Are most pro athletes inherently arrogant?

[Uben]

The pro athletes I have met in private gatherings have all seemed to be arrogant, greedy individuals who think the world revolves around themselves. In fact, with the exception of Roger Staubach, to a person, I would not want to befriend a single one. I get so tired of listening to them talk about themselves.
I do not go to any pro games. I went to a Dallas Cowboys game back in the early eighties, and swore I would never go to another one.
I just cannot force myself to pay to endure the traffic, the crowds, and the wait to watch a bunch of overpaid assholes give a less than expected performance. I like to watch sports on TV, but you will never see me at a stadium or arena. It's all become about the money, and not the game. I quit watching baseball altogether after the last strike.
Maybe I should try meeting some hockey players. They seem to be more my type, but having never met one, I don't know,

[TexasObserver]

1. Yes. So are politicians and movie stars.

Judges, too.

When one gets one's ass kissed a lot in the course of doing whatever it is they do, that tends to make one a jerk in a hurry.

[mwb970]

2. And surgeons. /nt

[mitchum]

20. True, but in their defense, they perform a necessary and valuable service

[mwb970]

28. And top chefs.

[Captain Hilts]

32. and surgeons and aviators. All think they're the Virgin Birth.

I thought it was hilarious how during the campaign folks would say "Hillary's so arrogant." Yes, she certainly is. But so was Obama. Hell, HE is the one that wrote two autobiographies before the age of 45!

Singers
Athletes - though it depends on the sport and position they play
comedians
surgeons
aviators
politicians

Anywhere it's just YOU. Pitchers will be more arrogant than fielders.

[comtec]

3. I don't think it's possible to be a top-tier athlete otherwise

with FEW exceptions, I think their arrogance is caused and earned by their success.

Arrogance is only when you can't back it up.

[mitchum]

22. Hey, I always say that...

"it's not arrogance if you can back it up"
It may be unpleasant or uncomfortable, but it's true

[Captain Hilts]

42. VERY true. Namath's "We're going to beat the Colts" sounded arrogant, until...

they beat the Colts!

[Locrian]

4. Hmmmm

A gladiator type system, where aggressive behavior and drive are THE main factors in determining success (yeah, yeah, teamwork bla bla blah) causes people to be arrogant? Go figure.

I know its in our DNA in terms of determining the survival of the fittest and all that. But at some point (like civilization for example) we are supposed to be able to rise above this.

I think we stand at a point in history (with global warming, population etc) where if we DONT start rewarding working together and being part of the planet (vs rewarding agression) that it wont matter and we will fade from history.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Not all of them.

Not by a long shot. A lot of the ones that are, are those that have been showered with praise and treated as special since they could walk. It is also unfortunate that a lot of the ones you hear the most about are the most self-aggrandizing assholes on the Earth.
A few to consider:
Warrick Dunn: http://www.warrickdunnfoundation.org/index.php

Peyton and Eli Manning: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/colts/2007-09-05-manning-hospital_N.htm
http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/1052-eli-manning

Sean Casey: http://www.diamondhoggers.com/2009/01/so-long-sean-casey.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05342/619053.stm

There are many, many more.

[SteelPenguin]

27. Charity work doesn't make someone a saint

Without naming names I know of a few different players who have their own charities, who do charity work, and are utter pricks

Two even have great media images as really great guys, and during games for one of them they even cut away to a special segment about how great the player is to his grandmother...And he was a total dickwad.

Charity work might ameliorate a little bit of their prickishness, but these guys are still massively arrogant and self-centered (the vast majority at least).

[sendero]

6. How could they not..

.. they are worshipped 24/7 from the time they are teenagers. Most of us would wind up the same way.

[joeybee12]

25. And they make more in a couple months than most of us do in a lifetime...

...and, quite frankly, they are isolated from us "Regular Joe's" and probably have no clue that they are being arrogant.

[pecwae]

7. Yes. nt

[HillbillyBob]

8. I used to work for a design firm in SoFla

and I agree. Not only are they arrogant, they are quite rude.
We were doing an install at Dan Marinos house he kept bitching that all the guys working with the design firm was G D awful, bringin fags into his house.
It was not just once he said that it kept repeating it..at least 10 times that I heard. 2 of 4 guys were gay and three women on the crew were all straight so 2 out of i think it was 7 people there.
A friend of mine was at a party that Marino was at and it was thrown by a gay couple of course lot of gays there, including the caterers crew. My friend heard him several times croaking about f kin fags kill em all.

