I’m Not Going To Write About Tiger aka Where Have All The Good Guys Gone?

I am serious, I am not going to write about this Tiger Woods situation.  But the situation got me to thinking about role models and our sports “heroes”.   A group was discussing this situation that I am not going to write about and during the conversation someone made a comment to the effect “Where have all the good guys gone?”  This got me to thinking back to my youth and wondering the same thing.Then as I thought it through something hit me.  Were there really that many “good guys” back in the day?  I almost hate to write this, but I think that for us baby boomers, I think that as we look back, maybe we need a reality check.

Let me share a story from my youth.  I was at a charity golf tournament  (I was a golf nut even before I started playing) with a ton of professional sports stars.  A lot of us kids were working to get autographs and along came Sandy Koufax.  Just as I was able to get close enough to get his autograph, some kids from the back of the pack pushed and a couple of us were shoved into Sandy.  Unfortunately, he turned on us with a snarl and made an ugly comment.

Now at the time, I just said well he’s the exception, but it did change my perception of him.  Over the years, then you hear the stories AND the admisssions of Mickey Mantle about his escapades.  And there were others.

The sad realization that I have come to is this.  Yes there were and are good guys out there in professional sports.  But, different from the memories many of us have,  back in “the day” I don’t think that there were so many more and that over the years it’s gone downhill.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the press and the media,for the most part, just didn’t report all the transgressions back then.  I believe that there was basically an unwritten code to “protect” our heroes.  I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I just believe that is the way it was.

That day is long gone and if a celebrity or sports figure messes up, we will hear about it.  So should we be sad, should we feel misled from our youth, should we be mad that possibly a lot of those we idolized growing up were running around on their spouses, drinking, chasing women in every town etc?

Here is my bottom line.  I think that there are role models and that a few (unfortunately fewer than we thought) of our sports heroes, past and present, are figures that we can point out to our kids and encourage them to respect their character, not just their accomplishments.  But we also need to remember that we are all human, we all have weaknesses, and we all make mistakes.  And I think that we should also teach our kids not to judge and to have compassion for those that make mistakes.  We just have to remember that if we “create” heroes, they will probably let us down at some point.

Till next time all you golf nuts!