Friday column: Note to athletes: Get over yourselves

Detroit pitcher Fernando Rodney grabs a baseball at the end of a game and hurls it into the press box. His excuse?

“(I was) emotional. It’s nothing bad. I know I’m not supposed to throw the ball, but I’m feeling in the moment.”

Tennis star Serena Williams verbally abuses and threatens a lineswomen at the U.S. Open. Her excuse?

“I was in the moment.”

Manchester City striker Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor is accused of deliberately stomping on the head of an opposing player and celebrating a goal in a way that resulted in a rain of objects coming from the stands and an injury to a steward. His excuse?

“People who know me, who love me, know that sometimes the emotion is a big part of being a human being,” Adebayor said. “For maybe two or three seconds after scoring the goal, sometimes you just can’t control yourself.”

In other words, I was in the moment.

In other words, I get a pass.

Well, no — you don’t. Any more than Kanye West does for stealing Taylor Swift’s glory during the MTV music video awards show; any more than Joe Wilson does for his outburst during President Barack Obama’s speech before a joint session of Congress.

The “cult of me,” it has been argued, is a legacy from the Enlightenment, enhanced by postmodernism and deconstructionism, and fed by the Sixties and the self-esteem movement.

Wherever it came from, it’s here with a vengeance. The result? Community ideas about right and wrong take a back seat to individual experience. It’s all about my truth, my reality, my experience, my moment.

For the self-validators among us, however, there is the inconvenient truth known as Other People.

For Rodney, it is the reporters he sent scurrying.

For Williams, it’s the line judge she threatened — and Kim Clijsters, whose moment of victory over Serena was marred by her opponent’s blow-up.

For Adebayor, it was Robin van Persie, whose face he lacerated — missing the Arsenal player’s left eye by centimeters — the fans he incited and the steward who took a bottle to the head in the disturbance that followed.

Because there are Other People, even in this “me” climate, there can be consequences for bad behavior.

Rodney was suspended for three games. Williams was penalized on match point and fined, and other action is still possible. Adebayor was charged by England’s Football Association with violent conduct and improper goal celebration and is expected to receive a three-match suspension.

The lesson hopefully learned: All of us are responsible to more than our emotions. We’re responsible to each other.

To the next athlete tempted to worship at the altar of individuality, I say, take a look at the folks around you. Guess what? They’re individuals, too. They’re just not you.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.