Thursday, October 29, 2009
This is a very interesting subject because it seems that regardless what these athletes want to think, they are role models. Somebody out there grew up loving Charles Barkley and wanted to be just like him when they grew up. When your a kid all you wanna do is be like the people you see on TV, which more often than not, turns out to be professional. I know that this isn't in any of these athletes contracts, but they owe it to the fans and all of the viewers to act appropriatly, because at any given time they could be shaping a young kids life. Should these guys be role models? That can go either way, because some of them are outstanding people as well as outstanding athletes. Unfortunatly, this does not go for all professional athletes. Regardless good or bad, the actions kids see on TV rubs off on them, so when they see there favorite player argue a foul, they are that much more likely to do the same thing when they play.
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Great point. Similar to when we talked about politics, athletes need to be aware that what they do has a huge impact on their followers. They need to realize, like it or not, that people look up to them and are watching their every move. That being said, I think it is important that parents are able to step in and help guide their child's thinking about certain athletes.
ReplyDeleteYeah again with the society we live most athletes going in know that the decisions they make are going to be criticized and analyzed. Their lives already magnified because of the skills they have so they know kids are going to be watching their every move and seeing if they are the same person they are on the field as they are off the field.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the posts above 100%. The role of a role model comes with the application of being a professional athlete, and even a college athlete at that. You could go back to the time when people were trying to imitate professional wrestlers by jumping off houses and doing really dangerous stuff (imitating what their role models do) and end up getting hurt or dying even. The idea that these professionals are superhuman is engraved into all of our heads, when in reality they are just like everyone else.
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