Sports Role Models

The sports athelete is a tough job; especially if you are very good at what you do. With success, more money and more responsibilites come with the territory as money is tied to image, image is tied to sponsorship contracts, and public perception is easily sculpted from one’s glorified actions. Even more importantly though is how youth see’s sports figures – because it is the youth that idolizes these stars and will mimick their behavior. Thus, it is advantageous for these athletes to be socially responsible so that they become a role model as opposed to an ‘example of’. Role models are positive, are a good pattern to model youth’s behavior after (on & off the court/field); in contrast, an ‘example of’ character is one whose on & off the court behavior is frowned upon in society, and these individuals are usually known as the ‘bad boys’ and have run-ins with local and federal law enforcement (Vick!). Enough preamble, let’s get into it: