When we talk about role models there are some good ones and some bad ones obviously. When i was growing up there was a guy a few years older than me that i wanted to be exactly like, and i benefitted from knowing him personally because he did all the right things to be successful and i wanted that same thing. I think personally knowing your role model (like a parent or friend) is much more beneficial for someone growing up. You don't know what these professional athletes are doing with their actual lives, all you see is the stuff in the news and a lot of times what you see could be bad. For those people who do see pro athletes as role models they may imitate exactly what they are doing and end up getting in trouble. This kind of reminds me of the whole WWE thing where people try and imitate these superstars and end up hurting or killing themselves in the end. So in the end having a role model in close contexts i feel is much more beneficial and the way it should be.