Last week, I wrote about How Korey Stringer worked himself to a senseless death at age 27, on a hot, humid football practice field in Minnesota.

Stringer had free will, of course. All of mankind does. But how we use our free will is heavily influenced by our culture, and our culture is heavily influenced by big-time sports.

At least Stringer made the big time. Naturally, there are many more who don't. There was Todd, who was the best baseball player on his high school and college teams. Then the pros came calling, and he was the best player in the rookie leagues. But soon, reality hit home. As he moved up into AAA, and even into the Show, there were suddenly many others as good as him, some even better.

You may laugh when I describe that this came as a shock to him, but remember that he NEVER before played the game of baseball with anyone better than himself on the field. He became depressed, sullen, and alcoholic. What opportunity he may have had was blown. He moved back in with his parents. Now, he could reflect on how he never took any other aspect of his life seriously, because, after all, he was going to be a star in the Bigs. It took him a few years to get sober, and otherwise get it together. Last time I saw him, he seemed to be doing okay.

Are pro athletes worth their high salaries? Apparently the guys who sign the checks think so, and that's all that matters. Still, many professional teams consistently lose money, and the demographics of most televised sports--notably baseball--are deteriorating.

Think about this. If August Busch IV were to wake up one morning and decide that he could sell nearly as much beer as he does now, and save about a jillion dollars if he stopped advertising on TV, it would be the beginning of the end. The other beer companies would follow suit, or at least cut back, followed by the car companies. The endless fountain of cash would slow way down, and the leagues would not be able to extort billions from the networks.

Player salaries would drop precipitously, and maybe, just maybe, American kids and their families would take a whole new look at this sports thing.

Athletics is primarily intended for participation, not observation. Maintaining personal fitness, at any age, is admirable and essential for optimum health. Observation via spectator sports can be enjoyable, but when fans become obsessive, much damage is done.

Spending endless hours watching televised sports wastes precious time, to say nothing of creating a nation of couch potatoes. Worse still is the psychotic identification some fans have with teams. Many years ago, you could at least argue that team personnel and team LOCATION remained stable, promoting some level of fan identification with the franchise. Now, even the most ardent fan has to check on a weekly basis to see who is on the roster, and hope that the team doesn't move away!

Exactly what or whom is this fan identifying with? What good does it do HIM that the LA Lakers won another NBA championship? Is his life so pointless that he can take comfort in the fact that a small number of excessively tall individuals are now going to make even more money? Wouldn't his time be better spent trying to improve HIMSELF?

You can't blame the corporate world and the government for taking advantage of this situation. The fan, addicted to watching TV sports, is inundated by thousands of commercials for overpriced products, and all the time isn't thinking about how he is being overtaxed, and ripped-off in general. Remember that the ridiculous "Army of One" commercials were introduced during football playoff season last year.

Meanwhile, parents of any kid who shows the slightest aptitude push him into private hitting or pitching lessons, so that the pathetic father can live vicariously through his young superstar.

Many values are destroyed, not the least of which is the definition of "hero," which should imply someone putting his life at risk for a worthy cause. The characters of The Odyssey and The Iliad may have been mythical, but far less so than our current crop of sports "heroes."

Big time sports is today's Trojan Horse.

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