...now I expect that some hate-mongers will do the PETA rap and cast all kinds of aspersions for my not joining them in stomping a man when he's down ...go ahead ...won't change my opinion of Vick a bit. 

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm not sure why I wouldn't like your thoughts on this.  Unless I totally misunderstand, I agree with them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. why does everyone compare the Vick crime with crimes against humans? I don't see why we as a race can't just say that both acts are wrong and both should be punished. And every trial should be treated separately.

    I don't know Vick, and wouldn't care if he was the nicest guy in the world to me, because of what he was charged with, I have no desire to be in the same world with him. And to me it doesn't matter if he was a nice guy back in the day. Everytime there's a crime report on the news the neighbors always say how nice the guy was or how normal he was. Well obviously the guy who killed 20 prostitutes over the course of 5 years while driving a UPS truck during the day, isn't who you think he is.

    ReplyDelete