I know that people say that sports figures are rolemodels, but I think this is wishful thinking, at best.
There are so many other positive ways for children to find direction that I find the attention paid to the behavior of professional athletes a bit over the top. The possibility of a child beoming one of them is slim, at best, and adults really need to live the lives they wish.
Do you think attention should be directed elsewhere?
How can it possibily serve society to control the behavior of athletes the way it controls the behavior of women...by crying out about the "innocent children" their adult freedoms will influence?
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Role models are a good
Role models are a good thing, and professional atheletes can be excellent ones. Unfortunately, some of them don't care a fig. Some of them don't even respect the sport that is paying them those millions.
I'm a huge Reggie Jackson fan, and Reggie has always had a deep respect for his sport of baseball. He knows the history and appreciates the tradition. He has long lamented that Jose Canseco shared none of that, nor did he care. That's the difference. Reggie is a great role model; Jose is not. Barry Bonds certainly isn't. You have to appreciate your past and your heritage, and you have to care about the future to be a good role model.
I don't think it's wrong for kids to have athletes as role models, but I hope they pick a good one, like Jeff Gordon in NASCAR. Having talent doesn't make someone a good role model. Right now, Kyle Busch has a lot of talent, but he's far from being a role model.