From my experience pro athletes are not the only arrogant ones.
It seems that 90% of wealthy folks I met in my job there were arrogant and cheap too, they would want you to do other work for them not connected to the design firm job..like walk their little damn dog or clean something, and that we should be overjoyed to Give them our labor for free "because darling Im RIIICH!"S

I gave 3 wks notice, after dealing with Leona Helmsley one day. I wont go into it all but she said you boy come clean up this some spilled coffee (while snapping her fingers and pointing at me and then then spilled coffee).
When I said "first I ain't your boy, and secondly everything has been put where it was assigned after you having me move everything (a 40ft truck full) several times it went right where the architect had wanted it".

She told my boss I should be retrained.

Afterward, and on the way out I told the boss I am not a dog. She started to chew me out.
I said if she had a problem with it she could drive the truck back to FT Laud, I'll hitchhike.

I had been there for almost 4 hrs I was only supposed to be there 45 minutes and I had another delivery 80 miles away that I was almost 4 hr late for, fortunately Ms. Ball was MUCH nicer and offered me some iced tea. Mrs H only offered criticism.

[dmallind]

9. Probably - but perhaps not for reasons listed here.

Sure athletes get adulation and attention, and no doubt that has an effect on them. However I suspect the causation is reversed. A single minded, my-goals-above-all attitude is probably necessary to become a top level athlete in the first place, and that fixation and drive is unlikely to bring about a person who values discussion of the Hegelian dialectic over the 3-4 defense.

I suspect exceptions may occur, especially for those rare genetic freaks who did not have to put in the years of dedicated training, dietary obssession, and self-denial, but you would normally expect only the self-centered and obssessive to be able to get to that performance level. It becomes a self-fulfilling prohecy then that they will be obssessive and self-centered once they succeed.

[Fumesucker]

10. It would take a very unusual person not to be ..

When you have been worshiped for most of your life it's very easy and natural to become arrogant.

It seems that the less important physical prowess becomes in our day to day lives the more physical prowess is worshiped by many people.

[old mark]

11. Well, they come up through the schools getting very special treatment,

perks, money, essentially free grades and being told they are above the rest of us.

It would be hard not to be warped by all this.

I just heard a NFL player telling an interviewer that he took a pay cut going from playing college ball into the pros. I am sure he exaggerated, but not by much.

mark

[JoDog]

12. While I've never met one personally

I know people who have met Brian Urlacher and the late Walter Payton. Both men are described as being as nice as advertised.

[JonLP24]

13. I disagree

First about being overpaid. Like movies and tv shows professional sports is a form of entertainment watched by millions and attended by thousands. Like movie stars (I hear Travolta owns a plane!) they should be paid for providing entertainment. It is the owners that are making close to billions while the athletes that fans pay and watch to see make a small percentage of the profits. The leagues as a whole rake in a lot of money.

I watch sports all the time and what I see is athletes giving it all they got in a lot of cases. You see receivers making catches in the middle for a safety to hit them as soon as they catch it. You see the entire team chasing a ball carrier and almost all the time you see a player attempted a strip, trying to cause a turnover. It takes incredible amount of dedication and work ethic to even make it on a practice squad of a NFL team.

However to your original question very few strike me as arrogant. Many come from humble backgrounds and have a lot of respect for opposing players, teams, and coaches. If reporters are constantly asking questions about the player then that player is going to talk about himself.

[Frank Cannon]

14. Funny you should exclude Roger Staubach. I've heard he's one...

of the biggest douchebags there ever was. And I got this verified by a guy who used to play with him.

Yeah, there are a lot of assholes in pro sports, but that's because they feel like they wouldn't be there if they weren't that way. There are exceptions--Brian Urlacher and Reggie Bush come to mind--but they more or less prove the rule.

[Uben]

40. I met Staubach back in the early eighties......

...he was a guest speaker at a real eastate dinner I was at in a Dallas country club. My memory of him that day was that he was very gracious while mingling and conversing with guests. Tom Landry was there as well, and he too was very cordial to me. I met Roger Clemens and Danny Darwin along with a couple of more pro baseball players at a Christmas party back in eighties. Every one of them were rude, obnoxious, and acted as if the world owed them something. MAybe it's because I kicked their asses on the pool table!
I am not a sports nut. My ex-wife's boss was, and he would always invite several of these guys to their Christmas parties. To me they were just a bunch of guys with an attitude. I see Terry Bradshaw occasionally at the local Walmart and he fits in pretty well with the local hicks. If he didn't have that familiar voice, you probably wouldn't recognize him!

[undeterred]

15. When they aren't, they stand out

John Paxson, Chicago Bulls guard during the championship years...

[HipChick]

16. I met a couple of the Redskins once..

I had no idea of who they were...I don't follow football at all..They were highly irritated of the fact that I had no clue who they were..

[Captain Hilts]

34. I stood in line at a restaurant with some Redskins and they were very nice. Linemen are usually

going to be the nicest, I'm told.

