Should we care about the steriod scandal? I would typically say "who cares". But this scandal throughout sports is not just about one dumbass taking drugs and lying about it. Its about another institution in this country going down the drain. What I am speaking about are Heroes. When I was a kid, sports players were my heroes. I looked up to them and I wanted to be like them. Playing baseball or hockey or football would have been my dream (though I sucked as a sports player). I still tried. I still went to the games. I would go to see the Pittsburgh Pirates once a year and loved seeing the players. I still have their autographs. I still have the pictures.
Now we live in a time that ball players are on trial for murder (or worse yet, got away with murder - OJ), they lie, they steal, they take drugs and we know everything about it. Kids know it. Everyone knows it. The people that we used to look up to, our sports heroes, are pretty much just overpaid, whining babies. They are even lower than most as they have a responsibility when they are making $10 million per year and know that kids look up to them and yet they fall short time and time again.
So we cannot look to them for rolemodels for our children. So lets look to movie stars. Give me a break. What a group of pampered, spoiled brats. And yet, I see many young girls trying to look like Britney, or Lindsay or whoever the flavor of the month is.
I was thinking that maybe we should not look to any of these groups as they are about the lowest of the low. Maybe we should look to ourselves. Maybe we should look to the guy that goes to work, takes two jobs, sends his kids to school and makes sure they can go to college. Maybe that guy is the hero. Maybe the woman that supports her mate even at the expense of her own career - or visa versa. Maybe they are heroes. Maybe the person that doesnt make alot of money, but always pays his bills and is a contributor to our society is a hero.
We might all agree in principle, but in practice that is basically not true. I spend alot of time in SW Florida. Unless you own a $300,000 house and have a wine cabinet, unless you can hit a golf ball 280 yards, unless you have investments and a personal banker, then you pretty much are a second class citizen. You might pay your bills on time every month, save alittle money, send your kids to college and eventually buy a house - but walk into a bank and unless you have alot of money there, they treat you like crap. And in reality - you are a hero. You are to me. You are worth more than the banker that dresses better, the ball player that makes more money in a month than they do in 10 years, the movie star that wears the best clothes while my heroes go to Walmart to get a shirt and pants.
Lets forget about these overpaid, low life celebrities and ball players. They have let us down. Lets look at the real heroes. The common man. The type of guy that Jimmy Stewart played so well in the movies. The type of guy that I want to be. Nothing flashy and not being really cool. Just a simple guy that tries everyday to do better. Sometimes fail, but succeeds in just trying. I look to those type of men and women as my heroes. And lets make sure that the young people in this country realize that they are the real heroes. And lets give up on these celebrities. They are just losers that can afford better clothes.