Are All Athletes Role Models?

I hope everyone had a great Easter this past weekend! I know I did! The reason I even bring up Easter is because that is where I will begin with this subject. This past Easter Sunday Tim Tebow was hosted by Celebration church in front of 15,000 people in Georgetown, Texas for a little Q & A. As a Christian I loved a lot of what he said such as his biggest dream is for the fad "Tebowing", where a person gets on one knee and starts praying, to become something that is common and not known for something done by him. Another thing he said (that I could not agree more with) was that the sooner the United States is restored to "A Nation Under God" the sooner a lot of our issues today can be a part of yesterday rather than today. But the one thing he said that stood out to me, and so many sports analysts and talk show hosts, is when he said that despite what some athletes want, they are role models whether they like it or not and its up to them to set a good example. Word for word that's not what he said but that was the main idea.

Is Tim Tebow correct though? Are all famous athletes role models? I've listened to much commentary regarding this and I think people are missing the point so let me be clear by what I'm saying. The question isn't "should" famous athletes be role models. The question is, "are" they? We can all make excuses about what we "should" have done; but the question is "did" we do it? Social media having influence on society is something that I've heard debated for a couple of years and the most consistent answer is,"Everyone thinks that it does, but it really doesn't." How sure are we of that? When Drake released his hit single "The Motto" it became an instant hit. One of the now popular acronyms in the song is "YOLO (You Only Live Once)" which by a majority of what I see in culture today is an excuse to now drink that extra beer, hook up with that random guy, to reach dangerous speeds down the highway, and other decisions that could eventually leave someone who made those decisions to say,"Why did I ever do that?" Now I'm not condemning anyone that does any of these things or believe that these things wouldn't happen despite the new fad but it is having an impact on culture and that is undeniable. Another case and point is anything that degrades our previous President George W. Bush. I admit to my conservative bias and will be the first to say he did a few things I was not fond of, however, socia media said so much regarding their belief of his lack of intelligence and alcoholism when he was in college that would turn most Americans to believe he was one of the worst presidents we ever had. Now President Obama openly admitted to smoking marijuana when he was younger but how many times can you find a comedy show rip on him for that? Social media does have a strong control over us and it's time for us to realize that and make decisions for ourselves, whether it be to agree with what they tell us or believe the opposite after conducting research. I have asked people who "hate" George Bush why they hate him, most common answer I get is,"Cause he's stupid." Nothing beyond that, but I digress.

Now I'm not sure about most of you, but I did feel positive influences from athletes when they did good things. I always liked Peyton Manning and all of the things he did outside of football as well as his very positive attitude he showed on television. I do disagree with the idea that because Michael Vick fought dogs that somewhere in Atlanta, Georgia some group of kids are searching all over the city to host dog fighting competitions. But the idea is that with a large stage like Michael Vick, Tim Tebow, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Lebron James, etc. that you CAN influence the lives of others it's just how they go about doing it. 

I'm 20 years old and have a few role models: My dad, my grandfather, and Tim Tebow. It sounds ridiculous to have a sports role model at the age of 20 but think about it. At one point we all embrace a pressure that makes us uncomfortable, I don't know what yours may be but at one point or another we are faced with it and it's up to us to see how we handle it. Tim Tebow is in the National Football League, played four years in Florida, and could have any girl he wants sexually and get any drug he wants under the table yet nobody has or can bust him. The pressure he felt, to me, must be unimaginable. The fact he said no to all of it is huge! If he can say no to all the free sex, parties, and anything that could tarnish his name, what's our excuse? He's impacting lives by building children's hospitals in the Philippines and uses any opportunity he has to meet very sick children and I know I'm not the only one who looks up to Tim Tebow. 

The point is that with the stage provided, any athlete can become a great role model and influence the mind set of the younger generation and mold it into something great. On the opposite end, I don't believe bad role models seen in the media can influence how people act as much as bad role models we see in our physical life. So in a way Tebow is correct but in a way he is not. Yes, all big time athletic stars do have an opportunity to set a positive example and change the world in their own way, but if they choose a lifestyle that is opposite to others I don't believe people are weak minded enough to mimic that lifestyle just for the sake of being similar to their favorite athlete. Charles Barkley, despite how much I disagree with him on many issues, makes a good argument in this commercial (it's only 27 seconds long so it won't kill you to watch this).

This was difficult to expand on because there are so many points to be made regarding if athletes are all role models. Should someone who throws a football, shoots a basketball, hit a baseball, kick a soccer ball, shoot a hockey puck, and is a classified world champion swimmer (I'm looking at you Michael Phelps) be a role model to our younger generation? No, but the sad truth is young kids do look up to them and if history has taught us anything most of them will fall eventually. We are only human after all and we tend to forget that they make mistakes well. It's up to us to teach younger generations to judge people by their actions AND their intentions. We judge ourselves by our own intentions and not actions   but we need to be even with ourselves and others and do the same. I realize this is supposed to generally be about sports and it quickly turned into a social issue rather than a sports issue. I'd love to hear what you guys think of all this and I realize I didn't touch on enough but this is a general idea on how I feel about the whole issue.