Re: Pitino Urged/Latest Trade Rumor... It's Time For Celtics Note s

["Jim Meninno" <Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- From: Cecil Wright <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>
> When most everyone in the world is on vacation, they do whatever they can
>to  take their minds off of their job.  Athletes are not supposed to do
that.
> 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day, they are supposed to be the best
> employee they can be.  And during the offseason, they should continue to
> work like Karl Malone does.  Isn't that just a little bit of a double
> standard?

And all for, in the case of the NBA, a lousy three million dollars a year on
average, give or take.  I don't know, Cecil, but I think when you make your
living with your body (e.g. exotic dancers, models, basketball players), you
sort of need to take care of it 24/7.  It's an unfortunate consequence of
your career choice.  It's not a uniform that you can take off when you get
home from work and put back on again tomorrow.  What you do and what you eat
will affect how you can do your job, whenever you do/eat it.  I saw a show
on TV about "body parts models".  You would not believe the lengths to which
these people go to keep their legs, hands, breasts, etc. looking lovely.
How about a two hour nightly moisturizing routine.  How about not shaking
hands with people.  "I never towel dry my skin after a shower, I let it air
dry".  Really, it made a professional athlete's regimen sound easy.  Have
you ever read one of these "diaries" that players write on NBA.COM?  It
reads like, "Got up around eleven, had breakfast, went to practice, came
back, had a nap, went to the arena, got a massage, sat on the bench and
didn't get into the game, came home, cashed my quarter million dollar check
for this month, played some video games...."  And, God bless them.  If they
can make that kind of a living doing what they do, more power to them.  But
I'm certainly not going to feel sorry for expecting them to work out for a
couple of  hours a day during their four month summer vacation.

Jim