The Good the Bad and the Ugly (Where have the hero's gone)

Sports, I love Sports. Always have and always will. Darts, baseball, basketball, Football, you name it. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. I drive my wife crazy with all the sports! I have tried most and now I coach youth baseball, soccer, and next year basketball. What do I tell these kids who are searching for a hero today. While there are plenty of average everyday players who you wouldn't mind your child looking to as a role model, the numbers that are "Hero" worthy are disappearing fast. How do I explain to a child that they can't buy a jersey they want because the player is currently in jail, just out of jail, or on their way in soon? Is the NFL becoming the National Felon's League?

Are we sending the right message to kids when we continue to slap the wrist of players in all sports who commit crimes? It seems like there are more and more justifications given after someone is caught. Is the player who takes a loaded weapon into crowded night club, and shoots himself correct when his defense claims there was no real crime committed. (Because he only shot himself)? Should we look the other way and disregard the multitude of laws that were violated? How about the player who endorsed, participated in, and funded animal cruelty for the sake of entertainment? He has served his jail time so do we believe he deserves a second chance?

Then there is the player who took the life of an innocent bystander when they got in their car drunk, and drove. Served twenty four days in jail! What! Do we consider his debt paid? Would you want your child to wear his jersey? Are we really so intense about our team winning that we just forgive and forget? I don't envy the commissioner of the NFL. His job has taken on a Judges role. Handing out suspensions, fines, and deciding how long players will be out of the game based on their crimes. Unfortunately this only covers Football.

Baseball, while not seeing the same level of severity in their crimes, has plenty to go around. The one we have all heard of for years now, Steriods! Players using performance enhancing drugs to get that "edge" That "edge" that used to be obtained by working harder than the other guy. What changed? Has it always been this way and we just didn't know? Most players will tell you they love the game. They play for it, because of it. I believe that most do. Then came the multi million dollar contract. Now it's do what ever you can to get that big contract. Do we really mind that they do Steroids or is it just a way to justify our jealousy of the other player who gets the game winning hit, of the other team?

The current **Home Run King** is labeled as a "user", yet he was beloved in his home ball park. Hated every where else by the media, the fans, and many players. After his contract ended, he was released, sent into retirement. No one would hire the most feared hitter in all the land! Now he is gone from the game. Is that what we wanted? Is that good for the game? Until recently he was the focus of all the talk about steroids. Because he was the best? Or because he was hated by many because of his attitude over the years? Now every week, big names, among the sports elite, are being shown to be users. Are they as hated? I don't hear the media frenzy, I don't hear the boos. So is that the message? Is it OK to cheat just as long as you were nice to the media, to the fan's? Is it OK as long as you are still productive and helping your team win? One of the greatest player's of all time has been denied entrance into the Hall Of Fame because he bet on his team after he was done as player. Did the baseball commissioner get it right? Maybe if you had to pay for discretion's, and the payment was significant, it would alter the decision to cheat.

As long as there are millions at stake, we may never see change. The other sports don't get a free ride either. In Basketball you had drugs, accusations of sexual misconduct, and gambling by officials. Doping in Cycling, in the Olympics, now even Nascar has drug scandal! Watching sports for most of us is entertainment, a distraction from the daily routine. But for a child that is aspiring to be like his favorite player, it can be so much more. It can for some shape the direction they choose in life. So what can we tell them when they ask where have all the hero's gone? Maybe we tell them that if they work hard and dedicate themselves to what ever they choose to do in life, that the next hero could be starring at them back in the mirror. Yeah, that's what I will tell them! BigBlogAlphaDog