Good morning! Today is day 10 of “rise and write.”
Yesterday the babe was up extra early. Since I’m ruled by his schedule – “rise and write” didn’t happen. I did however write a post over at Peach Puree and Wine about having it all so that felt like a win :).
Interesting thing happened yesterday – my current favorite football player, Joe Haden, was traded from the Browns to the division rival Steelers. Quick back story – I was born and raised a Steelers fan. In 2002 I moved to Cleveland. I’m here for the duration and I absolutely love this city. Plus my hubs is a MAJOR Browns fan. (Although, that in itself could kind of make me hate the Browns since they’ve essentially been ruining my Sundays for the past 15 years).
Even though I had love for the Steelers, I had been feeling like it was time for a change. I had become a major fan of Haden when I watched him get drafted – he cried and hugged his mom, there was just something instantly so appealing about him. Plus, I had no love for Big Ben and my favorite Steelers were gone (Bettis and Ward). So the switch to the Browns felt really natural.
I’ve toughed it out as a Browns fan for the last 7 years, but a huge reason for that has been that I love Haden so much. I met him one day after a game and it was probably one of my most favorite moments ever. He and his wife were both so nice…and I felt like a nervous, awkward middle schooler (lol). So when I heard the Browns released him yesterday I was pissed. Why would you cut out the heart of your team?
“It’s a business,” people say, but honestly I get so tired of that answer. At what point did that become an acceptable reason to do shitty things?
Within hours Haden had made the switch to the Steelers, my former favorite team, which definitely made things interesting for me. I received several “are you coming back to the Black and Gold” messages, but I’m just not really feeling that either. The Steelers have made more than their fair share of “business” decisions that are just not cool.
The biggest being allowing Big Ben, a pretty questionable human being, to be in the leadership role. It sends a message that integrity doesn’t matter. It says that you can do whatever you want and still have your dream job, make millions and be a role model for kids. It says that money and winning is more important than anything else.
I really really struggle with that kind of message (side note – it’s one of the reasons I really struggle with our current President). I think that we can do better. I understand how business works, and I understand the point of business is essentially to turn a profit. The more, the better – believe me, I get it.
But I believe that there are better ways to go about it. I believe that we as a people deserve better than that. We can have profitable businesses, we can win, without being gross humans. Otherwise, what’s the point???
We as consumers, and as a society, have created this problem, and it is up to us to solve it. It’s up to us to set the expectation that it’s great to win and to make money but you don’t have to be a jerk to do it. It’s up to us to do our best, to do all things with integrity and to expect nothing less from others – regardless of who you are, what you do or how much money you make.
Emily xo