As an avid sports fan and follower I have always been bewildered by the notion that people view professional athletes as role models.
Like many others, I have been disappointed in the transgressions of athletes for some time.
From the Essendon FC doping scandal, to Lance Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, Marion Jones being stripped of her five Olympic medals and Tiger Woods playing a lot more than 18 holes over a three-year period.
It’s unfathomable to think that young, impressionable minds and the wider public view these athletes as role models both on and off the playing field.
As Colin Cowherd of ESPN puts it, “Athletes aren’t role models, they’re artists with flaws”. I wholeheartedly agree.
What are the roles and responsibilities of a professional athlete? They are entertainers, and we, the public, are consumers. The job description of athletes on game day is to perform.
Hence, we pay, you perform, is a seemingly harmless contract. Why then, are we so invested in teams and athletes, and why do we care so much about their personal off-field indiscretions?
Sport on a professional level is performance. It is a show, akin to walking into an art gallery and admiring a painting, viewing a rock concert, or seeing a film. People enjoy the artwork, gig or movie but they don’t analyse and scrutinise the artist, musician or actor, so why do they do it with such vigour for athletes?
Did Guns and Roses get scrutinised for smoking cigarettes or being off-key or off time on a rendition of November Rain? I hardly think so. Similarly, one of the great artists, Jackson Pollock, battled alcoholism, but this didn’t appear to hamper his artworks.
The notion that athletes are role models in other facets of life other than on the playing field is absurd, but perhaps the athletes themselves are not to blame.
Athletes do not choose to be role models. They are considered to be role models purely by default and at the hands of the media and the 24-hour news cycle, which makes what once was private now very public. This doesn’t mean that the athletes have to embrace this responsibility that has been so adamantly thrust upon them.
What we often forget is the reality that athletes are human, just like us. They have flaws, deficiencies and skeletons in the closet like everyone. Furthermore, Bleacher Report‘s senior analyst Soven Berry has strong views on why athletes make terrible role models.
Berry purports that generally when an athlete has made it to pro level sports, it means they have been spoilt since they were juniors. They have been chosen out of line-ups for school sports, and pampered by coaches, teammates and parents. As a result of this constant pampering, they feel they aren’t accountable for their behaviour off the field (see Patrick Kane and Johnny Manziel).
Consequently, most athletes haven’t learnt how to deal with the fame, money and power and lack humility and wisdom. According to ESPN analyst Skip Bayless, athletes are also subjected to a plethora of temptations once they reach the upper echelon of sports and celebrity status.
These are temptations that would never be offered or within grasp of the everyday Joe, and are often readily available. Subsequently, these athletes have not been taught how to resist these temptations or be responsible, and often excuse drug or alcohol use as a form of stress relief from the constant pressure they are under (see Michael Phelps and Andrew Johns).
However, Benjamin Conkey wrote an article on The Roar that states that, “being a role model should be like giving to charity. It should be something you do naturally and not forced into”.
Unfortunately, I feel as though a lot of athletes try to force themselves into the mould of being the perfect role model when it just doesn’t fit their personality or lifestyle.
Conkey also emphasises the fact that it’s the negative stories about athletes that get published and draw media attention, while many generous deeds done by athletes go unnoticed.
Matt Watson also had an article featured on The Roar in which he purports that athletes have a duty to be role models but often neglect it. They are crucial as role models in society and have the power to influence us in both positive and negative ways.
What is also intriguing is how the public and the media label professional athletes as heroes. Some people even let their teams’ results on the weekend overrun their personal lives, and sports scores determine moods and emotions.
In reality, athletes are participants in the entertainment business. For the most part, they’re not relatable to you or me. They are a brand, in their own way, making huge amounts of money from endorsements and contracts.
Firstly, how can the public relate to athletes who have supermodel spouses, large sums of money and play sport for a living, and secondly how can we model ourselves on such an unrealistic way of life, a way that very few people will ever get to experience.
One former athlete who echoed these views was NBA star Charles Barkley, in that famous Nike Air commercial of the 1990s. While the rest of Nike’s ads were encouraging us to “be like Mike” (Michael Jordan that is), this commercial was the first one put out by Nike that featured something resembling the truth.
As Barkley proclaims, “I’m not paid to be a role model, I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models”. Kids and teenagers should feel free to embrace sports stars and emulate them and their on-field heroics, but don’t confuse a player’s stats or performance with character.
Now, I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong for kids to admire athletes or to want to emulate them and their ability. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to run like Usain Bolt, kick a goal like Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin or swing a club like Tiger, but looking up to athletes to follow their off-field behaviour is bordering on moronic.
It is admirable how hard professional athletes train, the strict diets they must endure and the recovery sessions they tolerate (such as ice baths) in order to get their body up to optimal physical condition. Couple that with the mental ability it takes to complete at the highest level, the pressure and the stress of having to perform, and it becomes a daunting task for even the most accomplished athlete.
And it’s not a job where you can pull a sickie or have an easy day in the office, it takes dedication and commitment. To play at the elite level, professional athletes must in turn, give up a lot, including being away from their family for months at a time.
