Is turning Sports Illustrated around ? Sports Illustrated writer Phil Taylor apparently thinks so. Lamenting the fall from grace of San Francisco big bat Barry Bonds, Taylor stated that the Bonds steroid scandal produced him sad (poor, sad Phil Taylor!). Then Taylor place forth some provocative, concerns to readers of his recent SI column. These inquiries have been as challenging as any question that a serious sports writer can ever ask:
“Giving our allegiance, our affection, to a sports star is a riskier proposition than ever,” wrote Taylor. “Is there anyone safe to root for? Is there an athlete out there who won’t make us eventually feel like a fool for holding him in higher esteem?”
Taylor makes the failure of the sports hero appear to be some sort of current phenom. His list of failed figures only went as far back as Pete Rose and OJ Simpson. Such brief memories we have. In reality, sports hero’s have been failing their worshippers for as long as they have been human, which is to say, they have usually failed us. If we stretch our memories a little, we can recall the Black Sox scandal of 87 years ago. Consider a little tougher and you can go back thousands of years and recall how Goliath let down the Philistine’s by failing to defeat a boy with a rock.
Taylor is appropriate in his conclusion: living vicariously by way of the achievements of our sports hereos is a risky proposition.
But then he asks, “is there any one protected to root for?”
To that query I can only answer, go down to your neighborhood homeless shelter and root for the men and women who show up there each and every day to make a difference. Go to your kid’s college and root for his teacher and principal. Go out to this site and root for our troops in Iraq. Go out to ChristopherReeve.org and root for this organization to continue developing on the legacy of Chris and Dana Reeve.
The secret is, Mr. Taylor, to root for a thing that matters. I hate to break it to you, and it may perhaps take you awhile to comprehend what I am about to say.
Expert sports does not matter.
Read it over and more than again if it didn’t make sense the very first time.
Never get me wrong — participating in sports delivers a lot of very good lessons in cooperation, teamwork, striving, personal most effective, and healthier active life-style.
But at the skilled level, it must be observed only as entertainment. Sports figures will normally fail us when they are elevated to level of gods, simply because they’re not gods. They are just individuals with a tiny bit of talent, nice cars, superior lawyers and a lot of revenue.
And it seems mighty hypocritical of you Mr. Taylor, as a representative of Sports Illustrated, to be lamenting the fall of the sports hero. After all, SI has had as pivotal a role in constructing up Barry Bonds and other hero’s as any media outlet. Construct ’em up, then tear them down, eh Mr. Taylor? SI will make a profit either way.
But if you have to root, and you are critical about your hero-quest, then my constructive tips to you is to root for actual people, who are performing actual function, that genuinely matters.