ADSactly Sports: Heroes? How Much Should We Idolize Professional Athletes?

Last week I had a student come up to me and start talking about the NHL playoffs and his favourite team, the Philadelphia Flyers. I often have conversations with my students about sports because I am passionate about sports and I am so heavily involved with them. Many of the students I teach and coach are also passionate about sports and they happen to watch a lot of professional sports. During this particular conversation, this young man made the following comment: “Claude Giroux is the best player ever, he is my hero!” He said it with such enthusiasm and passion that you could tell he meant what he was saying. This caused me to pause a moment and think to myself. My thoughts immediately went to a writing assignment I had done with students the previous year. Students were asked to write about someone who was a hero to them. A surprising number of those projects were written about professional athletes. The more I thought about this the more concern started to boil up in me. Heroes? Really?

Hero defined:

A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.
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A hero is someone who “we” determine to have demonstrated behaviors and decisions that are ethically and emotionally worthy of our awe. We see in them something we think is not in us. Given similar conditions, we “think” we might not make the same moves and decisions they do, so we place them in an elevated place in society or in our minds. What is a hero? Someone who inspires us by their example.
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Hero is a word that is often used to describe great acts of bravery in war or efforts made to lift up the lives of people who are living in oppression and other human inequalities. It is those people who are the ones deserving of the term hero and yet more and more people are referring to professional athletes as heroes. Why is this happening? Does being great at a sport warrant the designation of hero? When did being an elite athlete lift you up to status equal with a police officer or a fireman or even a doctor? Are athletes the people we want our children looking up to as role models. I think that there are many professional athletes that demonstrate qualities that we would like our kids to possess and of course we can admire athletic talents and skills that our children can aspire to equal. All I am saying is that I think we need to be careful how easily we throw around the term “hero”.

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Taking a look at the definition of a hero there is really only one part that stands out as an immediate link to athletes. Elite athletes regularly perform feats of athletic prowess that leave the everyday person in awe. Watching Lebron James take over a basketball game and put up a triple-double in a dominating performance is impressive. Watching Julio Jones get 300 yards receiving in a game leaves us dumbfounded. We see stars do amazing things all the time in their respective sports. Records are broken all the time and we pay homage to the newest and biggest stars in the game. Odell Beckham Jr made a jaw-dropping one-handed catch in his rookie season and a star was born. Are we comparing these actions to the amazing abilities of superheroes?

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We are amazed by these athletic performances because they are things that most of us could never do. It is human nature to admire greatness and cheer for the accomplishments of great athletes. We have been doing it since the days of Ancient Greece and the beginning of the Olympics tradition. We can go even farther back to ancient Rome and the battles of the Gladiators. We put these physical and athletic specimens on a pedestal. I can admit that as a sports fan I cheer for great athletes along with the rest of the die-hard fans around the world. I talk about their accomplishments as though they were great acts of God and envy their abilities but never have I used the term hero to describe even my most adored players.

Once we look past the “outstanding achievements” the definition of hero takes a very moral turn. “Courage” and “noble qualities” jump right off the page. These are the types of character traits that speak to someone who is willing do the right thing when it is not easy. Being willing to sacrifice of yourself in order to look out for the interest, safety and well being. A person who puts the needs of others ahead of their own and even seeks out opportunities to work towards helping those less fortunate or those in need. This speaks volumes to me about how high we should be propping professional athletes up and who we should truly be looking to as our everyday heroes.

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If you are paying attention to the news at all then you have already started to get where I might be going with this. We are regularly hearing stories about some of the “not so noble” things that our “idols” are doing. From drugs to domestic abuse and everything in between we are constantly finding out that these so-called heroes, the people who many children are looking to as role models, are far from. There are stories of athletes being involved in fighting with fans, carrying weapons and even illegal dogfighting. Do we want our children idolizing people who will do unspeakable things and show no signs of remorse?

Aaron Hernendez - Charged with murder

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Over the years many athletes have been at the forefront of unsavoury incidents. Some of the most recent incidents include:

Player	Date	Incident
Aldon Smith	NFL	Domestic abuse charges
Michael Bennett	NFL	Accused of pushing a 68 year old woman down
Tiger Woods	PGA	Charged with DUI
Michael Phelps	Swimmer	Charged with DUI
Adrian Peterson	NFL	Child Abuse
Charles Barkley	NBA	Assault charges and gambling
Allen Iverson	NBA	Several arrests including gun charges
Alex Rodriguez	MLB	PED’s
Manny Ramirez	MLB	Battery Charges
Slava Voyanov	NHL	Domestic Abuse

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Patrick Kane in court
Image result for Patrick Kane court

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These are just a few of the many cases you will learn about if you pay attention to the sports news. There are new incidents happening all the time. What really stands out about these things is not just the regularity in which they happen but how easily these legal problems seem to go away or how long it takes to actually come to the decision to charge someone. One example of this stands out to me as a fan standing on the sidelines hearing about all this stuff happening. The Michael Bennett issue happened at last years Super Bowl, 2017. Yet, it took until March of 2018 before this man held accountable for his actions. How is it possible that something like shoving an old lady to the ground to get past her swept under the rug for that long? You can be sure that if you or I was the offender, in this case, we would have spent some time in the back of a police car right away. Why are these athletes not being held to the same standards as the rest of us? Not only does this happen at the pro level but also through the college and high school ranks. The papers are riddled with stories of young star athletes that got into trouble and were able to skirt through with little more than a slap on the wrist. We must protect our stars!

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By no means do I want to paint a picture of doom and gloom when it comes to athletes. There are a great number of athletes that are doing things the right way and setting a tremendous example for young people. We do here lots of stories about athletes that donate money and time to charities and who make the dreams some fans come true by spending time with them in the hospital or inviting them to special events. Do these things sound heroic? Or are these things that any public figure should strive to do? There are a lot of people without the same means that do these things every day without being recognized for their efforts the way a pro athlete would be.

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The term role model is defined as “a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially younger people”

Athletes are role models whether or not they choose to take on the responsibility, and whether they are good or bad role models. But athlete “hero worship” wasn’t always as prevalent as it is today. There was a time when others served as America’s role models (civic leaders, clergy, legal and medical experts, etc.). It might be argued that the shift reflects decay in our nation’s moral standards.
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The reality is that the idolization of elite athletes is not likely to change any time soon. Their position in society is such that we are going to look up to them and envy them. It is human nature to stand in awe of those who are about to accomplish great athletic feats. I can understand this glorifying of their abilities but I really think society needs to take a step back when it comes to using the term hero. Next time you go to refer to your favourite player asw a hero, take a moment to reconsider what a hero is. We have people in society that put themselves in harms way every day for the betterment of the world and to keep others safe.

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Do we really think that an amazing goal, or a 50 yard touchdown is more heroic than pulling a family out of a burning building? Admire athletes endeavours on the court, ice or field for what they are and save the term “hero” for the people who truly deserve it.

Do you idolize any athletes? What are your thoughts about athletes being role models or called heroes? I would love to read your stories and hear about who your heroes are.