I look at kids these days and wonder if it is safe for them to idealize sports figures. I remember when I was a kid my hero was Willie McCovey and Darrell Evans of the San Francisco Giants in the late 1970's. When I played football, I used to wish I was Ken Stabler or Fred Biletnikoff. Professional athletes, as much as I can recall, back then really never seemed to get into trouble as today's athletes do.
This past December while on business in San Francisco, I purchased two Barry Bonds jerseys for my boys. Sure they loved the fact that I got them something, they made it seem that it was my job to bring them something home from my business trips. They know that I am a Giants fan and that I back Bonds because of that fact. I sometimes wonder if kids will give them a hard time at school if they wear the jersey. Honestly if they are going to catch hell at school by classmates, I really would rather they do not wear the jersey, besides it will take a few years for each of them to grow into the jersey's, they make them a little larger than normal
Let's take Michael Vick; thousands of young kids have idealized him for a number of years. The NFL advertised him in many campaigns as their marked hero, mainly due to his marketability and the fact that he really never seemed to get into trouble. Lately though his name has been synonymous with trouble with the bottle indecent and now the dog fighting issue in Atlanta. Not only has he had problems, but his brother is a walking encyclopedia on all kinds of different issues
I wonder how many guys my age that idealized Pete Rose grew up to with a gambling problem.
I wonder how many kids that may be in high school now took steroids because they see what Bonds has been able to accomplish on the diamond.
I wonder how many kids will grow up just to be an ass like George W. Bush.
Sure there are lots of professional athletes that kids can still look up to, but sit down and think about this; when will they be on Sportscenter. Maybe I should get my kids into water polo, I am sure they will be good to go then
