Professional athletes have the best equipment, palatial homes, the ability to dirty up their work clothing and have someone else clean it, and bank accounts that qualify as the next wonder of the world. So why is it that they covet one thing that fellow athletes, you, I, and other media members own -- respect?

Overall, there is a general fixation on respect -- lack of it, recognition of having it, or doling it out. In fact, the average athlete probably considers "respect" in the same way the Corleones of the world do. It's not the same kind of respect that ought to be given to the average human being, but rather the kind of respect that recognizes the top dog, the person who would be king among peasants. A cursory Google News search for the word "respect" yields some fantastic evidence of this want:

--"The respect factor is not there. We beat everybody we played, and for some reason, [media and other analysts] just don't believe we are a good team," Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter said in the Jan. 22 edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

--"We don't get any respect. We understand that. We understand that we're going to have to go out and that's something we set out from the beginning as a secondary," Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins said in the Jan. 25 online edition of Today's Sunbeam, a New Jersey newspaper.

--"It helps to know that people respect the way I'm playing basketball. Our team is winning, too, so that helps," Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James said in a Jan. 25 article in Ohio's The News-Herald.

Before looking to the quotes to answer the question of why these athletes feel compelled to want or mention it, we must consider what it is. This is not the respect of basic human rights, of preventing the loss of life, personal freedoms, or core dignity. This is the respect of how much game one has, of power rankings, power dunks, and instant status.

Scott Kretchmar, Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Penn State, said that it goes beyond simply knowing that you're good or what record your team has.

"We want our sport activities to be meaningful in a personal sense," Kretchmar said. "What matters is beyond victories ... when maybe it's more about identity."

In looking back to the quotes, it certainly seems so. If it were all (or mostly) about winning and losing, none of this yapping would occur. Players would go out, compete for 60 official minutes or nine innings or three periods, and let the statistical measures determine their worth. If winning was all that mattered, would LeBron James have listed it second? His confidence seems more bolstered by the fact that he's known as King James, not by the fact that the Cavaliers are vying for first place in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference.

Part of this identity is no doubt fostered by a medium -- oh, heck, it's ESPN -- that allows an athlete to say anything and actually think it's important or poignant. Going back to the Dawkins quote, it's a relief to see that he now understands -- thanks to this lack of respect -- that the Eagles' defense must still suit up and play the game. One starts to wonder if he'd even look at his pads the same way if he wasn't able to hear Stuart Scott say, "Dawkins lays down a goofy hit" a dozen times a day.

"Unfortunately, the sports shows have participated in creating the individual," Kretchmar said. "They've got the Sammy Sosa hop, they've got their signature."

This makes it different from normal occupations, though Kretchmar did say that the everyday person does a normal amount of comparison. He said that he's compared himself to peers who publish articles and work in the same field.

"It's like me running up and down the hallway with an acceptance letter saying, 'Look at me!' " Kretchmar said.

He said this is due to a two-fold dynamic in athletics that separates it from everyday employment and life.

"There is an immediate judgement in sport," Kretchmar said. "We put up our reputations weekly. You see these cold, hard rankings."

Between statistics leaders, seasonal awards and Internet power rankings, there is some validity to this. If a baseball player were among the league leaders in a number of statistical categories, then snubbed from the team, one of the first words to be bandied about would probably be "respect."

The other aspect is the length of an athlete's career, which is generally much shorter than most professions. Even the longest-tenured professional athlete gets a relatively short window. While a writer is still capable of producing a best seller at 65, a former football player might not be able to walk without pain.

"It's a very fragile position to be on top. Our bodies get injured and old," Kretchmar said.

It seems that a situation has been created in which people can constantly monitor themselves, are constantly judged from a multitude of angles, and only have a short time in which to prove themselves. I am tempted to view this from a psychological aspect and justify the behavior -- it's not something that merely popped up overnight.

But these players who clamor for respect are still willing participants, as shown by the number of athletes who do merely go out and play, and something has to be done to abate the tendency.