The Things Kids Say: Science vs. Sports
By Gina Wickwar
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Jun 3, 2014
I seldom take seriously what a 20-something-year old NFL draft rookie says, especially when he's got a beer in his hand and is splashing around poolside in Las Vegas over Memorial Day. But the Cleveland Browns's Johnnie Manziel's pitiful comments about his status relative to other folks, especially scientists, was something that caught my ears. And I didn't like what I heard.
I know, when you're a hot new rookie quarterback and just made a controversial signing with Cleveland, and when you've won the Heisman trophy, and when you're handsome and almost a People magazine personality, it's pretty hard not to say things that reveal your years at Texas A&M didn't exactly teach you humility.
As a result of this self-aggrandizement, we have kids today who believe they deserve the corner office as soon as they graduate from college with a C average. Or sports figures and movie stars who think their achievements rival those of Jonas Salk or Thomas Edison. Gads, what have we wrought?
Poor Johnnie. Just wait until his mom or sister or wife gets diagnosed with breast cancer and he's forced to turn to, horrors! all those lesser boobs who worked hard and long in unrecognized labs searching for the cure. With luck, it'll mean Johnnie really can do a legitimate dance in the end-zone, and THAT would be a paen to real accomplishment.