DALLAS — I’ve always tried to make my “Unplugged” commentaries in black and white. Never a question about what I’m trying to say. But this one...I think this one is 50 shades of gray.
Friends of mine have told me I shouldn't be writing this. Even the lovely Mrs. Hansen has warned me to be very careful. But then, I’m actually kind of proud of the fact that I never am.
The Olympic gymnast Simone Biles—who pulled out of the Olympics before winning a bronze on the balance beam Monday night, and, in the minds of some, quit on her team because of the problems in her mind—is not the quitter some people say she is. But it's not the brave and courageous thing to do either.
I think the real tragedy in this is that someone who is willing to talk about the mental strain she’s dealing with is considered brave, because too many people aren't willing to talk about that.
We push those mental problems into a dark corner that we can't see, because we don't want to see. It’s the same thing we do with victims of sexual assault and victims of domestic violence, and it's the way we used to treat people in the gay community
“Don't ask, don't tell” didn't work then, and telling our athletes to ignore the problems they're dealing with now? That doesn't work either.
This is a problem of our own making. We make an athlete rich and famous if they can entertain us, and we make them the butt of our jokes when they can't.
It is this pursuit of perfection that led to Giants outfielder Barry Bonds turning his ass into a pin cushion to get bigger and better. And it is the pressure of that that too many can't handle.
We have demanded that our athletes take painkillers to perform. We celebrate the ones who do and we ignore the injuries we can't see. We can see the broken ankle; we can't see the injury to the brain. And we have ignored that injury and refused to talk about that injury for too long.
Those who play games can entertain me; they cannot improve my life. I don't feel one bit better about America if they win every medal in Tokyo.
And I wouldn't feel one bit worse about America if they didn't win any.
Simone Biles is just the latest victim of the celebrity culture we're all obsessed with in America now. A celebrity culture most athletes want, until they don't.
Those of you who are criticizing her now really do need to get a life, but those of you defending her need to ask yourself this:
What will you say if Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, on Super Bowl Sunday, says he can't play?
Game 7 of the NBA Finals and Mavericks guard Luka Dončić pulls out because he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders?
But maybe now that Simone Biles is telling the world it's OK to say you’re not OK, we can all realize that we do not fix a problem by ignoring a problem.
And then none of us will have to be told to be careful when we talk about that….even if we do talk about it in 50 shades of gray.