To set the tone for this article I will start by saying that sports figures are failing as role models because they are not groomed to be role models. They are groomed to hit 400 foot home runs, to rush for 2000 yards in a season, or score 40 points in game seven of the NBA Finals. I agree professional athletes should be held to a higher standard due to their high profile professions but to go as far as to say they should be role models for our children is preposterous.

The moms and dads of this world should be responsible for always doing the right thing and serve as the role models for their children. Unfortunately, many of today's youth are raised in broken homes with the single parent working a full time and a part time job. That is the reality of our society today. If a home is missing a male or female figure there are many other outlets for our children to get this guidance other than the professional athletic field. Get your children involved in local youth athletics programs. There are many coaches that fill the void of a positive role model. Your area Boys and Girls Club of America is also a great choice to find a plethora of volunteers that are eager to lead our nations youth. There are Big Brother/Big Sister programs in almost every city in our country now. I can go on and on naming avenues to take to find role models for our children but that is for another article another day so let's get back on track.

I think professional athletes overall are getting a bad rap. For instance, there are almost two thousand athletes between the NFL and Major League Baseball alone. A very small percentage of these athletes would not qualify as good role models. The overwhelming majority of these athletes understand the importance of demonstrating a good clean lifestyle. Many of these athletes have founded their own charitable foundations such as Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation which promotes healthy lifestyles for our children, the Junior Seau Foundation which provides technological equipment to community based and non profit organizations, Doug Flutie's dedication to Autism research. The list goes on and on. We infrequently hear "feel good" stories about such things as the Tampa Bay Rays airing a live auction during a home game to benefit charities. The media concentrates instead on the small percentage of athletes and coaches that end up on the wrong side of the law or who are in trouble with the IRS. How about the athlete who is arguably the best baseball player ever to step foot on the diamond spending money from his own pocket to build youth centers and baseball fields in under developed neighborhoods. Yes folks, I am referring to ARod, Alex Rodriguez. If you ask 100 teenage baseball fans what they knew about Alex Rodriguez off the field, many would wear a blank stare. If you asked the same 100 teenagers what they knew about Roger Clemens we all know what their response would be. You would have a hard time finding footage of the groundbreaking ceremony of the latest AROD venture but you could most definitely find hours upon hours of footage covering the Congressional steroid hearings.

In closing I guess it is the larger sports news outlets that create the perception that sports figures are not great role models. If we ran more stories highlighting the good, that would give our nations youth a much different perception of all sports figures.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Fortier.
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