Justice in sports?

I just finished watching for the first time one of the greatest films of all time, 12 Angry Men. This movie highlights themes of how quickly our society is to judge people and throw them under the bus. It shows how personal prejudices many times scar our ability to truly understand the truth. It shows how people believe what they want from their prior dispositions. It shows how many times people accuse people of doing things to get fame or popularity. People find it very important to scrutinize others and make themselves feel better.
In the sports world I find many injustices that are often thrown on the athletes and are often ignored. My next few topics may start to be a little more controversial with some disagreeing with my strong opinions, but I ask you like in a jury room to leave your prejudices about professional athletes at the door.
People may think professional athlete are spoiled, thugs, criminal, high-maintenance, cheaters, and drug users but I ask you for one second to put you self in their shoes.
There are a few important issues that I would like to cover the next week and they include: rape charges on professional athletes, the 'cleaning up' of the NFL with heavy suspensions, the whitening of the Pacers in the post-Artest culture, the steroid era, and many other justice issues. I feel that many times the benefit of the doubt is that the athletes are in the wrong. Maybe they do not deserve to be seen innocent but as a democracy lover I believe they are innocent until proven guilty.