David EdwardsSporting heroes and their impressionable fans: Tales of Woe..
December 5th 2008 00:40
There was a touching story in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald, detailing the true humanity of golfer "Long" John Daly. As it were, Daly inspired a young 12-year-old boy to rise to the professional ranks, through his kind actions several years ago. Daly, during a 1995 Australian tournament, dared a young fan, Damon Welsford, to hit a ball over a water hazard, offering him 50 dollars if successful. He did so, and Daly paid in full, thus earning a fan for life. The two men now line up against one another at this week's Coolum Classic.
This reminded SportingMind of several incidents involving impressionable youths that shaped their lives forever.
1. One young boy, a rabid South Sydney supporter, was invited into the changerooms after a rare early 90s Souths victory. Said boy, after rejoicing in the euphoria of the beer-fuelled ecstasy, was subsequently exposed to an uninhibited exhibition of shamelessly naked footballers, blissfully unaware of the repercussions that adult male nudity can have on a 12-year-old boy. The boy, now a 28-year-old man, is still receiving treatment for PTSD, rendering him unemployable and reliant on government handouts.
2. Tom Andrews, a strapping English teen, had posters of Jeff Tarango on his bedroom wall, such was his love for the feisty American tennis player. Tarango's famous 1995 outburst and "walk-out" during a third round match at Wimbledon generated shockwaves around the world, yet it was the profound impact on Andrews that would be the greatest legacy of all. Andrews developed a penchant for anger and violence, and in particular a disdain for authority. After being kicked out of the extreme right-wing British National Party, Andrews spent several years in jail in the early 2000s for beating up a man who vaguely resembled tennis umpire Enric Molina. Following his 2004 release, Andrews developed late-onset Tourettes syndrome and struggles with social interaction.
3. Eugene McNalty was only 11 years old when he attended the infamous 1981 one dayer between Australia and New Zealand, in which Trevor Chappell was instructed by brother Greg to bowl an underarm delivery to secure victory. Attending the game with his little brother, Paxton, Eugene had received Greg Chappell's autograph before the game began and thus took Greg Chappell's actions as gospel. So began a long and painful period in which Eugene would instruct his little brother to do things that were morally and ethically wrong. It started innocently enough, with Eugene commanding little Pax to fetch him his lunch, or clean his room for him, and Pax dutifully would oblige. But this ideology manifested itself so deeply that Eugene was beginning to take things to the extreme. Pax was instructed by his elder brother to undertake several self-interested activities: steal the purses of old ladies, rob various small businesses, beat up other children, etc. Eventually, Paxton was gunned down outside a Melbourne night-club after being instructed to negotiate a drug deal with Tony Mokbel. A tragic loss, which can be directly attributed to Greg Chappell.
Sporting icons must realise that they wield a tremendous amount of power and influence over impressionable children. They should choose to harness this power and use it for good, not evil. John Daly is one man who can rest easy in the knowledge that he helped one child become a professional golfer. Deep within that body of his lies a beautiful heart - albeit one that has, presumably, suffered immensely due to self-abuse and gluttony - and the fact that he has spent a life-time endorsing gambling, womanising, drinking, smoking and obesity is irrelevant.
-SportingMind
Daly: showing that one human interest story can make up for years of self-abuse and bad headlines..
This reminded SportingMind of several incidents involving impressionable youths that shaped their lives forever.
1. One young boy, a rabid South Sydney supporter, was invited into the changerooms after a rare early 90s Souths victory. Said boy, after rejoicing in the euphoria of the beer-fuelled ecstasy, was subsequently exposed to an uninhibited exhibition of shamelessly naked footballers, blissfully unaware of the repercussions that adult male nudity can have on a 12-year-old boy. The boy, now a 28-year-old man, is still receiving treatment for PTSD, rendering him unemployable and reliant on government handouts.
The Winfield Cup: Two men embracing after a tough match, or something more sordid??
2. Tom Andrews, a strapping English teen, had posters of Jeff Tarango on his bedroom wall, such was his love for the feisty American tennis player. Tarango's famous 1995 outburst and "walk-out" during a third round match at Wimbledon generated shockwaves around the world, yet it was the profound impact on Andrews that would be the greatest legacy of all. Andrews developed a penchant for anger and violence, and in particular a disdain for authority. After being kicked out of the extreme right-wing British National Party, Andrews spent several years in jail in the early 2000s for beating up a man who vaguely resembled tennis umpire Enric Molina. Following his 2004 release, Andrews developed late-onset Tourettes syndrome and struggles with social interaction.
J.T. cracking the shits again..
3. Eugene McNalty was only 11 years old when he attended the infamous 1981 one dayer between Australia and New Zealand, in which Trevor Chappell was instructed by brother Greg to bowl an underarm delivery to secure victory. Attending the game with his little brother, Paxton, Eugene had received Greg Chappell's autograph before the game began and thus took Greg Chappell's actions as gospel. So began a long and painful period in which Eugene would instruct his little brother to do things that were morally and ethically wrong. It started innocently enough, with Eugene commanding little Pax to fetch him his lunch, or clean his room for him, and Pax dutifully would oblige. But this ideology manifested itself so deeply that Eugene was beginning to take things to the extreme. Pax was instructed by his elder brother to undertake several self-interested activities: steal the purses of old ladies, rob various small businesses, beat up other children, etc. Eventually, Paxton was gunned down outside a Melbourne night-club after being instructed to negotiate a drug deal with Tony Mokbel. A tragic loss, which can be directly attributed to Greg Chappell.
Mokbel sporting a fabulous look courtesy of stylist Joh Bailey..
Sporting icons must realise that they wield a tremendous amount of power and influence over impressionable children. They should choose to harness this power and use it for good, not evil. John Daly is one man who can rest easy in the knowledge that he helped one child become a professional golfer. Deep within that body of his lies a beautiful heart - albeit one that has, presumably, suffered immensely due to self-abuse and gluttony - and the fact that he has spent a life-time endorsing gambling, womanising, drinking, smoking and obesity is irrelevant.
-SportingMind
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Comment by alt_ed
Alted Opinion
ArtCombat
The Inner Saintdom
“…blissfully unaware of the repercussions that adult male nudity can have on a 12-year-old boy.”
There are many nations around the world with a far more relaxed approach to nudity than us here in Australia, yet they don’t seem to have these ‘issues’ with children’s minds being warped. I wonder if this 12yr old kid ever snuck a peek at some of his dad’s porno. Perhaps it was the penthouse pets that drove him to the Dole?
Tom Andrews… well I dare say there was an underlying condition here. This guys sounds like a total dick!
Eugene McNalty; I’ll just blame this one on dodgy parenting, I mean can you really blame a cricket team for not disciplining other peoples children?!
Cool post by the way, I love these weird little stories of obsessive fan maddens lol. Keep em coming!
Comment by David Edwards
Sporting Mind
Peter Roebuck was one cricketer who took it upon himself to discipline other people's children. LINK
Roebuck (and his love of spanking) serves as a template for how sportsmen/ coaches/ commentators should behave.
Comment by alt_ed
Alted Opinion
ArtCombat
The Inner Saintdom
Comment by David Edwards
Sporting Mind
Comment by damian
Urban Telegraph
Sports and All
The Squirter McGee Diaries
Comment by Lady Henrietta Muddling
Potter in a Harry
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
Equal and Opposite
Arses and Elbows
Footy Power
I can never wait for your latest exploits.
You'd better not throw your putter in the lake.