Old but Slow wrote:And with old friends, it is difficult to avoid going to the old hang outs and trying to be normal. Still in his twenties, it is easy to see why Marshawn would want to connect with his people and hang out. I have no problem with that. What is he to do? Stay at home, go to church, run his camps, cook dinner?
He is a young man, he has energy, he wants to have a good time with his friends. Let him have some space. And if a side-winder comes along, hopefully he has the technique to maneuver away. We want our heroes to be paragons, but they are just young people. Rock on.
The idea that our sports heroes must never show flaws does not reflect reality. Our athletes are real people. They make mistakes, they stumble, but that does not make them bad people. And as long as they can make a first down, I have no problem.
I have mixed feelings. Yes, well known professional athletes like Beast are caught in a difficult situation. If they do not go to the old hang outs and try to be normal, they risk alienating their former friends and being tagged as being uppity, forgetting where they came from, and spoiled by success. I know I would be very sensitive to such an accusation if I were in a similar situation.
But on the other hand, I do think that they need to be realistic and recognize the truth in that their fame/fortune has permanently changed them and that they cannot turn the clock back to the old days when they were just "one of the guys" and do everything and go everywhere they used to in their younger days. Hopefully their old friends and associates understand the dilemma players like Beast now find themselves in.