This isn't a post about adult relationships or lost love, which I've often written about before. My mind is far from that topic tonight.
Nope, something else.
This was such a hugely deflating day for my family. The leading hitter for the San Francisco Giants, Melky Cabrera, was suspended for the rest of this season after testing positive for a "performance-enhancing drug," in this case testosterone, of all things.
When the news broke, my young sons and I were shocked, like everyone else. But unlike everyone else, they're just kids (17, 16). Plus the older one is himself an all-city athlete, who works out every day, including in gyms, to maximize his performance in soccer, and is trying to figure out how important athletics should be in his life.
He's been educated to never take performance enhancing drugs, which are readily available in high school and at the gyms, and has trouble comprehending why anyone would.
He's also on the precise cusp of making life choices. He could be recruited as a soccer player by colleges, but he is not sure he wants to be. He truly hates the "win at all cost" mentality.
Which is why some athletes cheat and take drugs.
I had to go to a lunch meeting today, just as the Giants game started, and when I got back home, it turned out they had chosen to not even watch the game at all. Spongebob Squarepants was a far more attractive option for them.
Fantasy as opposed to reality.
All of which broke my heart, yet again, on their behalf.
-30-
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