[TZ]

37. Yes. My stepfather met Mark Schlereth and said he was

really really nice. He also ran into Heath Shuler once and liked him....

[Captain Hilts]

38. Yeah, all athletes aren't shits. nt

[blueamy66]

17. My fiance could tell you stories about a certain Indy QB....

He owned a bar that said QB frequented in Indy. Tipped shitty and was an arrogant asshole.

Anywway.....

[mitchum]

18. Yes...the exception being racehorses

[KharmaTrain]

19. Pampered Poodles...

That was the term one of my college professors would use to refer to the athletes who would take his classes and he was pressured by the Atheltic Department to make sure they got a passing grade to stay elligible. One such case was a football player who could run like the wind but was truly illiterate. He couldn't read...but somehow he maintained a 2.0 GPA. Too many people had a "vested interest" in him running the ball and possibly getting a big money pro contract.

I'm sure many can recall the "jocks" or high school athlete who was treated special or was the essence of "cool" cause they were the football hero. But add millions of dollars if an athlete makes it to the pros and you see some of our schools become "stud farms"...as the star athlete brings the school attention and money as well. And in the wake, these athletes learn they can get away with bad grades or behavior cause somehow it will be covered up.

In my previous life of playing mediatype, I met many athletes and noticed that once their jump shot faded and the career came to an end, so did the pampering. Many become very humbled or appreciate their good fortune and do give back to the community. Others never do adjust and end up in unfortunate situations as they weren't prepared for the day the magic would fade away.

It'll be interesting how Tiger handles his comeuppance. He's not going away...and as a golfer, his skills will enable him to compete for the next 30 yeras. By then who will remember any of this?

[dorkulon]

21. When everyone tells you how great you are, it takes a special person not to become an egomaniac.

[charlie and algernon]

23. John Stockton is definitely the exception to this rule

I haven't heard anything bad about him. But then he made a Hall of Fame career out of passing the ball to OTHER people. His WHOLE career was based on helping his teammates do better.

[Forkboy]

24. I've met and spent time with a decent amount of NHL players past and present....

...and outside of Ray Bourque not a one has been arrogant in any way. Just the opposite. They've all been extremely down to earth.

[JonLP24]

26. Hey Forkboy, I think you will enjoy this

I was :rofl: when I saw this and thought of you when I saw it so I definitely have to share it with you.

It's a 30 second ad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gBc84L7-Vs

[Forkboy]

31. I love that ad.

I love how the bear shirts the dude! :rofl:

My old friend dated a Whalers fan and we harped on him all the time. Had she been a Canadiens fan the shit would really have hit the fan. We liked the Whalers at least. :)

[Captain Hilts]

35. All sportswriters say hockey players are the nicest.

[PRETZEL]

29. I don't know about inheritantly arrogant but

most certainly money and fame can get the better of them if they choose.

I've had the pleasure of meeting some of the heroes of Pittsburgh sports throughout the years. Some have been arrogant (Lynn Swann, Dave Parker) but many haven't.

First time I met Mario Lemieux was at an ice rink near my home town. He and his son were there while his daughter took skating lessons. We ended up playing a round of miniature golf with them. It didn't hurt that he already knew my brothers so we did have that in common.

Eric Green was another who stood out. During the season when Pittsburgh was playing at home he would come down to the restaurant/bar that we always hung out and picked up lunch. He always stayed an hour or so and was just another guy getting lunch. Never touted the fact that he was a multimillionaire.

[JonLP24]

30. A reply in general

I feel no matter what the profession. Athlete, Carpenter, Teacher, Police Officer, etc. you have some that are arrogant and assholes. Others that are generous and kind. I don't feel what they do has a lot to do with it.

[Captain Hilts]

33. All sportswriters say hockey players are the nicest.

It depends on the sport and position they play also. A lineman probably won't be as bad asa QB or RB. A hockey player not as bad as an NFL or NBA player.

[Reverend_Smitty]

36. I can agree with that...

I had a friend in college who had an internship with the Flyers and she said the guys would treat her like a little sister (in a good way) whenever they went out. I guess the fact that they even invited her out with them says something about their niceness.

[jakefrep]

41. Hockey players are also the least ostentatiously God-bothering

I don't think I've ever heard a hockey player talk about God after winning the Stanley Cup.

I wonder if that's somehow related to the niceness factor.

[Wetzelbill]

39. Most athletes of any success are

pro or otherwise. You almost have to be. But on a pro level, I think maybe some of the character issues that make somebody an exceptional athlete might be amplified with money, fame, probably even access to more and more women too. They are typically young men, feel indestructible and they're rich. Some people aren't going to handle that as well as others, whether it's their ego or in some other area.