Clemens and the demise of ACTUAL JOURNALISM in the sports media

If you haven't heard, Congress and the ever-vigilant (read: blood sucking) sports media have delved deeply into the personal and professional life of pitching legend Roger Clemens. Questions about steroid use and marital impropriety have been at the forefront of the allegations and investigations, and Clemens has been quick to deny all suggestions of his wrongdoing.
We're all about journalistic integrity here at 65TPT, and as Missouri journalism students studying and reporting on sports, we feel like we have at least a basic understanding of the role of the sports media and its importance to fans and even casual consumers.
For years innumerable, the media have jumped at the juicy, sexy stories involving criminal activity or marital infidelity -- such is the food for newspaper headlines and news-stand sales -- and as far as we're concerned, it's time to take a step back and really evaluate the direction in which things are headed.
When our do-nothing, finger-pointing, partisan Congress started investigating steroids in baseball [supposedly justified by the sport's anti-trust exemption and its grassroots importance to Americans from coast to coast] many ball players from Rafi Palmeiro to Mark McGwire, and most recently Clemens, were forced to face questions under oath about their activities, which, at the time, weren't even against the MLB's own rules.
The discussion about whether or not Congress should be spending its precious, tax-endowed time investigating organized games instead of organized crime and terrorism should be a short one. The idea that United States Senators [there's only 100 of them for goodness' sake] have nothing more important to do than determine whether or not a few professional athletes used performance-enhancers to prolong their careers and continue to rake in big bucks is ludicrous at best.
We're a country at war. The socio-economic divide in this country is so wide you could drive a whole fleet of Congressional limos through the damn thing. And health insurance is the biggest racket since, well, there's probably never been one as big or dangerous.
So why the hell are our elected officials diddling away their time investigating baseball players? [Aside from the blatant grandstanding and press-mongering, that is?] It makes me sick to think that these men and women can't find a better use for the time we buy as American taxpayers.
And the sports-media is no better. When did it become kosher to publish unsubstantiated allegations about the marital infidelity and personal life decisions of athletes? When did these stories even become important? Frankly, I couldn’t care less whether or not Roger Clemens cheated on his wife. He certainly wouldn’t be the first or most prominent man to do so.
Reporters and editors will always defend themselves with the same age-old bullshit: athletes are role models, and should be scrutinized as such. The truth is that sex and scandal sell papers: always have, always will. So we’re likely in for more, not less, of this irrelevant crap as time goes on.
Let’s take a minute to explore this idea of athletes as modern male role models, ’cause like Charles says, 'dat's turrible, man. It's sickening to think that parents actually rely on and expect these people to provide examples for their children -- and blame them when kids start to emulate their risky or disrespectful behaviors. Fact is, parents are the ones who should be providing these good examples, and on a daily basis.
This line of reasoning is just a copout by all the second-rate, selfish parents in this country who think the television is a babysitter, and that the content it spews is anything resembling reality.
It's true: athletes are role models, but not for moral fiber or wholesomeness. They're role models for success in athletics and competition, self-reliance, work ethic, and more. But not for young children who desperately need to learn right from wrong. In that arena, athletes are no better than the rest of us.
So let's see if we can't lay off the questions about old girlfriends and drug use. If we dig hard enough, there's dirt on just about all of us, so why can't we acknowledge the fact and get back to discussing the sports themselves, and not the personal failings of the men and women who play them?