CodySOSSAMONLEDGER PUBLISHER

Ever heard of Jeremy Roenick?

No?

Neither had I until I read what he had to say about the National Hockey League’s lockout which stopped this year’s season cold.

Roenick plays center for the Philadelphia Flyers — when the player’s union and owners are not arguing over salaries and such.

“We don’t want you at the rink, we don’t want you in the stadium, we don’t want you to watch hockey,” he said Saturday at the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament in suburban Pittsburgh.

He was talking to the fans who have blamed the lockout on the greed of the players.

I’m not a hockey fan and know next to nothing about the lockout (or for that matter the game itself). I’ve been to exactly two hockey games in my life — once in Charlotte when I was in high school and once a few years ago in Greenville.

Neither time did I have to pay for a ticket and probably would not have gone otherwise.

Therefore it’s easy for me to say that because of arrogant players like that I’ll never go to another hockey game.

But let’s face it — professional athletes on the whole are well paid for their efforts.

The superstars earn unbelievable amounts in salaries and endorsements. Even the bench warmers make a pretty good salary.

The money to pay these eyebrow-raising figures comes from a variety of sources: ticket sales, concessions, television contracts and apparel sales.

And who makes all of those revenue streams possible?

The fans.

The same fans this Roenick guy has just told to stay at home.

There are a bunch just like him in every professional sport — not all mind you, but enough to tarnish the luster of them all.

Where are the heroes we once worshiped? The ones we saw perform miracles on the court or field and valued the fans who cheered for them? The ones who played almost their entire careers for the same team so fans could develop a lasting relationship?

Sadly, this me-first, screw-you attitude has trickled down to the college ranks.

It seems as if every day there is some news about college athletes being in trouble, transferring to another school or leaving to play professionally.

But it doesn’t stop there. High school athletics have

Does the name LeBron James ring a bell? He became involved in some payola controversy while still in high school, skipped college and went straight to the NBA. Others before him did the same and more will follow.

The current situation concerning a local student/ athlete is exposing an unflattering side of high school sports.

I’m not expressing an opinion about what’s going on in that case, I’m simply pointing out that sports has become serious business at all levels.

An ‘amateur’ is “one who engages in a sport as a pastime rather than a profession.”

That term is less and less applicable at the college and high school levels. And lower.

I vaguely remember playing Little League baseball in the 1950s. We’d play one, maybe two games a week during June and July. A few weeks before the season we practiced, but after the season began the games were our practices.

Youth baseball is now almost year round in some cases and when you’re not playing, you’re practicing.

There have been situations nationally and locally that caused significant controversy.

The pressure to excel starts even before the Little League level.

Parents have been seen ready to fight at T-ball games, which are played by children under 5 years old! Those children see how their parents behave and react.

In light of all this pressure being applied from the time our kids can walk, I suppose no one should be surprised when athletes of any age have attitudes like the great Roenick.

(Cody Sossamon is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger. You can contact him via e-mail at cody@gaffneyledger.com)