For many years I worked as a counselor at a youth summer camp. One summer, I oversaw a group of third graders who loved playing dodgeball, so we’d play the game fairly often.
However, one day, one of the smaller girls was hit right in the face with a rubber ball. For obvious reasons, we decided it was in the best interest of the kids to remove dodgeball from the regular rotation of games.
We explained to the disappointed kids that we were sorry, but we couldn’t play a game where something like that was so likely to happen.
They were 8-year-olds, so they were a bit peeved, but they all seemed to at least understand and accept the fact that we wouldn’t be playing dodgeball anymore — all of them except for one little boy.
Every single morning he’d arrive, lunchbox in hand, and ask me, “Frank, are we going to play dodgeball today?” So, every single day (literally) he would sulk around, disappointedly after I said no — refusing to accept the reality of the situation.
I spoke with a friend not long after the findings of an internal BU hockey task force were made public in a difficult-to-read Boston Globe exposé. She, one of the biggest hockey enthusiasts I know, was distraught about what she had learned in the article.
She even floated out the idea that she might not be able to enjoy the hockey season — the very thing she repeatedly told me that she missed most of all during the summer.
She was on the verge of denouncing her very pride and joy because those players were not just hockey players to her — they were gods.
If you choose athletes to be your idols, you’re going to end up very disappointed — like an 8-year-old.
I think Charles Barkley said it best in his Nike Air commercial, “I am not a role model.”
He’s right. He’s not, and neither are college hockey players.
The Boston Globe story reported a “culture of entitlement.”
Yeah, no kidding.
A lot of athletes feel entitled. A lot of singers and actors are entitled too. Kids whose parents are wealthy often develop a sense of entitlement. That should not be groundbreaking news to anyone.
Watch their games, listen to their music, see their movies … but don’t worship them.
It’s your own fault if you do because we should know better by now.
Rafael Palmeiro lied and waved his finger at Congress. Pete Rose lied to you for decades.
Alex Rodriguez took steroids. Dez Bryant assaulted his mother.
The Minnesota Vikings sex boat scandal, Ben Roethlisberger, University of Miami football — shady stuff.
Kobe Bryant cheated on his wife. Michael Jordan punched a teammate and gave us perhaps the most arrogant and bitter Hall of Fame speech of all time.
Last year, Lebron James told you that your life was lame compared to his.
If you want to hang up their posters and wear their jersey that’s fine — they’re incredibly talented people — but don’t think that makes them role models.
It’s not warm and fuzzy, but it’s reality. A lot of big-time athletes feel entitled for a reason.
We, society, are that reason.
When you’re an infant, your entire world is what you see — Mom, Dad and the spinning spaceships above you in the crib. That’s it. That’s all you know.
When you’re a star athlete (such as a BU hockey player), everyone tells you how great you are. Everyone lets you get away with things other people don’t get away with. Everyone wants to be your friend. That’s your world. That’s all you know.
Are you surprised when cops are crooked? When politicians lie to you? We don’t like that aspect of society, but we recognize that it’s there.
How can a problem be addressed if we can’t accept that it’s real?
And don’t say you’re going to stop watching — because you don’t. Ratings for the PGA tour are more than doubled when Tiger Woods plays.
He’s done some questionable stuff. Remember?
The highest-rated sports teams in this country across the board have all had very public, very immoral stories surface about them in recent memory.
USC Football. The Patriots were caught cheating — you still watch them. You still watch A-Rod and the Yankees. You still watch Kobe and the Lakers.
You know all about Christian Bale’s on-set temper tantrums and run-ins with police. You still saw “The Dark Knight Rises.”
And I’m not saying you shouldn’t. You should enjoy the talents of others.
Our society makes lots of separations. We separate church from state. We separate business from emotion.
Make the same separation for athletes, for celebrities.
Love your family. Love your boyfriend or girlfriend. Heck, love your dog.
Enjoy sports. Appreciate talented athletes.
Don’t love athletes.
Love your life.
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Its a shame when stuff like that happens. Although, there are risks to every sport that you play. This article is so true though. When people meet their idols, one of the things that they are struck by more often than anything else is just how normal they are. We idolize them to the point where we forget that they are flesh and blood too, rather than divine
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