NEWS OF THE WEEK: Sammy Sosa is on the verge of being traded to the Baltimore Orioles.
Professor Potter says: Sammy Sosa is almost an Oriole. After the season he had last year, the Romans would say, “Good riddance!”
Romans expected their heroes to live up to their reputations. If not, there could be a big exit sign–and that was if you weren’t a gladiator where failure could literally get you killed (it would certainly get you flogged).
In chariot racing, a free-agent system enabled people to move from one of four factions to another–and from city to city. A charioteer who had ticked off the fans in one place could have a fresh start elsewhere.
In other sports, it was harder to recover. There was a famous athlete who wanted to be the eighth man ever to win wrestling and pancration in the same Olympics. He was the easy favorite, but people thought he was arrogant. Officials at Olympia refused to hold the competition. This didn’t cost him money, but we still know who he was, and that would hurt his reputation.
The Romans believed that athletes should treat their sports and fans with respect. If they couldn’t, there was always a new guy who to step in.
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Edited by the sports staff of RedEye.