It’s encouraging that kids and adolescents want to train like athletes, eat healthy like athletes, and play hard like athletes, however, when it comes to social responsibility and role models for off-field behaviour, it may be worth looking elsewhere.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I remember PE (Public Embarrassment) very well. I actually enjoyed most sports but was totally incompetent at all of them. I didn't find it character building to be humiliated, but to be fair, a lot of the sports guys had to read out their weekly dictation marks. As a 49/50 spelling student, I found it incomprehensible that someone could get -6 as a mark (1/2 mark off for each error), so it worked both ways. Your point on rock stars as role models is well-taken.
pat malone
Guest
but you must admit Craig, rock stars are given a lot more leeway when it comes to behavior, drug taking etc. plenty of kids have posters of bad influences on their walls
Glenn Innes
Guest
A perfect example of this came when I was thinking back to my school days at a Catholic School in Ipswich Qld.back in the late sixties,Every term you were forced to play a sport the only escape was a letter from a doctor. First term you had the choice of cricket or swimming,second term Rugby League or soccer,and third term track and field or well track and field.It must have been sheer hell for those kids who had neither any interest in or ability at sport but that was part of the raison de etre the humiliation would be good for them it would build character The jocks were never forced to do things that they had no interest or ability in like say take piano lessons because artistic pursuits were not considered character building.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Take three why are supposed to have ten minutes to edit but actually get thirty seconds?As I was trying to say that is a pretty selective list. Driving in my car today I did something I rarely do and flicked on a classic Rock Station.Straight away on came "Brown Sugar" by The Rolling Stones.Not only are the songs lyrics vile (it is about raping slaves and a celebration of it) but the band themselves not only used drugs but actually prosletysed their use didn't hurt their career much indeed no doubt helped it. Indeed back in the seventies Keith Richards almost invented "junkie chic" and they had no shortage of imitations..Indeed in the post war entertainment industry "shock value" was a key promotional tool. Of course the Stones were really just white kids playing black blues music and blues aficionados still rave about Leadbelly who was a convicted murderer. Miles Davis,Thelonious Monk and Billie Holliday were all heroin addicts well before the Rolling Stones made it fashionable but the jazz crowd still rave about their music. Wagner was a vile anti semite but his music is still regarded as some of the finest ever written and widely peformed, really I could go on all night. There is no doubt we do set different standards for athletes than we do for artists or entertainers,this is because even though much of modern sport is really just an arm of the entertainment industry, we still have that British Public School via ancient Greece belief that sport is character building and when athletes behave badly it threatens that assumption.
Glenn Innes
Guest
Pretty selective list Professor,driving in my car today I
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Correct, Craig. When did we last hear a Gary Glitter song on the radio? Why did Rolf Harris' paintings get taken down from public places? Why did Fatty Arbuckle stop getting roles in movies? Why did Charlie Chaplin leave the United States?
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
Brilliant summation. Sponsorships and contracts come to athletes because sponsors want people to think that if they drink "FIZZXXX Energy Drink" they will look like a star athlete and perform like one. They don't get sponsored to trash themselves, trash hotel rooms and trash other people.
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
This sums it up. Professional athletes don't have a choice - they are role models, and if they don't want to be then don't be a professional athlete. And I don't see a problem with it. We all need a level to aspire to, and if you're into sport then the best at it provide that. As a parent, your duty should really be to limit the influence of the role model to the reason why they're a role model in the first place.
Marlin Allen
Guest
Great article. So true
Rellum
Roar Guru
Athletes are athletes. Some are artists, some are role models. Some are all three. Humanity is too keen to group people instead of looking at the individual.
astro
Guest
The definition of a role model is: "a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people." For me, professional athletes don't have an option. They are, by their very nature, role models and unfortunately, they can't have it both ways. You can't accept the gratitude and adoration that comes with being in the spotlight, and then chose to switch that off when it suits you, especially in this day and age. Barkley's great competitor in the NBA, Karl Malone had this to say about Sir Charles' ad: "Charles...I don't think it's your decision to make. We don't choose to be role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one." Although I prefer Barkley to Malone on the court, I tend to agree with the Mailman on this topic.
Bill
Guest
Professional sportspeople usually don't represent themselves, they represent their employer. They are (generally) not self-employed (in contrast to many artists or musicians in rock bands). An employer who engages a "professional" to represent them, quite rightly expects the professional to execute their duties to a certain standard (both on and off the field). The customers (and potential customers) of that employer may also have expectations as to how that employer conducts his business and his staff. Further, professionals also represent other members of their profession. A "professional" who acts unprofessionally brings the whole profession into disrepute and is generally frowned upon by other members of the profession. If a professional sportsperson supports him or herself directly through sponsorships and prize money, with no money coming from an employer in a traditional sense (i.e. payment to perform), their choice to act unprofessionally is far more defensible - customers can vote with their feet. However, in a high profile team sport where you are paid professional fees to conduct yourself as a professional, and where not doing so effects your employer and fellow professionals, there are absolutely no excuses. Go back to the bush leagues if you can't handle it.
TheTruth
Guest
Agree Craig, these two things (artist/role model) are not mutually exclusive. It is why I am happy if my daughter looks up to the likes of Taylor Swift or Pink rather than Miley Cyrus or Lil Kim
LewDub
Roar Rookie
Agree with Craig on this one. Whether they like it or not, sportsmen and sports women are role models. They're in the public eye regularly, and what they do and say will no doubt influence us in some way.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
"People enjoy the artwork, gig or movie but they don’t analyse and scrutinise the artist, musician or actor," Your wrong on that. Musicians and actors are constantly being scrutinised in the media which totally blows your theory that we only do this to sportspeople. They may not want to be roll models or may not understand why they are roll models but they are and they need to get used to it.
Johnno
Guest
Beautiful article Luke just beautiful, 5 stars from me. Athletes are artists not role models. We only have to look at Bjorg,Mcenroe, Garrincha and Senna, to see life imitating art, and artists at work, not role models. All were amazing artists in there chosen sports and flawed characters, but artists who were painting a picture of the unexpected and greatness and expression personified. As Michelangelo said "The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection". The intellectuals, the chardonnay left, and the politically correct set, and the latte set who are intellectuality savvy, all would of given this article the pass mark, don't worry you've impressed them. 5 stars from me.
Alan
Roar Guru
Enjoyed the read Luke. Good stuff.