Whose taken the deepest fall?
My boyhood hero was Mickey Mantle who we know now had a lot of demons to deal with. But I love him to this day even after knowing about his legendary “alcoholic track meets” and dalliances and even after I saw him throw a bowling ball overhand the length of the alley knocking the ten pins into other lanes and parts unkown. But I still think of him as one of the greatest ballplayers who ever put on a Yankee uniform. It was a different world then and I wonder who in my lifetime of following sports has fallen from grace the quickest and the farthest.
A few weeks ago I would have said Tiger Woods descent two years ago on Thanksgiving was the quickest and maybe the farthest. But today I’m not sure.
When the Big Ten on Monday removed Joe Paterno’s name from the football championship trophy that will be handed out after the conference’s inaugural football title game it hit me that this once legendary figure may have his reputation ruined forever. Here’s a guy who did all things right and promoted so many great men to the National Football league and into the world but regretably he might be remembered first for enabling a pedophile to survive on his watch.
O.J. Simpson would be another candidate that fell fast and perhaps the deepest as even though he sits in a Nevada penal institution he will best be remembered NOT for his dazzling runs on the football field and in the entertainment business but for the double murder for which he was NOT convicted.
Mike Tyson was incarcerated for raping Desiree Washington, an 18-year old beauty pageant contestant at the pinnacle of his boxing career. Frankly, that’s what I remember the most about Tyson who once was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the world. I guess the second think I remember about Tyson was that he bit off parts of Evander Holyfield’s ear in a championship fight. I know he had numerous victories in the ring but those are the things that I think about when Tyson’s name is mentioned. And there are more….Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Lawrence Taylor - all once heroes and now villains. And now perhaps Joe Paterno.
