Athletes weigh in, figuratively speaking, on Bin Laden's demise

Originally published on May 8, 2011

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall raised the ire of some last week as he posted controversial comments on Twitter, which I gather is some Internet thing, after the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick quickly refuted Mendenhall’s comments on the issue. Former Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana could not be reached for comment before press time today.

Now, I have all the respect in the world for my brothers and sisters in the Major Media, of course. It seems like almost daily I learn more about how journalism is supposed to be done by paying attention to the experts in my field.

Their lesson for me this week: Pay no attention to the experts in the field. Ask athletes instead.

All these years I have kind of figured that you ought to ask questions of, seek comments from and report the opinions of people who have some kind of clue about the issues involved.

Nobody ever told me to do it that way. It was just a bad habit I fell into, I reckon.

As it turns out, instead you're supposed to go find the most deviant opinions out there and report those, no matter who they belong to.

It could be Mendenhall and Vick know a heckuva lot more about our Middle East situation than the average person. Maybe there is some international studies course requirement that college athletes must take before they are eligible for the draft.

I’m certainly not criticizing athletes who dip their big toes into the icy waters of political discourse. Why, just last year our own St. Louis Cardinals manager, Tony LaRussa, spoke out in favor of Proposition B, a ballot measure either to protect cute little puppies or to pave the way for government interference in every farm in Missouri that raises animals.

At the time, some questioned whether a fellow who might call a squeeze play on a 1-2 count with nobody out really knew enough about the issue to comment intelligently.

I knew better, of course. I imagined a team of analysts studying the issue at length, diligently researching both sides before presenting their findings to Tony. After poring over the thousands of pages of data, LaRussa arrived at his position, which he then made public.

I’d rather believe that than believe somebody shoved a microphone in his face and asked him if he were in favor of or opposed to puppies.

Well, now that I know how real journalism is supposed to be done, I’ll get right on it.

I have a call in to Cards slugger Albert Pujols to see if he’s willing to make any predictions about how the Missouri Attorney General’s lawsuit against Lebanon is going to turn out. I’ll let you know what he says.

But I’m taking this new technique beyond seeking only the expertise of athletes.

I finally got hold of Jennifer Lopez Friday, and she said the mayoral recall effort in Lebanon sounded "mean," contradicting the position of Charlie Sheen, who believes the people of Lebanon ought to smear themselves in tiger blood or something like that.

It was kind of hard to understand what he was saying.

Ken York's column appears in The Daily Record of Lebanon, Mo.. He can be reached at kyork@lebanondailyrecord.com.