Reporter’s Notebook : Like It or Not, All Athletes Are Models for the Impressionable

All athletes are role models whether they like it or not.

Whether they’re worthy or not.

Whether they deserve it or not.

Anyone who works in front of an audience is a role model. Anyone who works for the public trust is a role model. Anyone who needs your vote, whether on an all-star ballot or a precinct election ticket, is a role model.

Some are good. Some are bad. From the pros to the high schools, athletes serve as examples to the impressionable.

You should have seen how many autographs Nicole Erickson and her Brea-Olinda teammates signed this year. Small scale, big impact.

Erickson relishes the opportunity, which makes her attitude considerably more noble than Charles Barkley’s, Michael Jordan’s, Nancy Kerrigan’s and all the other athletes out there who complain they never asked to be put on a pedestal.

They are right about one thing: It’s not their responsibility to raise your child. But they are wrong to think they don’t have any influence.

There is an implied consent that exists in sports. If you’re willing to reap the benefits of the game, whether it’s the big money of professional sports, the camaraderie of college competition or the mere participation in high school, you’re consenting to accept the consequences of the spotlight.

That is, you’re consenting to be admired by those who live vicariously through you and your team, by those who weren’t blessed with the same raw skills or the opportunity to excel in an athletic environment.

You are consenting to be praised--and vilified--publicly.

You are consenting to be recognized at the mall, or at the theater, or in the hallway, and being pointed out or approached when all you want is to be left alone.

You are consenting to be held to a higher standard because people look to you as an example of what they can become through hard work.

You don’t have to like it, but you have to learn to live with it.

Why are some of these high-profile athletes adamant about not being a role model? Perhaps it’s because they’re not very good at it. Nolan Ryan never complained about being Texas’ favorite son. Joe Montana never complained. Magic Johnson never complained. He loves it. And Johnson took responsibility for his actions when he revealed he was HIV-positive. Whether you choose to admire him is up to you.

Athletes are typically a spoiled lot. They get their way most of the time. The further they go in sports, the more pampered they are.

When the world is handed to you, it’s pretty easy to get full of yourself. Though it usually begins with the free college education and might lead to $75-per-diem meal money, it can even start in high school.

Here’s an unbelievable, yet confirmed, example that took place at one local high school: A prominent football/basketball player exposed himself in a classroom and was never reprimanded.

Is it any wonder some athletes develop enormous egos or unwieldy arrogance because of such “protection” from a blind administration? Pampering? You bet.

It isn’t fair that athletes can get away with murder. It isn’t fair that athletes are held in such esteem. But they are. That’s the one thing that makes sports what they are. They transcend common sense.

Nor is it fair that Charles Barkley makes the salary he does for something as meaningless as bouncing a basketball. Not when there’s a real world going on with men and women fighting fires and gangs, delivering children and mending broken bones, picking up garbage cans and knocking down society’s barriers.

Everyone, including a parent, is a role model. But some, like athletes, are more glamorous and appealing than others. Some are better than others. And no one can dictate who you choose to admire and emulate. You have to take responsibility for that.

The world is filled with role models. Choose wisely.