Sunday 12 April 2009

playing chicken

The recent foray of several Kangaroos stars into the seedy world of poultry snuff movies revealed a trivial insight into superstardom aside from their warped imaginations and sickening view of females - the shabby quality of their movie-making. Here are young men who earn more in a week than most of us in a year, and yet they don't seem to have spent any of their excess cash on decent video equipment, training, editing or script development. Perhaps they should enroll in a few art classes at the nearest Continuing Ed school.
This highlights a problem with many overpaid people (professionals in many spheres, not just sport) - they have the means, but lack the skills, initiative, time or education to make the most of their privileges. The lack of hobbies or interests outside kicking a footie, the law courts or trading floor makes them particularly susceptible to alcohol and/or substance abuse, gambling or other ways of pissing their sudden wealth up against a wall. Perhaps clubs (of all sports) and companies should spend more effort in encouraging extra-curricular activities amongst their employees, as part of their duty of care.
Another interesting point was the decision of the club to discipline the person who leaked the video - perhaps they were worried their sponsors might react to the bad publicity more than the mindset of their players.