Why do "elite" sportspeople

go out and get drunk?

I will have no sympathy for this Sam Kerr person if she is found guilty of the alleged offence of calling someone else a "stupid white bastard". I will have no sympathy because it is not acceptable to call anyone that - whatever you might actually think. 

I certainly do not have any sympathy with someone who does something like that while drunk and, allegedly, having left a seat in a taxi covered in vomit. If that is true too then the offence is even greater than simply calling someone names in the heat of the moment.

Middle Cat and I were talking about this yesterday. We are both at a loss to understand why these so called "elite" sportspeople would go out and get drunk in such a public manner, indeed why they would get drunk at all. Yes, they are under pressure to "succeed" by "winning" but surely that is all the more reason to remain sober? 

I have perhaps more knowledge than many people about the damage alcohol can do. I have never been drunk. I have never come close to being drunk. In all my life I have never had more than a few sips of alcohol. Each time it has left me with a sensation that is akin to touching stinging nettles - inside rather than out. It has been acutely uncomfortable. The solution is simple. I don't knowingly drink alcohol.

Obviously these sportspeople do not react like that. They apparently enjoy drinking the stuff but do they actually appreciate it? I know some people who tell me that a "glass of good wine" is a very enjoyable way of relaxing.  If that is all they have and they take it slowly and really do enjoy it then that is fine with me. Who am I to argue? That does not bother me but if they drink the entire bottle simply because it is there then I am bothered. It surely rates with eating a family size bar of chocolate on your own at one sitting? Does it actually increase the pleasure of either thing? I would have thought it is more likely to diminish it.

But there is also the damage that alcohol (or that much chocolate) can do to the body and the potential damage alcohol can do to the individual or to others. How often has excess alcohol left some innocent person dead or injured for life? How often has it ruined a reputation?

Sports people at the level of Sam Kerr depend on their bodies to perform. I would have thought that alone would make them wary of consuming alcohol, especially alcohol in any quantity. All too often there are stories of sportspeople who are inebriated and who end up in a fight or an "accident". Oh they will apologise profusely and promise not to do it again. All too often they get away with a minimal fine or even just a slap on the wrist. The "public humiliation" is seen as punishment enough for some. 

The problem however is that they should never have drunk so much in the first place. They know they are the darlings of so many sports mad people. They know they are "representing" their teams, their states, their nations. On top of all that they are often paid obscene amounts for doing just that. Perhaps we need to stop paying them so much?