When Our Heroes Fall

Everyone has a hero. For many of us the world of sports provide faces and names we look up to and often view in a hero-like way. When I was a kid playing Little League Baseball Roberto Clemente was my hero. He played right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Being from Pennsylvania made it natural to follow the Pirates and Clemente. I was fortunate enough to watch him play twice. Once against the San Francisco Giants and the next year against the Atlanta Braves. Clemente died tragically in 1972 in a plane crash. His death hit me rather hard at the time. Thankfully I never heard of anything that would have crushed my hero image of him.

But what happens when a hero falls? Every sports fan I know has lifted up some personality into the status of icon only to have his/her vision destroyed due to some failure. At first you shake your head in disbelief. Then you walk w/ disappointment. You almost feel betrayed. In some cases, depending upon what they have done you might feel a bit of disgust! For baseball fans the "steroid era" created a number of fallen heroes. The worship of competition and an apathetic attitude on the part of the commissioner's office led to several great players to cheat. It is hard to respect those athletes who live outside the lines of integrity.

College Football has been the hub of scrutiny and criticism because of players breaking rules and parents bribing schools. Coaches want to win so badly that they try to skirt the system. I hear all the time how the NCAA has too many and confusing rules. That is probably the case. But that does not justify lying to the NCAA. While coaches cannot know everything their players do while off the field some are so out of touch w/ their program that it is beyond pathetic.

Heroes are going to fall. Human beings fail. We are all sinners. I get it! But what is happening to those who we hold up as heroes? It has always happened. Yet, it seems to me that there has been an increase in these incidents. The answer in part is to realize that our heroes may not be worthy of the title. Perhaps we (I include myself) should be more cautious in placing so much faith and admiration in these folks. Just because a guy can shoot a basketball or hit home runs or throw touchdown passes does not make them immortal. Maybe we should be more realistic in our appraisal of people.

At the end of the day let's realize people will always disappoint us. It is not the end of the world. Life goes on.