There's a difference between "title" and "entitled"

This was the first sentence in a report released by the Associated Press on January 13^th of this year: “Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, misdemeanor charges that carry no jail time but require him to register as a sex offender.” What that sentence doesn’t say is that the prostitute was only 16-years-old.

Taylor was one of the hardest-hitting linebackers in the NFL. He played 13 seasons, all for the New York Giants, won three Defensive Player of the Year awards, an MVP award, and was first team All-Pro his first nine seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. On the field, he appeared to have it together. Off the field, not so much; he was jailed three different times for drug-related charges post retirement.

And then 2010 happened. Taylor was originally facing charges of third-degree rape, but somehow his lawyer was able to get a plea deal that knocked him down from a felony to a misdemeanor. His response? “She told me she was 19.”

LT, you’re 52, she’s 16. Not only is that illegal in so many ways, it’s downright disgusting. Where’s your pride?

Details came to the surface in the past few weeks from Deadspin writer A.J. Daulerio of a short-lived fling between Mark Sanchez, quarterback of the New York Jets, and a girl he met in a club on New Year’s Eve. The girl was 17, and while that technically isn’t illegal in the state of New York, it’s pretty sketchy.

The story goes that the 24-year-old Sanchez approached the girl in a club, and shortly after the girl gave him her phone number. She told Sanchez she was only 17, but that the legal age of consent in New York is 16, so it was ok. They texted a few times, he gave her tickets to a game, and they met up for dinner later that week. Afterward, the girl claims they went back to Sanchez’s place and hooked up.

Technically, nothing illegal went down. But really Mark Sanchez? You’re 24, good-looking, and the freaking quarterback for the New York Jets. What part of you thinks hooking up with a 17-year-old is ok?

These are just two examples of high-profile athletes doing dumb things: Brett Favre, Tiger Woods, OJ Simpson, Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, Albert Haynesworth, the list could go on forever…

Woods hit the nail on the head when, during his first official statement to the media following the revelation of his affairs, he said, “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled.”

And there it is, the sense of entitlement. The sports world puts huge responsibility on the well-sculpted shoulders of its biggest stars. We expect them to perform day in and day out, to bring home championships, to be well respected and well-behaved members of society. When they screw up, it’s a big deal to us. They let us down, and we lose the respect we had for them. Why athletes continue to make big mistakes is beyond me. I know we’re all human, we all make mistakes, but most of us don’t have the eye of  major media outlets tracking our every movement. The fact that a couple athletes here and there do something stupid causes me to be pretty skeptical of all athletes, and that’s not fair to the ones doing it the right way.

So here’s my simple proposal: Don’t do dumb things. You’d think it wouldn’t be so difficult to stay away from underage girls, or in Simpson’s case, not allegedly murder people. Since the creation of the Internet, fans can follow their favorite superstars around the clock. Yes, athletes, we’re watching you. Try not screwing up for a change. Let me respect you again.