By all accounts Jeremy Shockey is an immense talent, an emerging superstar now playing for the New York football Giants.
And yet the early stages of Shockey's NFL career have already been somewhat turbulent - off the field.
The young tight end, a first round draft choice of the Giants in this past spring's annual NFL college draft, plays in the largest sports media market in the world.
For whatever reason, he was apparently invited to appear on the often controversial, New York-based syndicated talk show of high-profile morning man Howard Stern.
For inexplicable reasons, he agreed to appear on the show.
Within minutes, he had been asked a question about whether there are any gay players in the NFL.
His response? "I hope not."
He added that, if he knew there was a gay player on his college team, "[he] wouldn't stand for it".
His responses continued in a similar, less than thoughtful, vein.
Not surprisingly, his offensive and hurtful comments caused a tremendously swift - and negative - public reaction.
While he made an apology of sorts afterwards ("I guess I do regret saying it…"), his additional later comments - that he was simply trying to be funny on the Stern show - rang rather hollow to his critics.
Beyond the obviously insensitive nature of his comments on a radio program, the question remains: who was guiding this young man's public appearances? Was no one aware of the kind of program that the young athlete was to appear on? Had anyone spent any time advising him on the pros and cons of making such an appearance?
Further, did he have anyone help him anticipate the kinds of questions he might be asked, and what his responses would be?
Clearly, his comments are indefensible. Whether they were made "in jest", or were a genuine representation of his feelings, only he knows.
Athletes do live in a fishbowl. They are criticized by and in the media when they merely spout clichés and hackneyed, middle-of-the-road responses time and again.
However, when they do step forward and say something "out of the box", it also often leads to controversy and criticism - sometimes, as in this instance, with good reason.
Ideally, all professional athletes could and would speak in an articulate, engaging, thoughtful and genuine manner - and would operate in an environment where the outside world was not hanging on their every word, and thus were truly comfortable doing so.
Ideally, all of our opinions on all subjects - athletes or not - would be engaging and thoughtful, but that of course is not always the case.
Can an athlete really be himself, or herself? Should they be able to say whatever they want, regardless of whether it is hurtful or insensitive?
One thing is clear: these situations, where a young person with often limited experience deals with experienced media people, are often potentially damaging to an individual athlete, their image and their career… not to mention those who may have been justly offended by certain comments.
Every club in major professional sports employs experienced public relations professionals on staff. Virtually all players have agents who claim to represent their interests "off the field", not just in terms of negotiating contracts.
Yet, often when athletes - especially young athletes - need it most, their 'support system' (those supposedly there to prepare them thoroughly for what might await them) is nowhere to be found.
