The celebrities might be human after all, no different from us
Posted by The Skyliner on April 1st, 2009
Cody Fields
Sports Editor
Today’s media is everywhere. It is expanded from newspaper and radio in the earlier part of last century to standard TV and magazines to now include about a zillion TV channels, high definition everything, high speed Internet, text news updates on everything under the sun and some things nowhere close to it.
What would have been nothing special 20 years ago has become front page news. Mug shots are flashed almost subliminally as we now have a larger quantity of famous people than ever before.
Those of you know me—and now those of you who don’t—know that I work a nice seafood restaurant in downtown Greer. We had a surprise visit last Friday from Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler.
According to my sources, he was just in town visiting an old teammate from his college days at Vanderbilt, but our entire kitchen was buzzing with how we had a professional athlete who is currently making nearly $50 million over a six-year period. He also just happened to be on my fantasy football team last year.
Being the avid sports fan as well as editor for your friendly neighborhood Skyliner, I asked the owner of the restaurant if he had spoken with Cutler. He hadn’t, but when Cutler got up to go to the restroom, he asked his friend if I could be briefly introduced.
“That, uh, wouldn’t be good,” Cutler’s friend said.
And then I remembered what Cutler has been through recently.
After a 2007 season in which he felt constantly fatigued, he was diagnosed nearly a year ago with Type 1 diabetes and now has to take daily insulin shots. In a game last season against the San Diego Chargers, he was the center of a blown call by referee Ed Hochuli that still leaves Charger fans steamed.
Now he’s in an ongoing dilemma with new Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. McDaniels, the former offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, tried to trade for their backup quarterback, Matt Cassel, who played phenomenally in Tom Brady’s absence this season while sending Cutler to Tampa Bay or Detroit. Cutler was personally offended by what he perceived as an underhanded move by McDaniels and the Denver front office. He has since officially requested a trade from Denver and won’t respond to text messages sent by his new coach.
As you can see, the last thing Cutler needs right now is some punk kid talking to him about Pro Bowl selections and touchdown passes. He’s far too concerned with his future employment.
And we should remember that the next time we’re blown off for a random autograph request. Celebrities, athletes and, dare I say politicians (with the exception of Paris Hilton and Dennis Rodman, are real people. Just because they have more money than we do doesn’t mean all of their problems have been solved. I seem to remember a certain rapper he was infamous for his largesse expressing a direct correlation between money and problems.
So the next time you see someone you’ve admired on the one-eyed monster, don’t freak out and scream uncontrollably. If you must, introduce yourself and express your appreciation for what they do. They’ll be grateful for the space. They are, after all, just like you and me. They just happen to get more news coverage.