Anyone who knows me knows that I love the world of sports. However, my love for sports doesn’t outweigh my passion for striving to live a life of integrity. Teaching about integrity is the very reason why I love sports so much. Thejourney of a sports season can teach young student athletes the values of selfdiscipline, hard work, respect for authority, teamwork, and overcoming adversity.
Unfortunately, even after actions by the commissioners of various professional sports organizations to address character performance, professional athletes still don’t understand that they are role models for our youth. Whether they like it or not, professional athletes are role models for younger people who participate in those sports. Whether or not they are treated like idols or gods in individual households is largely up to parents, but it is tough for young people not to know everything about their favorite sport stars with today’s technology.
In the past couple of years we have seen Tiger Woods’ epic collapse after his life of infidelity was exposed. More recently, Brett Favre (a favorite in my household) faces allegations of sending lewd emails and pictures to a staff member when he was with the New York Jets. Minnesota’s newest addition, Randy Moss, was cut after just four weeks of play because he is selfish and doesn’t work hard. Lebron James spurned his hometown and chased the money trail.
We can think of hundreds of other examples of athletes modeling the very behaviors we disdain as a culture. Today’s media has made it tougher and tougher for athletes to recover from a slip-of -the-tongue or a momentary lapse of judgment. Even with that being said, why can’t these grown men figure it out? Why can’t they all act like Peyton Manning?
There are really three reasons. These athletes, as well as most men in our country as a whole, have bought into the three myths that society has defined as success for men. Society has taught men that making lots of money, excelling in sports, and success with women are what defines men as successful.
So, if you have a lot of material wealth in this country you are considered successful. If you are a great athlete, you are considered successful. If you can go out on any given Friday night and get lucky with the ladies, you must be successful.
What a terrible way to measure success!
I believe that success in this lifetime is defined by the relationships you have in life. How is your marriage? How is your relationship with your kids? Do you have good rapport with your co-workers? Are you a good son or daughter to your parents? Are you respectful to your elders?
While many of us have failed from time to time in our relationships, it is never too late in life to pursue success in them. None of us is perfect, and all of us will fail from time to time. However, chasing money, worshipping athletes in the sports world, and sexual conquest will never give us true success or satisfaction in this life. Professional athletes continue to teach us this lesson over and over again.
Let us pursue success by investing our time and efforts into the relationships with those around us.
Mitch Dorr, a Cook County
High School Class of 1993
graduate, is now a social
studies teacher and coach at
his former alma mater. Mitch
coaches Vikings football and
boys’ basketball. Coach Dorr’s
comments do not necessarily
reflect the opinion of the
ISD 166 school board or
administration.
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