By Brad Locke
June 14, 2004

(AgapePress) - When Cleveland Indians outfielder Milton Bradley failed to run out a pop-up early this season, his manager, Eric Wedge, became righteously incensed and criticized Bradley's laziness. Bradley took offense, and soon after he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was simply the last straw for Cleveland, which had suffered Bradley's indifference and recalcitrance for too long.

It's a scenario that plays out regularly in professional sports, when an athlete such as Terrell Owens, Rasheed Wallace or Lawrence Phillips becomes more trouble than he's worth and is told to take a hike. Unfortunately, the scenario usually includes another team more than willing to accept such a player and all his baggage.

Inevitably, those who receive these damaged goods find out why the previous team got sick of them. L.A. got a taste of Bradley's belligerence June 1 when he emptied a bag of baseballs onto the field after being ejected for comments he made to an umpire.

Despite what the liberals tried to tell us during Bill Clinton's administration, character does count, no matter who you are or what position you hold. A person's every action reflects his moral fiber. Yet too often visions of championship glory cloud the vision of those signing the checks.

Owners, general managers and coaches are quick to excuse signing punks and prima donnas. They say different things, but they all mean this: "He's worth the risk."

At least New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis was honest about why he's keeping Joe "Tooting My Own" Horn around this season. "His contract's really pretty good for us this year," Loomis told Sports Illustrated's Peter King (Horn is making $700,000 this season).

What most owners and GMs have started telling themselves is the same lie that many a woman has believed about an abusive boyfriend or husband: I can change him.

Won't work, and trading integrity for a shot at a trophy is unconscionable (Matthew 6:26 speaks to this). A handful of owners have felt that conviction, most notably the Portland Trail Blazers' Paul Allen. He's made a concerted effort to point his team's moral compass north, the biggest step in that process being when he traded the temperamental Rasheed Wallace and the insubordinate Bonzi Wells this past season. Many other teams have started running background checks to see if a player could present future problems.

What keeps this trend from being more widespread is the proliferation of great athletes who possess undesirable character traits. When miscreants help a team win it all, a la the Ray Lewis-led Baltimore Ravens three years ago, teams feel they have no choice but to sign the best talent regardless of character, otherwise the team won't be competitive and people may lose jobs.

(Speaking of Lewis, the man once charged with murder is now mentoring teammates Jamal Lewis [2,006 yards rushing last year, drug conspiracy charges], Corey Fuller [firearms and gambling charges] and Terrell Suggs [aggravated assault charges] on how to beat a rap.)

It's no surprise our greatest athletes are often society's most disreputable people. Ray Lewis is considered by many the best defensive player in the game. In hoops, nobody's playing better than accused rapist Kobe Bryant. In baseball, Barry Bonds and a host of his fellow sluggers have uncomfortably close ties to the steroid industry, as do America's best track and field athletes.

So if more teams followed Allen's lead, would the pro leagues be better for it? If owners colluded to lock out troublemakers (and frankly, who wouldn't want to see somebody stick it to the player's unions?), dignity and sportsmanship would have a chance to return to the forefront of professional athletics. Sure, there would be a chunk of talent missing, but there's a reason minor league baseball attendance has risen rapidly over the years, and it isn't because those players are better than their major league counterparts. As long as the games are competitive and played at a reasonably high level, the fans will watch.

That won't happen as long as teams continue to capitulate to the status quo, which only encourages athletes' expectation of special treatment and the liberties it supposedly affords. They think their money and influence can get them out of any trouble, and too many teams are more than willing to provide them with those means of escape.

Fans, by the way, are guilty in this, too. They're an odd bunch. Eagles fans, like most fans, always thought Owens was a jerk when he was in San Francisco, but all he's got to do to earn their love this year is catch a few touchdown passes from Donovan McNabb. He can pull Sharpies out of his sock all night long; they won't care.

Obviously the law-breakers are much less desirable than the mere show-offs. I'd rather have an Owens or Horn on my team than either of the Lewises, though all moronic on-field behavior would be severely punished. Point is, whether it's classlessness or lawlessness, team officials and coaches need to stand against all misbehavior that would bring shame to the sport, the team and the fans. All the money in the world won't make that shame go away.