"I am not a role model."
-Charles Barkley
Athletes run fast, score points, make lots of money and influence and inspire thousands of people.
They appear to be super-human icons. They appear to be something special.
Aside from their athletic gift, few athletes are special. And that's been illuminated this week with the Gold Club scandal.
In an effort to make his Atlanta night club the place to be, Steve Kaplan invited numerous big-name athletes to his club to boost its image. In order to make sure they praised his decadent palace, Kaplan threw a combination of sultry dancers and sexual favors at the athletes.
Then the government stepped in and took Kaplan to court. In the process, many of those big-time athletes have had to step out from behind the veil of fast 40-yard dash times, high vertical leaps and bulging biceps to face some embarrassing facts.
Take NBA star Patrick Ewing. I, along with many other basketball fans, used to root for this hard-working guy to win an NBA title. That changed when he took the stand Monday.
Ewing said he twice went to the Gold Club and was aroused by dancers, who eventually performed oral sex on him.
Wednesday, Andruw Jones, an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves, testified to more explicit sex acts.
Jones said he was invited to a private party by a Gold Club employee and escorted there by limousine.
According to ESPN.com, Jones said he arrived at a hotel room to find two women "doing lesbian action." Jones testified he had intercourse with the two women, while Kaplan and several other men watched.
Jones later identified the two women as dancers at the Gold Club.
NBA journeyman John Starks has also been pulled into the fray. If he's called upon to testify, Starks is willing to confirm that he had sex with a Gold Club dancer. But of course, Starks said, that was before he rededicated his life to Christ.
The list of other athletes who have frequented the club is long, and more sports stars will be dragged through the mud of this case.
Serves them right, I say.
They've made themselves public figures who have an impact on kids and young adults. They've destroyed any fan respect they had.
Every time ESPN reports news from the trial, the reporters mention that no athlete asked to testify is being accused of any crime.
Perhaps they didn't technically break any law, but they committed a crime against themselves and their fans.
This whole mess makes cheering for athletes even harder.
I guess it's just too much to ask someone to be able to run fast and be a good person.
Dane Stickney is a senior news-editorial and English major and the summer Daily Nebraskan deputy editor
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