work ethic and offseason

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
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?
--- end of quote ---

You're missing my point. I'm not saying that they should work out all day, every day. In fact, it would be counterproductive because of overtraining. Rest and hobbies are obviously healthy and necessary, even if you work at your job only 7-8 months per year. What baffles me about players like McCarty is that they have apparently forgotten what their "day job" is. Dabbling in other pursuits in the offseason is fine; immersing yourself in them to the point where you're neglecting your profession (one in which strength and conditioning are of paramount importance) is not. I could understand dismissing such criticism when you're dominating your competition (e.g., Shaq's or Jordan's situation), but McCarty is not exactly in that category. 

Some players (e.g., Bird, Malone, Russell, and many others), have(had) this quaint notion of earning their paycheck and trying to be the best they can be in their profession. Of course, it's McCarty's decision whether he wants to have a career in the NBA and get another contract by taking his job seriously, or whether he wants to use the $8M gift from his teacher as seed money to enter the music business and forget basketball. The point is, despite considerable physical gifts (length, speed, agility), he's an irrelevant player right now, and is definitely not earning, or even trying to earn, his paycheck. Even Tony "now you see me, now you don't" Battie was reportedly working out hard last summer, and while Antoine eschews strength and conditioning work, he apparently does try hone his skills on the court (maybe not in the way we'd like, but it is basketball). 

Kestas