|
Posted 12/14/2007 at 03:47 AM
Charles Barkley made a huge advertising campaign saying, "I am not a role model." Well ya know what ...in an era that we admire gangsters, thugs, and criminals, it just ain't right.
In the old days we had superstar athletes such as Joe Louis, Joe DiMaggio, Bill Russell, Bobby Jones, and Johnny Unitas. Today we have to be careful in which ball-players we look up to. For two decades we watched in awe as Roger Clemens seemed to get better with age. As the whispers silently circulated about chemical enhancers, we dismissed them either because we didn't want to believe it or we chalked it up to his off season rigid workouts.
Sandy Koufax, Carl Hubbell, Bob Feller ,not a 200 pounder between them but they pitched on as little as 3 days rest ,sometimes starting in both games of a daily doubleheader. They all had jobs in the off-season. They did it for the love of the game. If they lost ,it was on their terms. Mark McGwire carried himself with some class and integrity, or so we thought. Barry Bonds ,arguably one of the best players of this era. We watched as his build, his hat size and his ego grew.
We have a moment of respect and silence as we honor the loss of Sean Taylor. What are these young people getting themselves into? Michael Vick. What can we say? Dog fighting, come on, give me a break. It's not like he was a single guy that went to Mardi Gras for the weekend and got locked up for a drunk and disorderly.
This was a pre- conceived plan. Floyd Mayweather who bills himself as the "pound for pound greatest "is on "Dancing with the stars" On his best night he couldn't last one single round with the greats of different weights that he competed in. Heroes such as Willie Pep (he wouldn't have taken a single round),Roberto Duran as a lightweight (that would have hurt).and the real "pound for pound greatest", "Sugar" Ray Robinson.
All the hype, all the ranting and raving, do your talking in the arena, in the ring, on the field. Between steroids, fights, drug and alcohol problems, arrests and suspensions...We are hard pressed to find a role model.
I guess I will have to keep looking up to and admiring such obscure role models like my Dad and the Lord our God. Don't miss my NBA Guaranteed Winners!
|
