Judge Terry “On The Pitch”

photo credit: Crystian Cruz

On the field is where it’s at.

John Terry has asked that he be judged by happens on the field of play instead of by what happens in his personal life.  On the one hand I want to say, “Amen, brother!  Tell it all!”, and on the other hand I want to say, “Can you really expect that?”

I think John Terry is right to ask fans to judge him by what he does on the field.  He’s a footballer and that’s that.  I read remarks where he says he has the shirt he was wearing when he missed the penalty shot in the final…hanging on his wall.  He’s a driven competitor who only wants to get better and serve his team, country and fans better.  I think that’s cool.

However, didn’t he realize that people are crazy, and (most people) in the media are content to knock you down and maybe they’ll build you back up later?  This is my dilemma.  I’ll go after people for what they do regarding the game, but get outside that and I kinda just don’t want to know.

This voyeuristic fascination we have with people’s private lives is getting a little weird.  Bill Simmons wrote a great piece for ESPN talking about how Tiger Woods just “followed the crowd” into “sexual transgressions”.  What do you think John Terry (and now Ashley Cole did)?

It would be lunacy to say that these guys are lowlife-scum and everyone else must be of unimpeachable character when we know that that simply is not true.

I live in Atlanta and there are TONS of professional athletes here and I’m sure I could find one who is not “playing the game the right way”, but is it worth for me to jump into someone’s personal life?  No.

I want to see what you do on the field and we can stick to that, but don’t get rich playing a game and expect everyone to think like me.