Sports' Heroes and Feet of Clay

The commercial reality (because of sponsorships and all the advertizing and media payments) demands that sports' heroes are paid a king's ransom - a week - whereas forty years ago, they were paid a living wage, tied to that of a master artisan. To my mind, the amount that they now earn bears no relationship to any proportionate value in what they actually do and gate money (from which they used to be paid),is probably insignificant. These men have often left school at sixteen and their main accomplishment is participation in a game. I simply do not know what their IQs are but, judging by the interviews that they give, it probably isn't often much above 100. They are not priests or medical men or lawyers or any men in whom the world reposes trust or, except in relation to their skills in their games (when they truly have them), men who should be regarded, in any other sense, as role models.

It is hardly surprising that, burdened with much more money than sense, they are sometimes caught with their trousers down and exploited by some wicked lady who sees more advantage to herself in a quick sale to a newspaper of a 'story' than repeat business. But why is it that British newspapers in particular are blessed with prurient editors who, in these circumstances, purse their lips into a round 'O' and mimic the late Frankie (Up Pompeii!) Howerd in the line "Ooooh! Mrs!"? (The first picture is a photograph of a typical British news editor. He has just paid the prostitute for her story about a celebrity's monkey business and is preparing to deliver a public exegesis on morality. A still from Up Pompeii! is shown second above).

Moreover, why is it that some men 'get away' much more easily with being caught with their trousers down, than others? No one ever spilled any beans on JFK but it now seems clear that he had an interesting social life, whereas poor old Bill Clinton was virtually strawberry-jammed by the likes of Kenneth (Up Pompeii!)Starr. After John Major and Mrs Curry stopped banging each other into another dimension and she spilled the beans, not much was said and the useless article was made a Knight of the Garter; Alan Clark wrote diaries detailing some of his exploits with the fair sex, including his seduction of a Judge's wife and his two daughters. After that the voters of the constituency of Kensington & Chelsea voted for him to represent them in Parliament - but Tiger Woods, John Terry and Wayne Rooney are regarded as letting the world down and are endlessly excoriated. Is it just about selling newspapers? Does the public really care about the morals of their heroes of the games' field? Does it have any legitimate interest in the subject? If so, why? Why? Why? Why? It seems moronic to me.

But, maybe, it is partly because the twisted values of modern Britain idolize mere games-players above worthier men.