Bad Newz

The Mike Vick case has been discussed in much detail in the past few months, much of the discussion concerned with what his punishment should be for the crimes that he helped commit. While he needs to be punished for what he did, more of the discussion now needs to turn to what it is about professional athletes that often causes them to feel they are above the law and can get away with nearly anything. The recent OJ Simpson event as well as the Pacman Jones situation shows other examples of how American culture places such a high importance on celebrities that makes many feel like they are untouchable.

In this week’s Sports Illustrated article, seen here there is a very good article that discusses what factors led Michael Vick to believe he could get away with all that he did. Vick is similar to many professional athletes, in that he came from a family that often did not have much money and grew up with limited options. When this occurs most athletes find it very hard to deal and handle their new success and popularity so they turn back to what is familiar to them which is where they came from and the friends they had before they became famous. Sometimes these friends from back home as in Michael Vicks case have questionable motives for staying in touch with their new famous friends. Many feel like it is their ticket out of the rough neighborhood so they tag along and live the celebrity life through their professional athlete friends. This can be seen in many examples ranging from, Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, and Robert Traylor. All these people circled themselves with people that were blinded by their friend’s wealth.

Professional athletes often feel obliged to help those that they grew up with. They feel they owe it their friends to share their newfound wealth, and their friends are more than happy to live the good life with money that is not theirs. There are some reasons why athletes feel they have to give their money to the people they knew from home. The first reason is that they feel indebted and sometimes guilty that they made it big and their friends did not. Many people growing up in low income areas turn to gangs and violence as a means for making money and getting respect, athletes sometimes get a “free pass” from this life because they have a chance to do something without turning to the streets. If they do make it big they often feel like they have a debt to pay to those that let them not join gangs. Another reason that athletes feel obliged to bring people up with them is that they knew these people growing up and went through tough times together. They feel like they would not have made it without these friendships. Successful people are always told not to forget where they came from. This creates a sense of communal pressure that their community places on those that have come from the area. The biggest factor that leads professional athletes to surround themselves with people that they are familiar with is that they are often forced to grow up at very young ages and they want to have a sense of security and they accomplish this by bringing old friends around. Sports teams and colleges begin scouting and following athletes sometimes when they are as young as 13 or 14 years old. People see that these people can become wealthy and begin to try and associate with these kids. This creates a very tough wall of trust that athletes erect in order to protect themselves from being taken advantage of. This sticks with them even after they make it to the pros and often times they remain very wary of anyone that they haven’t known for an extended period of time. Unfortunately even when people are genuinely trying to help athletes, many do not listen because they immediately believe that everyone is just there to take advantage of them.

With more and more athletes getting in trouble because of the people they associate with something needs to be done to try and change this trend. I think more attention needs to be paid to what these sports leagues can do to help these young people who are thrown into an unfamiliar world and left to make their own decisions based on limited knowledge. Sports leagues such as the NFL have programs established to try and help this but it is only for first year players, after that they are left on their own to wade through the constant pressure of being a celebrity in American culture.

Let's Get a Move On

The Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles opened last week to an array of concerts that included both the Eagles and the Dixie Chicks and is selling out its shows on a nightly basis. What is surprising is that this construction project was able to open on time. Far too many construction projects recently are failing to meet their scheduled finish dates due to the increasing and overwhelming “red tape” that government agencies require companies to wade through. As a current employee in the construction industry it is often maddening at the inefficiency and lack of urgency different government agencies show off. The age old expression is “time is money,” however that does not apply when discussing government workers since they have a very high job security and their salaries are basically set in stone no matter of their output of work. Many workers have no incentive to work hard or to work with private contractors to get projects completed in a timely fashion because it is easier for them to simply take their time.

In order to correct this trend something needs to be done. However the only people that have the power to enact new rules and laws are the government agencies that are dragging their feet in the first place. The best solution I can propose to help remedy this situation is to offer government employees incentives for doing a good job in a timely manner. At the end of any project all the private companies and contractors that worked on the project have an opportunity to give those government workers that helped and worked to make the project move along credit and have those people be rewarded by either a bonus, credit towards a future promotion, or even added vacation time. I believe this would create an atmosphere where everyone can work diligently and the outcome will be seen not only by the companies but also the overall society by the added projects around the country.

One big question that has been raised when I have discussed this idea with others as to where the money would come from to pay bonuses or pay for people to have extra vacation time. Many construction project contracts are drafted with a completion date set in stone. For every day that the project does not get completed by that date someone must pay liquidated damages, depending on whose fault the delays are. These damages can range from a $1,000 per day to $25,000 per day depending on the scope of the project. Often times these delays turn into huge arguments than can and do often lead to litigation. In the end the penalties are usually spread among all parties that have to do with the project including the owner which often times is the city, the general contractor and the various subcontractors with no one party actually getting in money for the added time but ultimately spending money to try and pass the blame to the other parties. In addition to this cost it is very expensive to have a construction project not be completed since the building is not creating any revenue itself since it is not being occupied. This again costs all parties involved. The money that would be saved by finishing projects in a timely manner will more than be enough to reward those that helped get it to that point, therefore there would be no need to raise taxes or make a special fund to draw from to give these bonuses.

I am sure that most people will agree that it is much easier to fix a problem before it starts than to try and fix a problem that has been in place for an extended period of time. That is what we are facing right now and unless steps are taken immediately the problem will continue to grow exponentially until any solution is simply not feasible.