With the NFL Draft coming up, there's obviously been a lot of talk about teams, players, crazy owners and where all of this will end up. One of the hot topics has been Darren McFadden, the highly talented and highly publicized running back from Arkansas.
McFadden twice had run-ins with the law. In July 2006, he broke his big left toe while trying to kick someone he thought was involved with the attempted theft of his brother's car outside of a nightclub.
The Razorback also got into a fight outside a piano bar in Little Rock last January. However, all of these incidents won't hinder McFadden from being a top-10 pick in the draft.
Unruly athletes seem to be more and more frequent in college athletics. Wisconsin has had its share of black eyes, most notably Booker Stanley. But for every Stanley there is a Lance Smith, who has put his past behind him and genuinely seems to be headed on the right track.
The question that then needs to be asked is: Are athletes being held to too high of standards?
In today's world of 24-hour news and the ability to track every move a player makes, the ability for people like McFadden to discretely move on from these types of altercations is nonexistent.
Athletes are scrutinized for everything they do, whether good or bad, and the result doesn't bode well for sports.
Wisconsin tries its best to keep its athletes out of the spotlight. The university keeps a shut door on almost all locker rooms and brings individual athletes out for the media to interview.
Many sports writers have never been inside the locker rooms, and these are the beat writers who have covered the team for many seasons.
Athletes today have to deal with so much more than in the past, and the attitude toward them has changed.
Joe Namath used to run around bar hopping, and people loved it. Broadway Joe"" was loved not only for his ability on the football field with the New York Jets, but also for the fun he liked to have off it. Now athletes are expected to stay clean.
Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe were seen as the great match between Hollywood glamour and America's pastime. But now, seeing Tom Brady out with Gisele Bundchen has such a negative connotation to it that people are disappointed in the MVP.
Recently, Arizona Cardinal quarterback Matt Leinart received criticism when pictures of a party he attended were released. While Leinart should be ashamed that the photos were leaked and that he was caught partying with college kids, whether he deserved the blasts from around the country is debatable.
Something has happened to the sports landscape. Today's media are so hard pressed to keep the continuous stream of news going that anything and everything that can be found on people of interest is being used.
While some of these hot topics are warranted - like McFadden's past and Stanley's troubles - others seem to just be for entertainment.
In the end, the high expectations of athletes do in fact seem legit. These are regular people, who happen to have extraordinary gifts. Whether they asked for them or not is unknown, but it is their responsibility to either use those gifts, or get out of the spotlight.
If you don't like current sports media coverage, e-mail Nate at ncarey@dailycardinal.com.
