I’ve been kicked in the gut again, this time by the Minnesota Vikings. I know that I am a Packers fan, but I think every sports fan feels the way I do when we hear of the stupid things that professional athletes do. I have found the older I get the less professional sports I watch because I can not stomach the way these multi-millionaires act.

I am not just pointing fingers at the Vikings and the way they turned a three-hour boat tour into a Gilligan’s Island &8221;sexcapade,&8220; but all of the professional athletes who are given millions and millions of dollars because they can play a sport.

I’m fed up. We have teachers who are working with our children, police and firefighters who put their lives on the line every day, soldiers who fight for our freedoms and protect our country against terrorism and all of the other noble professions that people do and you know what &045; not one of them makes one-tenth of the money these athletes make for throwing, catching and kicking a ball around.

A few years ago our country was attacked and we had brave firefighters and police personnel running into burning buildings.

We had normal everyday citizens taking on hijackers in a plane to avert a catastrophe. A month ago we had two hurricanes turn the south upside down and thousands upon thousands of people needed and still need shelter, food and hope. During the time in between these two horrific national emergencies professional athletes’ pay has grown each year by tens of thousands of dollars and what do we get for that?

We get overblown egos that hold out for even more money.

We get athletes that won’t sign an autograph unless they get paid, or who think the rules of life do not apply to them.

I have witnessed children crying because these athletes will not sign a ball or stop to acknowledge them after their families traveled thousands of miles and spent thousands of dollars to see them play.

I am done. The more I think about it, the madder I get.

I loved playing sports growing up and watching my kids play sports is a thrill because they are not doing it for the money or the endorsement deals that come with being a professional, they are doing it for the pure joy that playing brings. To see the excitement on my kids’ faces when they score a run or get a hit &045; that’s pure, that’s sports.

I would love to see everyone in the world not watch, attend or even listen to one professional game for just one day and see what these professional athletes would do.

I would love for professional athletes to make what a teacher, soldier or social worker makes and see how they would react.

I think we need to bring these idiots back down to the ground. We need to pay them a lot less and knock them out of the ivory towers they have been living in.

Between steroids, rape, gambling, drug abuse, battery, speeding, prostitution and all the other charges that we read about every day on the sports pages, it seems we need a police lineup card just to follow our so-called favorite team’s progress.

No more professionals. I am going to my children’s games, I will attend middle and high school sports and I will spend time with my family.

Professional athletes need to know that they are wearing thin on all of our nerves, and they need to fall into line.

If I speed in my car, I get a ticket. If I break a law, I go to jail.

Time has come for these so-called citizens to be treated the same.

(Scott Schmeltzer, Tribune publisher.)