Kids need heroes. Are there any left?
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About 20 years ago, comedian and actor Billy Crystal appeared on the debut episode of HBO’s “Real Sports.”
He made a joke about Wilt Chamberlain’s, erm, active life in the bedroom.
Crystal recently returned to the show to drop some serious knowledge about today’s athletes.
Crystal, now a grandfather, wonders what he’s supposed to tell his grandkids about all the terrible things we’re seeing from athletes.
From A-Rod’s steroids debacle to the notorious Ray Rice elevator video, the sports world has seen better days. But, has it?
Sure, Deflategate received more press than Watergate, but that’s not because of the severity of the situation; it’s because of the 24-hour social media era we currently live in.
As Crystal notes, all an athlete has to do is push a button and he or she will “self-destruct.”
But Crystal makes another important point: The dumb sh*t we see athletes do today isn’t a generational thing; it’s been happening forever. It’s just that it’s more out in the open than ever before.
Crystal says,
Kids need heroes.
Are there any left?
By Adam Silvers
Originally published at Elite Daily. Reprinted with permission.
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Adam Silvers joined Elite Daily as a Sports Writer in March 2015, having previously written for Complex Sports and the NASL’s New York Cosmos. Before that, Adam Studied Broadcast Journalism and International Relations at Boston University.
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Photo: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel/YouTube
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I am a father of four and have a different take. Why can’t I be my kids’ role model? I mean, they don’t need a poster over their bed of dad, but why not us? Kids are going to see sports and start to idolize their favorite athletes, that you can’t stop. So as a role model and leader to my kids, I have a decision to make – keep them from ever watching and choosing their favorites (and possibly being let down by them) or parent them. I believe that good and bad decisions of others are great teachable… Read more »
Judging the basket by a single bad apple, do you?
The number of heroes and positive role models in sports far, far outweights the ones receiving the kind of negative you write about here. They just don’t get any attention. Now, why is THAT?
unfortunately the video isn’t available in all areas, so i haven’t watched it, but if you’re looking for hero sports people, you don’t really have to look far, just out of the NFL really. So many great role models for children in some of the minor sports